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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Hharð Gamv 6II/1 — alma ‘the elm-bows’

Fœddr vas ek, þars alma
Upplendingar bendu;
nú lætk við sker skolla
skeiðr búmǫnnum leiðar.
Vítt hef ek, sízt ýttum,
eygarð skotit barði;
þó lætr Gerðr í Gǫrðum
gollhrings við mér skolla.

Ek vas fœddr, þars Upplendingar bendu alma; nú lætk skeiðr, leiðar búmǫnnum, skolla við sker. Vítt hef ek skotit barði eygarð, sízt ýttum; þó lætr Gerðr gollhrings í Gǫrðum skolla við mér.

I was born where the Upplendingar bent the elm-bows; now I let my warships, loathsome to farmers, rock among skerries. Far and wide I have thrust the prow across the island-enclosure [SEA] since we [I] set out; yet the Gerðr <goddess> of the gold ring [WOMAN] in Russia ridicules me.

readings

[1] alma: ‘amær’ N B88

notes

[1]: The l. lacks internal rhyme (see st. 5/1 above), and Kock (NN §2024A) attempts to restore the rhyme by emending fœddr ‘born’ to alinn ‘born, raised’ or alma ‘bows’ to odda ‘spear- or sword-points’. The first emendation results in an unmetrical l. with three alliterative staves: alinn ‘born, raised’, ek ‘I’, alma ‘elm-bows’ (cf. Skald: Alinn vas ek, þars alma) and the second in a nonsensical construction (‘where the Upplendingar bent the spear- or sword-points’). However, N B88 also gives the reading alinn, and the only way to restore the metre would be to construe the l. as follows: Alinn vask þar, es alma lit. ‘I was raised [or: born] there, where the elm-bows’. The internal rhyme (al- : alm-) leads to the suspicion that this reading is secondary.

grammar

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