KormǪ Sigdr 6III/4 — fats ‘vat’
Hafit maðr ask né eskis
afspring með sér þingat
fésæranda at fœra
fats; véltu goð Þjaza.
Hverr myni vés við valdi,
vægja kind, of bægjask,
þvít fúr-Rǫgnir fagnar
fens; vá Gramr til menja.
Maðr hafit með sér ask né afspring fats eskis þingat at fœra fésæranda; goð véltu Þjaza. Hverr myni of bægjask við valdi vés, þvít fens fúr-Rǫgnir fagnar kind vægja; Gramr vá til menja.
A man will not have to bring either a bowl or the offspring of the ash vat [BOWL] with him to a meeting with the wealth-wounder [GENEROUS MAN]; the gods deceived Þjazi. Who would fight against the owner of the sanctuary [RULER], since the Rǫgnir <= Óðinn> of the fire of the fen [(lit. ‘fire-Rǫgnir of the fen’) GOLD > GENEROUS RULER] rejoices in the descendant of swords [SWORD]; Gramr <legendary sword> fought for neck-rings.
readings
[4] fats: ‘fetz’ Kˣ, J1ˣ, J2ˣ, ‘fø̨z’ F
notes
[1-2, 4] afspring fats eskis ‘the offspring of the ash vat [BOWL]’: Although eski, like askr alone can mean ‘container made of ash’, here, in combination with fats ‘of the vat’, it is better interpreted as ‘made of ash’. The expression as a whole is a kenning in accordance with the kenning pattern ‘descendant of …’ which normally is only used for persons; cf. e.g. burr bragnings ‘son of the ruler [RULER]’; for this pattern see General Introduction in SkP I, lxxix. Meissner 433 recognized this and interpreted the kenning as ‘small eating vessel’. This interpretation is preferable to the interpretation of Finnur Jónsson (LP: afspringr 1) who translates afspringr here as hvad der kommer af (og gemmes i) et fad ‘what comes out of (and is contained in) a vat’, and regards the whole expression as a kenning for ‘food or drink’. However, his interpretation of afspringr is not in accordance with the other evidence of afspringr/afspringi (LP: afspringr 2, afspringi) which means ‘offspring, descendant’. Kock (NN §1064, followed by Düwel 1985, 16) attempts to combine fats with fésæranda in the sense ‘plunderer of the contents of a chest’, but this would be a very uncommon expression. — [4] fats ‘of the vat’: The emendation of ‘fetz/fø̨z’ to fats is secured by the aðalhending in this line (emendation by Konráð Gíslason 1876, 329 n. 13 and adopted by all subsequent eds). The aðalhending is obscured by the traditional spelling of Þjazi (<z> = [ts]).
kennings
- afspring fats eskis — the offspring of the ash vat [BOWL]