Anon (Ragn) 8VIII (Ragn 38)/4 — tungum ‘handle tongues’
Þat var fyrir löngu, er í leið megir
Heklings fóru hlumtungum
fram um salta slóð birtinga;
þá varð ek þessa þorps ráðandi.
Þat var fyrir löngu, er megir Heklings fóru í leið hlumtungum fram um salta slóð birtinga; þá varð ek ráðandi þessa þorps.
It was long ago when the sons of Heklingr went on their way with oar-handle tongues [OAR BLADES] over the salt track of sea-trout [SEA]; then I became the ruler of this habitation.
readings
[4] hlumtungum: ‘hlumtvaghvm’ 1824b, ‘Hæ̋klíngs (rr)eru’(?) 2845
notes
[4] hlumtungum ‘with oar-handle tongues [OAR BLADES]’: The letter emended here to <n> and read as <a> (see ‘hlumtvaghvm’, Readings, above), is unclear; Olsen (Ragn 1906-08, 174) in fact read it as <n>, also noting, however, that it was unclear. Emending to hlumtungum (with Rafn (FSN) and Örnólfur Thorsson (Ragn 1985)) and interpreting it as dat. pl. of *hlumtunga ‘oar-handle tongue’ gives reasonable sense as a kenning for ‘oar-blades, oars’. That oars are in question here is further suggested by the occurrence of the 3rd pers. pl. pret. form reru ‘rowed’ in the corresponding part of the 2845 text. Reading hlumtungum leaves the line with one syllable short of the four that would be expected in a fornyrðislag line; a purist might wish to emend to hlummatungum ‘tongues of oar-handles’. Other suggested emendations are unconvincing and/or involve more drastic emendation: hlunnatungum ‘tongues of launching-rollers [SHIPS? OARS?]’; hlunnalungum ‘ships of launching-rollers’; or hlunna viggjum ‘horses of launching-rollers [SHIPS]’. Skj B and Skald follow the 2845 reading of this line, with Hœklings/Hæklings, as shown above.
kennings
- hlumtungum — with oar-handle tongues [OAR BLADES]
grammar
case: dat.
number: pl.