SAGA-BOOK - Viking Society Web Publications

Kattar Sonr 147
poem the men Gunnar left at home are called Iyoar
oneisir; they appear weeping (grdtendr) as they escort him
out of the courtyard. The adj. is also used once in HH [
before it comes again in Signin's disdainful words about
Horibrodd. Helgi asks Hjorleif if he has mustered the
army for the battle: H efir pu kannaoa koni oneisa? In all
these instances oneiss has a laudatory meaning, for
which a reliable gloss would seem to be "unafraid, battleready".
In that case the meaning in Hduamdl 49, netss er
nokkvior hair, would be that the naked man is afraid,
timorous, defenceless.
It should be emphasised that the phrase used at the
beginning of H doamdl 49 is velli at, not velli d. Most
people translate this as "on the field", but that cannot be
right. at means "at, to, towards; against, by", etc., d.
e.g. Rigspuia 2, kom par at husi. It might then be
translated "by, at the field" or "for use on the field", and
then it is reasonable to think of the vpllr as having a
defined functional significance - such as vigvpllr,
pingvpllr. In that case, it is probably the same vpllr as
the one referred to in H doamdl 38:
Vapnom sinom skala maor velli a
feti ganga framarr,
i.e. a man is advised not to stir from his weapons on the
field, doubtless the battlefield. In Vafpruonismdi 18 it
says: VigriOr heitir vpllr er finnaz vigi at, "Vigrid is the
name of the field where they meet for battle".
HdvamdI49 could also be interpreted as saying: "I gave
my clothes to two tree-men for use on the field"; the
clothes, vdoir, might be thought of as herodoir, "warclothes,
armour", although the word ript must, it seems,
refer to cloth.
It must be right to translate neiss and oneiss in the
eddaic poems as respectively "defenceless, afraid" and
the opposite "armed, fearless" The meaning "defence-