Note to Eskál Vell 6^I

[1-4]: There have been various opinions as to how l. 3 relates to the main and intercalary clauses of the first helmingr. (a) In this edn, the intercalary clause consists only of gramr svafði bil ‘the ruler ended delay’ (l. 4; cf. NN §393; ÍF 26; Hkr 1991); Kock (NN §1825) collected many examples of this kind of division of the fourth line. Line 3, glaðr í veðrum Gǫndlar is taken as part of the main clause, qualifying oddneytir, hence ‘the arrow-user [WARRIOR], glad in the winds of Gǫndul [BATTLES]’ (following Konráð Gíslason 1895-7, I, 105-6). Keeping the same arrangement of clauses, ‘in the winds of Gǫndul’ might instead be taken as a prepositional phrase meaning that the ruler had deployed his fleet in battle (Hkr 1893-1901, IV; Skj B; ÍF 26; Hkr 1991), but this is less likely because it would have to be linked to úti ‘out at sea’ in l. 1. Alternative clause arrangements are as follows. (b) The intercalary clause could comprise glaðr gramr svafði bil í veðrum Gǫndlar ‘the glad ruler ended delay in the winds of Gǫndul [BATTLES]’ (Fms 12; Vell 1865, 8; CPB II, 44; Reichardt 1928, 10-12). The meaning of this is problematic because, at the time of battle, any delay has already been overcome. Moreover, the syntax and word order would hardly be acceptable. (c) The intercalary clause could comprise glaðr gramr svafði bil ‘the glad ruler ended delay’ (Hkr 1893-1901, IV; Skj B). Whereas Kock (NN §§393, 1825) rejects this version because of its convoluted word order, Reichardt (1928, 11) thinks it more poetic.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
3. Fms = Sveinbjörn Egilsson et al., eds. 1825-37. Fornmanna sögur eptir gömlum handritum útgefnar að tilhlutun hins norræna fornfræða fèlags. 12 vols. Copenhagen: Popp.
4. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. CPB = Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and F. York Powell, eds. 1883. Corpus poeticum boreale: The Poetry of the Old Northern Tongue from the Earliest Times to the Thirteenth Century. 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon. Rpt. 1965, New York: Russell & Russell.
6. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
7. Hkr 1893-1901 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1893-1901. Heimskringla: Nóregs konunga sǫgur af Snorri Sturluson. 4 vols. SUGNL 23. Copenhagen: Møller.
8. Hkr 1991 = Bergljót S. Kristjánsdóttir et al., eds. 1991. Heimskringla. 3 vols. Reykjavík: Mál og menning.
9. Konráð Gíslason. 1895-7. Efterladte skrifter. 2 vols. I: Forelæsninger over oldnordiske skjaldekvad. II: Forelæsninger og videnskablige afhandlinger. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
10. Reichardt, Konstantin. 1928. Studien zu den Skalden des 9. und 10. Jahrhunderts. Palaestra 159. Leipzig: Mayer & Müller.
11. Vell 1865 = Freudenthal, Axel Olof. 1865. Einar Skålaglams Vellekla / öfversatt och förklarad af Axel Olof Freudenthal. Helsingfors: Frenckell.