Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Rǫgnvaldr jarl and Hallr Þórarinsson, Háttalykill 15’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1022.
… an vægði
sóknfúss inn beinlausi
…
… í bǫð færi,
því …
… meginvíða
réð aldrlagi Ellu
…
… an vægði sóknfúss inn beinlausi … í bǫð færi, því … meginvíða … réð aldrlagi Ellu …
… than submitted, battle-eager, the boneless … in battle fewer, therefore … very widely … caused the death of Ælla …
Mss: papp25ˣ(42v), R683ˣ(126v)
Readings: [2] sóknfúss: ‘soc suss’ or ‘soc susz’ papp25ˣ, ‘soc fuss’ R683ˣ
Editions: Skj AI, 515, Skj BI, 490-1, Skald I, 240, NN §3115; Hl 1941, 35, 51-2.
Context: The metre is munnvǫrp (‘Munnvorpor’) ‘mouth-throwings’ (i.e. ‘improvisations’; cf. SnSt Ht 66). Munnvǫrp is structured similarly to dróttkvætt but the odd lines lack internal rhyme and the even lines have skothending rather than aðalhending.
Notes: [All]: This metrical variant is quite common in less formal skaldic verse, and it is used consistently in Bjbp JómsI. — [All]: The hero commemorated is Ívarr inn beinlausi ‘the Boneless’, a son of Ragnarr loðbrók and the slayer of King Ælla (see sts 13-14). For Ragnarr’s sons, see Ragnars saga loðbrókar (Ragn), Ragnarssona saga (RagnSon), ÍF 35, 76-7 n. 11, 78-90, Saxo 2005, I, 9, 4, 8-5, 8, pp. 590-613, as well as sts 17-22 below. — [All]: Based on the structure (rhyme, alliteration, syntactic fillers) the lines can be divided as above (see Hl 1941). Finnur Jónsson and Kock did not realise that l. 3 was missing, and they accordingly construe l. 4 as an odd rather than as an even line. However, í bǫð færi ‘in battle fewer’ cannot occupy positions 3-6 in an odd line (bǫð ‘battle’ and færi ‘fewer’ would need to alliterate). Skj B and Skald also place því ‘therefore’ (l. 5) and meginvíða ‘very widely’ (l. 6) in the same line (their l. 4) and take our l. 7 as l. 5. — [2] sóknfúss ‘battle-eager’: The ms. readings make no sense, and the emendation is in keeping with earlier eds. — [7] Ellu ‘of Ælla’: Previous eds add the name Ellu (gen. sg. of Ella) to complete the line. Because Ívarr killed Ælla, that reconstruction is likely to be correct and has been adopted here. See also Anon Krm 24/5-6VIII. — [8]: Papp25ˣ has a stop after aldrlagi ‘death’ in l. 7, but R683ˣ indicates that more words are missing. Attempts by earlier eds to reconstruct the stanza (NN §3115; Hl 1941) are completely conjectural and will not be discussed here.
Use the buttons at the top of the page to navigate between stanzas in a poem.
The text and translation are given here, with buttons to toggle whether the text is shown in the verse order or prose word order. Clicking on indiviudal words gives dictionary links, variant readings, kennings and notes, where relevant.
This is the text of the edition in a similar format to how the edition appears in the printed volumes.
This view is also used for chapters and other text segments. Not all the headings shown are relevant to such sections.