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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Anon (TGT) 31III/1 — Hár ‘The high one’

Hár rauð hvassa geira
— hneig þjóð í gras — blóði.

Hár rauð hvassa geira blóði; þjóð hneig í gras.

The high one reddened sharp spears in blood; people sank into the grass.

notes

[1] hár ‘the high one’: Hár is normally a heiti for Óðinn, but Óláfr states in the prose that it refers here to King Hringr (TGT 1927, 79): Hér er hár kallaðr konungrinn, ok er þar óeiginlig liking milli þess nafns hár ok eiginligs nafns Hrings konungs ‘Here the king is called hár [the high one], and there is an improper comparison between the noun hár and the proper name of King Hringr’. The identity of this Hringr is uncertain. Björn Magnússon Ólsen (TGT 1884, 222) suggests Hringr Dagsson, king of Hedmark (ÍF 27, 46) and father of Dagr Hringsson who fought with Óláfr helgi at Stiklestad (1030). However, King Hringr Dagsson is not connected with any battles in the sources. Another possibility is Sigurðr hringr ‘Ring’ Randvésson, in which case the couplet may describe the mid-C8th battle of Brávellir (cf. ÍF 35, 58-69 and Note to SnSt Lv 5/1).

grammar

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