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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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ESk Eystdr 1II/3 — grenni ‘the feeder’

Vôru sogns með sára
syni Maddaðar staddir
grenni (fekksk) manna
(máttigr) tigir átta.
Þrimr skútum tók þreytir
þann jarl drasils hranna;
hraustr gaf hræskúfs nistir
hǫfuð sitt frǫmum jǫfri.

Átta tigir manna vôru staddir með sogns sára mágrenni, syni Maddaðar; máttigr fekksk. Þrimr skútum tók þreytir drasils hranna þann jarl; hraustr nistir hræskúfs gaf frǫmum jǫfri hǫfuð sitt.

Eighty men were stationed with the feeder of the seagull of the fjord of wounds [(lit. ‘seagull-feeder of the fjord of wounds’) BLOOD > RAVEN/EAGLE > WARRIOR], Maddaðr’s son [= Haraldr]; the mighty one was captured. With three ships the tester of the steed of waves [SHIP > SEAFARER] seized that jarl; the bold feeder of the carrion-skua [RAVEN/EAGLE > WARRIOR] surrendered his head to the outstanding prince.

readings

[3] ‑grenni: ‑grenn , ‑grennir F, E, J2ˣ, H, Hr, Mork

notes

[3] mágrenni (m. dat. sg.) ‘the seagull-feeder’: Retention of the nom. mágrennir ‘seagull-feeder’ forces a fourpartite first l. (vru, sogns, með, sára), in which sogns sára ‘of the fjord of wounds’ and vru með ‘were (stationed) with’ belong to two different clauses (so Skj B; ÍF 28). Such a construction is otherwise unattested in the corpus of skaldic poetry. Kock (NN §955; Skald) emends mágrennir (m. nom. sg.) ‘seagull-feeder’ (l. 3) to mágrenni (m. dat. sg.), fekksk (3rd pers. sg. pret. indic.) ‘was captured’ (l. 3) to fæst, sup. of the adj. fár ‘few’, and máttigr (m. nom. sg.) ‘powerful’ (l. 4) to máttigra (m. gen. pl.). He suggests the following reading: Fæst átta tigir máttigra manna vru staddir með mágrenni sogns sára, syni Maddaðar ‘At least eighty powerful men were stationed with the seagull-feeder of the fjord of wounds, the son of Maddaðr’. However, the emendation of máttigr ‘powerful’ to máttigra creates an unmetrical l., since a l. of this type cannot begin with a trisyllabic cpd; see Gade 1995a, 118-21.

kennings

grammar

case: dat.

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