Gripla - 2020, Side 208

207
st. 9.25 It seems, then, that it was Arnórr who originally coined kennings
for rulers by combining gentile names with words for ‘friend’.26 A pattern
for such periphrases was provided by already existing kennings for rulers
like gumna vinr (Glúmr Gráf 3, ca. 970) and vinr virða (Sigv Ást 3, ca. 1035),
both meaning ‘friend of men’.27 However that may be, Egða andspillir could
perhaps have functioned as a kenning for a Norwegian king – even though
andspillir implies an intimacy (‘confidant’) that neither vinr nor gjafvinr
does – they emphasize the custom of gift-giving and generosity – but it
can hardly be a kenning for ‘a Norwegian’ in general.
The closest semantic parallels to andspillir among the base-words of
kennings that I am aware of are spjalli m. and (of-)rúni m., both covering
the meaning ‘confidant’. These words are used mainly in mythological ken-
nings (e.g., spjalli Hrungnis, a giant, Hym 16; Þórs of-rúni, i.e. Loki, Þjóð
Haustl 8) or in kennings for ‘ruler’ (e.g., gotna spjalli ‘men’s confidant’, Arn
Hryn 8; rekka rúni ‘warriors’ counsellor’, ótt Hfl 13).28 The only occurrence
with a possible gentilic determinant is the óðinn-kenning Gauta spjalli in
Egill’s sonatorrek 21, which could possibly be translated ‘the confidant of
the Gautar’ and refer to a special association between óðinn and the inhab-
itants of Götaland.29 This could just as well, however, be a simple heiti for
humans in general.30 If so, the kenning Egða andspillir seems to be isolated
from a semantic point of view as well. The closest match is represented by
a verbal echo in Sigvatr’s vestrfararvísur 2, vv. 1–2, with the collocation of
a demonym and the neutral counterpart of andspillir in exactly the same
metrical positions as in Gísli’s stanza: Útan varðk, áðr jóta | andspilli fekk’k
stillis, compare Hyggið at, kvað Egða | andspilli Vǫr banda.31 Of course, here
jóta functions not as a determinant for andspilli, but the meaning is rather
25 skP II, 270.
26 There are, however, Anglo-Saxon examples in Beowulf, e.g., wine scyldinga (ll. 30, 2026),
wine Deniga (l. 350). These certainly predate Arnórr’s poetry, even if the very latest date
proposed for Beowulf is accepted.
27 skP I, 251, 649.
28 Edda. Die Lieder des Codex Regius nebst verwandten Denkmälern, ed. Gustav Neckel, 4th ed.
by Hans Kuhn (Heidelberg: Carl Winter Universitätsverlag, 1962), 90; skP III, 443; skP
II, 192; skP I, 756.
29 So Meissner, Die Kenningar der skalden, 252.
30 Cf. Lex.poet., s.v. Gautar, and skP I, 175, commenting on the óðinn-kenning Gauta-týr in
Eyv Hák 1.
31 skP I, 618.
Gí SLI Sú RSSON AS E G ð A A n D s P I L L I R