Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Arnórr jarlaskáld Þórðarson, Hrynhenda, Magnússdrápa 16’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 202-3.
Ótti, kunnuð elgjum hætta
œðiveðrs á skelfðan grœði,
fengins golls, eða fœðið ella
flestan aldr und drifnu tjaldi.
Glíkan berr þik hvǫssum hauki,
hollvinr minn, í lypting innan
— aldri skríðr und fylki fríðra
farligt eiki — Visundr snarla.
{Ótti fengins golls}, kunnuð hætta {elgjum œðiveðrs} á skelfðan grœði, eða fœðið ella flestan aldr und drifnu tjaldi. Visundr berr þik snarla glíkan hvǫssum hauki, hollvinr minn, innan í lypting; farligt eiki skríðr aldri und fríðra fylki.
{Terror of seized gold} [GENEROUS MAN], you know how to risk {elks of the raging gale} [SHIPS] on the piled-up swell, or else you pass the most part of your life under the spray-drenched awnings. Visundr (‘Bison’) carries you swiftly, like a keen hawk, my true friend, inside the after-deck; a goodly oaken ship will never glide beneath a finer prince.
Mss: Mork(5v) (Mork); Flat(196ra) (Flat); H(33r), Hr(24ra) (H-Hr); W(168) (SnE, ll. 1-4); 2368ˣ(112), 743ˣ(86r) (LaufE)
Readings: [2] á: um W, 2368ˣ, 743ˣ; skelfðan: skelfan Flat, skelfar Hr [4] flestan: ‘fræmztan’ W, ‘fremz umm’ 2368ˣ, ‘fremz um’ 743ˣ; drifnu: ‘drifu’ Flat [7] fríðra: so H, Hr, frægra Mork, Flat [8] far‑: fagr‑ Flat; eiki Visundr: ‘eikiu sund’ Flat, ‘eiki vishundr’ Hr
Editions: Skj AI, 337, Skj BI, 310, Skald I, 157; Mork 1928-32, 117, Andersson and Gade 2000, 166, 474 (MH); Flat 1860-8, III, 322 (MH); Fms 6, 196 (HSig ch. 24), Fms 12, 147-8; SnE 1848-87, II, 498; LaufE 1979, 370; Whaley 1998, 1745-6.
Context: In Mork, Flat and H-Hr, the st. is embedded, like st. 3, in the story of Arnórr’s recitation at the court of Magnús and Haraldr. In SnE, the first helmingr is preceded by a list of agent nouns and other terms which can be used in man-kennings, including ótti ‘terror’ which is exemplified here.
Notes: [1, 3] ótti fengins golls ‘terror of seized gold [GENEROUS RULER]’: The fengit ‘seized’ gold could have been won as war-spoils or else inherited or received as taxation. — [4] drifnu tjaldi ‘the spray-drenched awnings’: The same phrase, in the pl. drifin tjǫld, is found in Þhorn Harkv 5/8I (c. 900). The word tjald generally refers to a land-tent, or to awnings which protected seafarers and their cargo, especially in harbour. Jesch (2001a, 164-5) suggests that tjald here, as in Arn Þorfdr 19/6, could refer to a sail rather than awnings; she notes the use of sædrifinn ‘sea-drenched, foam-sprayed’ to describe a sail in Gísl Magnkv 14/7. — [5] glíkan hvǫssum hauki ‘like a keen hawk’: The hawk image is discussed in the Note to st. 3/5. — [7] fríðra ‘finer’: That fríðra (so H, Hr) rather than Mork and Flat’s frægra ‘more famous’ is the original reading is established by the aðalhending with skríðr ‘will glide’. — [8] Visundr ‘(“Bison”)’: See Note to ÞjóðA Magnfl 4/8.
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