The serviceability of the patronymic phrase as formulaic ballast to round
off the verse appears in a structural pattern common to Greek, Old High
German, Old English, Old Norse, and Russian, whereby the primary name
is accompanied by a verb of speaking and then followed up by ‘the son (or
daughter) of X’.
τ:ν δ, αoτ, Α1τομδων προσφη, ∆ι.ρεο υTο ́ .
(Il. 17. 474; cf. Od. 1. 383, 4. 660, 8. 132, etc.)
Haðubrant gimahalta, Hiltibrantes sunu. (Hildebrandslied 14 = 36).
Hiltibrant gimahalta, Heribrantes sunu. (ibid. 45)
Unferð maþelode, Ecgla ̄fes bearn. (Beowulf 499)
Be ̄owulf maþelode, bearn Ecgþe ̄owes. (ibid. 529 = 631 = 957)
þá kvaðþat Brynhildr, Buðla dóttir. (Brot af Sigurðarkviðo 8. 1)
þá kvaðþat Gullro ̨ nd, Giúca dóttir. (Guðrúnarkviða. 12. 1, al.)
Young Shchelkan spoke, young Shchelkan Dyudentevich.
(Chadwick (1932), 161. 57 f.).
Tsar Azvyak replied, Azvyak Tavrulovich. (ibid. 162. 73 f.)Many other verses have a similar structure, but with another title instead of
the patronymic, as in Waldere B 11 Waldere maþelode, wiga ellenro ̄f, ‘Waldere
spoke, warrior strong in courage’;Beowulf 371 = 456 Hro ̄ðga ̄r maþelode, helm
Scyldinga, ‘Hrothgar spoke, protector of the Scyldings’;Guðrúnarhvo ̨t 4. 1 = 8.
1 þá kvað pat Hamðir inn hugomstóri, ‘then Hamdir said this, the strong-
minded’, cf. Hamðismál 6. 1, al.; Guðrúnarkviða A 4. 1, 6. 1, al.
Besides the patronymic there is another type of surname that not only
identifies an individual more certainly but at the same time recalls a major
exploit: the designation ‘slayer of X’. We saw in Chapter 2 that such titles
could be used as kennings for a god or hero. Naturally they could also be
used in conjunction with the primary name, even in prose texts, showing
that this was no mere poetic ornament but part of the man’s traditional
identity. In the Avesta we have ‘Θrae ̄taona the slayer of Azˇi Daha ̄ka’ (Vd. 1.
17). Two of the Eddic poems are entitled Lay of Helgi Hundingsbani, that is,
of Helgi slayer of Hunding. The phrase occurs once in the poetic text, but
it had wider currency. The accompanying prose states that ‘he slew king
Hunding and was thereafter called Helgi Hundingsbani’.^96 Snorri refers no
less matter-of-factly to Sigurðr Fáfnisbani, Sigurd the slayer of Fafnir
(Skáldsk. 64).
(^96) Edda p. 151 N.–K. Similarly Saxo 2. 5. 3 p. 47, (Helgo) Hundingum Saxoniae regis Syrici
filium... duello prostravit; ob quod Hundingi interemptor vocatus victoriae decus cognomine
usurpavit.
- Mortality and Fame 405