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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Hfr Hákdr 6III/1 — fleygjanda ‘flinger [of riches]’

Því hykk fleygjanda frægjan
— ferr Jǫrð und menþverri
ítran — eina at láta
Auðs systur mjǫk trauðan.

Því hykk frægjan fleygjanda [auðs] mjǫk trauðan at láta systur Auðs eina; Jǫrð ferr und ítran menþverri.

Because of that I think the renowned flinger [of riches] [GENEROUS MAN] is very reluctant to let Auðr’s <giant’s> sister [= Jǫrð (jǫrð ‘earth’)] alone; Jǫrð <goddess> submits to the glorious ring-diminisher [GENEROUS MAN].

readings

[1] fleygjanda: so U, ‘fleyianda’ R, ‘fleiuanda’ , ‘fleygi[…]a’ W, ‘fleyíande’ B

notes

[1, 4] fleygjanda [auðs] ‘flinger [of riches] [GENEROUS MAN]’: Almost all previous eds reject this kenning for the reasons outlined in the Note to [All] above (Davidson 1983 is an exception, while SnE 1998 leaves the kenning incomplete). Most emend, either (Wisén 1886, 135; Skj B; Skald; Frank 1978, 63, 68) frægjan to frakkna ‘of spears’, which produces a correct kenning (fleygjanda frakkna ‘flinger of spears’) but lacks ms. support, or (Fidjestøl 1982, 104) fleygjanda to a seafarer-kenning such as fley-gand ‘ship-stave’ (unlikely due to the restricted sense of gandr, see LP: gandr) or fley-gæti ‘ship-guard’ (more plausible). Fidjestøl’s suggestions are attractive both because of the prominence of seafarer-kennings in the other ‘marriage’ stanzas of Hákdr (sts 5-8) and because the divergent ms. forms of fleygjanda imply scribal confusion. The solution proposed in the present edn follows Sveinbjörn Egilsson (SnE 1848-87, III) in positing an apo koinou construction in which auðs participates in two different kennings and must be understood differently in each one (auðr ‘riches’ here, the name of the giant Auðr in the other kenning). Puns on common nouns and proper names (jǫrð/Jǫrð) are a guiding conceit in Hákdr, and the audience would have been alert for a new variation on this rhetorical strategy, particularly one which linked the themes of riches/fertility and the land. Hallfreðr’s ErfÓl 16/1, 2, 4I uses another homonym of the word here, auðr ‘empty’, in a zeugma (an eyewitness to the battle of Svolder sees Trana ok báða Naðra fljóta auða ‘“Crane” and both “Adders” [three of Óláfr Tryggvason’s warships] floating empty’).

kennings

grammar

case: acc.

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