Note to HSt Rst 35I
[3, 4] hóps hyr-Njǫrðr ‘Njǫrðr <god> of the fire of the bay [(lit. ‘fire-Njǫrðr of the bay’) GOLD > MAN]’: (a) This edn follows Konráð Gíslason (1895-7) and Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) in emending the nonsensical ms. reading ‘morðr’ to Njǫrðr, which is only a matter of reading <ni> instead of <m>, and ms. ‘hofs’ to hóps. The kenning is taken here as a vocative directed to the recipient of the poem, but it is uncertain whether this would be Óláfr or an unknown commissioner of the poem. Alternatively it could be appositional to ek ‘I’ (l. 2), as seemingly assumed in Skj B. (b) Kock (NN §2097) argued against a vocative warrior-kenning instoppad mitt ibland fruntimren ‘squeezed in among the women’, as he puts it, and emends Njǫrðr to an endingless dat. sg. form Njǫrð (a younger variant on Nirði; cf. ANG §§394, 395.3). He sees the kenning as elaborating on drôpu and referring to the recipient of the praise-poem, King Óláfr; he cites parallels in st. 1/3 and st. 34/5-6, and further parallels in NN §2543A, C.
References
- Bibliography
- Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
- NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
- ANG = Noreen, Adolf. 1923. Altnordische Grammatik I: Altisländische und altnorwegische Grammatik (Laut- und Flexionslehre) unter Berücksichtigung des Urnordischen. 4th edn. Halle: Niemeyer. 1st edn. 1884. 5th unrev. edn. 1970. Tübingen: Niemeyer.
- Konráð Gíslason. 1895-7. Efterladte skrifter. 2 vols. I: Forelæsninger over oldnordiske skjaldekvad. II: Forelæsninger og videnskablige afhandlinger. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.