HSt Frag 3III/4 — reyr ‘of the reed’
Svalteigar mun selju
salts Víðblinda galtar
rafkastandi rastar
reyrþvengs muna lengi.
Víðblinda galtar salts svalteigar rafkastandi mun lengi muna selju rastar reyrþvengs.
The thrower of the amber of the salty, cool meadow of the boar of Víðblindi <giant> [(lit. ‘amber-thrower of the salty, cool meadow of the boar of Víðblindi’) WHALE > SEA > GOLD > GENEROUS MAN] will for a long time remember the willow of the path of the reed-thong [SNAKE > GOLD > WOMAN].
notes
[1, 3, 4] selju rastar reyrþvengs ‘the willow of the path of the reed-thong [SNAKE > GOLD > WOMAN]’: This kenning is one of the common woman-kennings formed according to the pattern ‘tree of gold’. Despite the explanation of selja immediately following the stanza in Skm (see Context above), the ‘willow’ must have been the original meaning of selja in kennings. Even though women are often called ‘givers of something’ in Old Norse prose literature (e.g. matselja ‘food-giver’; Fritzner: matselja), it would not have been a woman’s role to dispense gold. Tree-names, on the other hand, often appear as base-words in woman-kennings (Meissner 410).
kennings
- reyrþvengs. — of the reed-thong. [SNAKE]
- rastar reyrþvengs. — of the path of the reed-thong. [GOLD]
- selju rastar reyrþvengs. — the willow of the path of the reed-thong. [WOMAN]