Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Snorri Sturluson, Háttatal 50’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1159.
Yggs drósar rýfr eisa
ǫld móðsefa tjǫld;
glóð støkkr í hof Hlakkar
hugtúns firum brún.
Geðveggjar svífr glugga
glæs dynbrími hræs;
hvattr es hyrr at slétta
hjaldrs gnapturna aldrs.
{Eisa {drósar Yggs}} rýfr {tjǫld móðsefa} ǫld; {brún glóð Hlakkar} støkkr í {hof {hugtúns}} firum. Svífr {dynbrími hræs} {glugga {glæs geðveggjar}}; {hyrr hjaldrs} es hvattr at slétta {gnapturna aldrs}.
‘The fire of Yggr’s <= Óðinn’s> woman [VALKYRIE > SWORD] rips the tents of the mind [CHESTS] of people; the burnished ember of Hlǫkk <valkyrie> [SWORD] leaps into the temples of the mind-meadow [BREAST > HEADS] of men. The crashing flame of carrion [SWORD] flashes through the windows of the clear mind-wall [BREAST > WOUNDS]; the fire of battle [SWORD] is whetted to level jutting towers of life [HEADS]. ’
The variant is called inn meiri stúfr ‘the greater apocopated’, and in all the even lines the final syllable (in regular dróttkvætt) has been left off, making the lines pentasyllabic and catalectic (see st. 49 above).
It is noteworthy that all the base-words in the four kennings for ‘sword’ are terms for ‘fire’ (eisa ‘fire’, l. 1; glóð ‘ember’, l. 3; dynbrimi ‘crashing flame’, l. 6; hyrr ‘fire’, l. 7) and that the base-words in all the kennings for body parts are terms for man-made structures (tjǫld ‘tents’, l. 2; hof ‘temples’, l. 3; ‑veggjar ‘-wall’, l. 5; ‑turna ‘towers’, l. 8). If all these kennings are taken without their determinants, the stanza consists of four sentences depicting fire attacking buildings (or tents), i.e. a town being sacked (cf. the double layering of imagery in the previous stanza). — For this variant, see also Þórsnep LvIV and RvHbreiðm Hl 61-2 (alstýft ‘completely apocopated’). — The heading in Tˣ is inn meiri stúfr. 42 ‘the greater apocopated. 42’.
Text is based on reconstruction from the base text and variant apparatus and may contain alternative spellings and other normalisations not visible in the manuscript text. Transcriptions may not have been checked and should not be cited.
Yggs drósar rýfr eisa
ǫld †með seva† tjǫld;
glóð støkkr í hof Hlakkar
hugtúns firum brún.
Geðveggjar svífr glugga
†gless† dynbrími hress;
hvatt es hyrr at slétta
hjaldrs gnapturna aldrs.
Yggs drósar rýfr eisa
ǫld móðsefa tjǫld;
glóð støkkr í hof Hlakkar
hugtúns firum brún.
Geðveggjar svífr glugga
glæs dynbrími hress;
hvattr es hyrr at slétta
hjaldrs gnapturna aldrs.
Yggs drósar rýfr eisa
ǫld móðsefa tjǫld;
glóð støkkr í haf Hlakkar
hugtúns firum brún.
Geðveggjar svífr glugga
†glæss† dun-brími †hræss†;
hvattr es hyrr at slétta
hjaldrs gnapturna aldr.
Yggs drósar rýfr eisa
†ell† móðsefa tjǫld;
glóð støkkr í haf Hlakkar
hugtúns firum brún.
Geðveggr synir glugga
glæs dynbrími hræs;
hvattr es hyrr at slétta
hjaldrs gnapturna aldrs.
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