Vítt er orpit
fyrir valfalli
rifs reiðiský;
rignir blóði;
nú er fyrir geirum
grár upp kominn
vefr verþjóðar,
er þær vinur fylla
rauðum vepti
Randvés bana.
> Wide is warped (woven)
> for (the) fall-of-the-slain
> angry-cloud of plunder (warp-beam?)
> rains with blood
> Now is before spears
> grey come up
> web of mankind
> which those friends make up (create)
> with red woof-thread
> Randvés bane (slayer).
> Wide is warped
> for the fall of the slain
> of angry clouds tearing asunder
> (it) rains with blood.
> Now is for spears
> come up grey
> weaves mankind
> when they fill ??
> with red weft
> bane of Randve?.
Far and wide is set up
with [the] fall of the slain
warp-beam's rigging-cloud;
it rains blood;
now on account of spears has
come up grey
(the) loom-web of warrior folk,
that the female friends are filling
with red weft --
(the friends) of Randvér's bane.
The first problem is the preposition <fyrir>. After much
thought I decided to take it as 'because of' in a causal
sense: it's the fall of the slain that has set up the loom.
The <rifr> 'warp-beam' is the beam from which the warp
threads hang, and its <reiðiský> 'rigging-cloud' is
presumably either what hangs from it or by metonymy the loom
as a whole. (I take the first half of the compound to be
<reiði> 'tackle, rigging'.) <Rigna> 'to rain' takes the
substance rained in the dative, so <rignir blóði> is simply
'(it) rains blood'. <Vítt> is either an adverb or an
adjective modifying <reiðiský>, but the sense is about the
same either way.
The second <fyrir> also seems to me to be 'because of': the
spears have created the dead bodies that (as we are about to
see) form the warp and loom weights. <Vinur> is the plural
of <vina> 'female friend', and <vinur Randvés bana> 'female
friends of Randvér's bane [i.e., slayer]' is a discontinuous
kenning for the valkyries. <Er upp kominn> is a bit of a
problem; I used 'has come up', but I have in mind a sense
along the lines of 'turned out, turned up', of which there
are examples in CV. The <ver-> of <verþjóðar> 'man-folk'
refers specifically to men (as distinct from women), so in
context I take it to refer to the (slain) warriors.
The deaths of warriors killed by (thrown) spears has strung
the valkyries' loom, and they are now weaving a fabric with
a (blood-)red weft.
Sjá er orpinn vefr
ýta þörmum
ok harðkléaðr
höfðum manna;
eru dreyrrekin
dörr at sköptum,
járnvarðr yllir,
en örum hrælaðr;
skulum slá sverðum
sigrvef þenna.
> This web is warped
> with intestines of men
> and securely-fixed-the weights
> with (the) heads of men.
> Are blood-drenched
> spears as (the) looms-beams,
> iron-mounted ???
> but (and) rod-beaten with arrows
> (We) shall forge (weave) with swords
> this victory-web
> That one who weaves the warp
> to push out the intestines
> and hard stone weight
> heads of men.
> Are thrust red with blood
> ?? at shafts,
> woolen?? iron-mounted
> when beaten with oars.
> Shall weave with swords
> that victors web.
The loom-web is set up
with men's entrails
and hard-stretched
with men's heads [= loom-weights, singular <klé>];
(there) are blood-inlaid
spears for (heddle-)shafts,
iron-bound shed rod,
and beaten with arrows [as weaver's rods];
we will strike with swords
this victory-web. ['Strike the web' = 'weave']
<Harðkléaðr> is a variant form of <harðkljáðr>, the past
participle of <harðkljá>; Zoëga doesn't have <harðkljá>, but
he does have the basic verb, <kljá>. CV has <yllir> as 'the
name of a beam in the upright loom', but it seems to me that
the beams are already accounted for; the shed rod seems a
much better bet, and on digging around on-line I found that
this is a fairly widespread interpretation. The diagram at
<
http://housebarra.com/EP/ep02/20wwl.html> is quite helpful,
by the way, and
<
http://www.cs.vassar.edu/~capriest/image/mywwloom.jpg> is a
picture of a modern reproduction based on extant medieval
loom parts from Greenland and Iceland; it's set up for
four-shed twill, according to its owner. (I know her
slightly; she's a serious re-enactor whose scholarship I
trust wholeheartedly.) I think that Grace's photos make a
good case that the battle's swords are being identified with
the weavers' shuttles.
Gengr Hildr vefa
ok Hjörþrimul,
Sanngríðr, Svipul
sverðum tognum;
skapt mun gnesta,
skjöldr mun bresta,
mun hjálmgagarr
í hlíf koma.
> Hild goes to weave
> and Hjörþrimul,
> Sanngríð, Svipul
> with swords drawn
> (the) shaft will crack,
> (the) shield will snap,
> (the) helmed-dog will
> come into (pierce) (the) shield
> Hildr goes weaving
> and Hjorthriml
> Sanngrid, Svipul
> with drawn swords.
> A shaft will crash
> a shield will burst,
> of helmetbane will
> come in protection.
Hildr goes weaving
and Hjörþrimul,
Sanngríðr, Svipul,
with drawn swords;
shaft will clash,
shield will break,
helm-dog [= sword] will
come into shield.
The only real problem here was <hjálmgagarr>. The
individual parts give 'helm-dog' easily enough, but it's
clearly a kenning, and not an obvious one (at least to me).
I finally turned to the Lexicon Poeticum at
<
http://www.septentrionalia.org/lex/index2.php?book=e&page=-15&ext=png>,
specifically p. 255, where <hjalmgagarr> is glossed
'"hjælm-hund", sværd'. (<Hjalm-> is an earlier form of
<hjálm->; the vowel was later lengthened before <l>.)
Here again the correspondence between swords and shuttles
seems clear. The whole thing is a pretty impressive
extended metaphor.
Brian