Studia Islandica - 01.07.1966, Síða 28

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the verb mýgja “to destroy, overthrow”, but literally “to
mow down into heaps or piles” (cf. múgr, múgi, English
mow). Similarly, there may he an impiled pun on siSr
“custom” (halda upp siðum ok dœmum, ÓH 679/9) and
síða “side of the body”; and on skipan “arrangement” (eptir
réttri skipan, ÓH 679/10) and skipta “divide” (tviskipt, í
brœðra skipti, ÓH 679/5—6).
There is possibly another pun intended in the explana-
tion of the symbolism of the face of the figure. With the face,
says Rauðúlfr, are associated the organs of speech and hear-
ing (heyrn). The glory of the face represents Óláfr’s great
reward for having converted many people (margr lýðr) to
the true faith with his words and authority. Here there may
be a play intended on the words lýðr and hlýða “to hear”.
The sounds of the words are sufficiently close without neces-
sarily assmning the influence of Norwegian spelling or pro-
nunciation (the loss of initial h- before Z) of which there is
no other evidence in the þáttr, although an Icelander in the
early thirteenth century would certainly know about and
have heard such pronunciations. It may be noted that in his
discussion of ofljóst in his Edda,1 Snorri Sturluson seems to
imply that a play is possible on the sounds of such words as
lið, liðr, hlið, and hlíð, although the meaning of the passage
is not altogether clear. The undoubted cases of word-play
elsewhere in Rauðúlfs þáttr are in some cases not less tor-
tuous than this, and if it is not intended that the organs of
speech and hearing represent the words of the saint’s teach-
ing and the people he converted, it is difficult to see the point
of mentioning them at all. It must be admitted that there
does not seem to be any point in the mention of sight (sýn).
The author often uses a characteristic sentence-pattern
when he uses word-play symbolism, the occurrence of which
can help confirm that word-play is intended in doubtful
cases. The symbol is often explained by two words linked
1 EdcLa Snorra Sturlusonar, ed. Finnur Jónsson (Kobenhavn 1931),
p. 193.