Anon Gyð 2VII/4 — barðs ‘of the prow’
Út var einn, sá er veita
unnleyg* firum kunni,
beitir bráðra sóta
barðs í Miklagarði.
Fúrbrigðir vann frægðar
fjölmætr og ágætis
Hlies við hirðiásu
hafleygjar sier aflað.
Út í Miklagarði var einn beitir bráðra sóta barðs, sá er kunni veita firum unnleyg*. Fjölmætr Hlies fúrbrigðir vann sier aflað frægðar og ágætis við hirðiásu hafleygjar.
Out in Constantinople there was a certain steerer of the swift steeds of the prow [SHIPS > SEAFARER], one who knew how to grant men wave-flame [GOLD]. The very distinguished spreader of the fire of Hlér <sea-god> [(lit. ‘fire-spreader of Hlér’) GOLD > GENEROUS MAN] succeeded in earning fame and glory for himself from the guardian-gods of the wave-flame [GOLD > GENEROUS MEN].
notes
[3-4] beitir bráðra sóta barðs ‘steerer of the swift steeds of the prow’: Finnur Jónsson (Skj B), followed by Kock in Skald, emends to bræddra barða, and presumably construes the man-kenning beitir bræddra sóta barða ‘steerer of the tarred steeds of the ship’. His emendation of B’s ‘bardz’ (l. 4) to barða, gen. sg. of m. barði ‘ship’ is unnecessary, however, since barðs may be interpreted as gen. sg. of n. barð ‘beak, prow’, which occurs frequently in ship-kennings (LP: barð – the inclusion of a reference to barðs sóti in the first, 1916 edn of LP suggests that at that time Finnur believed B to be correct here). Finnur’s correction of the adj. to bræddra in Skj B and LP: 2. bræða ‘to tar’, though drastic, is rather happier, though it is possible to make sense of B’s bráðra by taking it as the gen. pl. of bráðr ‘swift, eager, sudden’ agreeing with sóta.
kennings
- bráðra sóta barðs, — of the swift steeds of the prow, [SHIPS]
- einn beitir bráðra sóta barðs, — a certain steerer of the swift steeds of the prow, [SEAFARER]