Hharð Lv 11II/1 — hrauðung ‘the empty fleet’
Hlautk af hrauðung skjóta
hlýri, mær in skýra;
súð gekk feld á flœði
framm; vas þat fyr skǫmmu.
Enn fyr England sunnan
óð borð und mér norðan;
ristin skalf í rǫstum
rǫng; en þat vas lǫngu.
Hlautk skjóta hlýri af hrauðung, in skýra mær; feld súð gekk framm á flœði; þat vas fyr skǫmmu. Enn fyr sunnan England óð borð und mér norðan; ristin rǫng skalf í rǫstum; en þat vas lǫngu.
I got to push the prow away from the empty fleet, bright lady; the jointed ship went forth on the ocean; that was recently. And, south of England, the planking advanced beneath me from the north; the carved frame shook in the currents; but that was long ago.
notes
[1] hrauðung ‘empty fleet’: The translation is conjectural. Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) translates af hrauðung as skyndsomt ‘in haste’ or (LP: hrauðung) as skynding ‘haste’. Kock connects the word with OE hrēodan ‘adorn, cover’ and translates it as ‘boat house’ (NN §847B). Hrauðung must be derived from hrjóða (strong verb class 2) whose most common meaning is ‘empty, clear out’. LP: hrauðung adds: ordet betyder vel egl. ‘rydning’ ‘the literal meaning of the word is most likely “clearing”’. The phrase hrjóða skip ‘clear a ship by killing or driving away the crew’ is especially common in both prose and poetry (see Fritzner: hrjóða 1; LP: hrjóða 1). Because three of the six sts recited in this episode describe Haraldr’s recent campaigns in Denmark in the first helmingar, it is reasonable to assume that this half-st. also refers to his naval battles against the Danes (see, e.g., ÞjóðA Sex 17; see also Jesch 2001a, 211 and n. 33). Hrauðungr is otherwise recorded as the name of a sea-king, a giant, and a legendary person (LP: Hrauðungr), and hrauð is a heiti for a coat of mail and a ship (SnE 1998, I, 123, 128, II, 317).