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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Anon Lil 84VII/2 — bygð ‘the seat’

Hræðumz eg, að sárt muni svíða
samvizkunnar bygð af grunnum
sundruð öll, þá er syndir kalla
sína eign á hjarta mínu.
Dökkvir munu þá fjandans flokkar
færaz að með ópi og kæru
búnir mig að brenna og pína,
bíta, kremja, rífa og slíta.

Eg hræðumz, að bygð samvizkunnar muni svíða sárt, öll sundruð af grunnum, þá er syndir kalla eign sína á hjarta mínu. Þá munu dökkvir flokkar fjandans færaz að með ópi og kæru, búnir að brenna mig og pína, bíta, kremja, rífa og slíta.

I fear that the seat of conscience [BREAST] will burn painfully, all sundered from its foundations, when sins claim their ownership of my heart. Then the swarthy flocks of the fiend will rush at me with hooting and complaint, ready to burn me and torment, bite, squeeze, tear and rip.

notes

[2] bygð samvizkunnar ‘the seat of conscience’: LP (1860) does not regard this phrase as a kenning. Meissner lists it among the kennings for ‘breast’ (Meissner, 136), and Kock (NN §187) argues that this is the correct interpretation. LP defines it as a kenning for ‘breast’ and refers to Meissner. Kock views the kenning as analogous to the poet’s mention of his burning breast (brjóst svíðir ‘my breast burns’ 76/6; tendrað brjóst ‘burning breast’ 81/4) a few sts earlier, and the theme is certainly the same (cf. also hreinsa brjóst ‘cleanse my heart’ 2/5 and Note). But it is unlikely that the poet intended biological specificity in any of these instances, and Sveinbjörn Egilsson’s approach may still be the best.

kennings

grammar

case: nom.

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