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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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ESk Geisl 28VII/3 — vald ‘the strength’

Gekk sínum bur søkkvir
sólar straums í drauma,
vald lézk fylgja foldar
framlyndum gram myndu —
áðr á Hlýrskógsheiði
harðgeðr konungr barðisk
— góðs eldis naut gyldir
gnótt — við heiðnar dróttir.

Søkkvir sólar straums gekk bur sínum í drauma — vald foldar lézk myndu fylgja framlyndum gram —, áðr harðgeðr konungr barðisk við heiðnar dróttir á Hlýrskógsheiði; gyldir naut gnótt góðs eldis.

The enemy of the sun of the stream [GOLD > GENEROUS MAN] appeared to his son in a dream — the strength of the land [= Óláfr] said he would help the forward-striving prince — before the hard-minded king fought against the heathen hosts at Lyrskovshede; the wolf enjoyed an abundance of good food.

readings

[3] vald: valdr Bb, H, Hr

notes

[3] vald foldar ‘strength of the land’: Bb, H, and Hr read valdr foldar ‘ruler of the land’, a typical kenning which may be the better reading. But the Flat version is appropriate in this context. Abstract nouns were rarely used as base-words in kennings (cf. líf in Geisl 3/6), but Einarr may be imitating Scripture, where God is repeatedly called fortitudo ‘strength’ and robur ‘power’. Cf. especially the circumlocutions in Ps. XXVII.8 (fortitudo plebis suae ‘the strength of his people’) and Joel III.16 (fortitudo filiorum Israhel ‘the strength of the children of Israel’).

kennings

grammar

case: nom.

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