Refr Giz 2^III

Opt kom (jarðar leiptra
es Baldr hniginn skaldi
hollr) at helgu fulli
hrafnásar mér (stafna).

Opt kom mér at {helgu fulli {hrafnásar}}; {Baldr {leiptra {jarðar stafna}}}, hollr skaldi, es hniginn.

He often brought me to {the holy cup {of the raven-god}} [= Óðinn > POETRY]; {the Baldr <god> {of the lightnings {of the land of prows}}} [SEA > GOLD > MAN], loyal to the skald, has fallen.

Mss: R(20v), Tˣ(21r), W(45), U(26r), B(4r) (SnE)

Readings: [1] kom: kemr all others;    jarðar: so all others, ‘[...]rþar’ R    [3] at: af B;    helgu fulli: helgum fullum U    [4] hrafnásar: so Tˣ, W, U, ‘hrafnalar’ R, ‘hranna lar’ B;    mér stafna: með stafni U

Editions: Skj AI, 319, Skj BI, 295, Skald I, 150, NN §§2070D, 2338, 2463E; SnE 1848-87, I, 232-3, II, 302, 518, III, 2, SnE 1931, 88, SnE 1998, I, 7.

Context: In Skm (SnE), the helmingr is cited among stanzas that illustrate kennings for Óðinn (here, hrafnáss ‘raven-god’).

Notes: [2-3]: Earlier eds have taken skaldi (n. dat. sg.) ‘the skald’ with hniginn ‘fallen’ (p. p. of hníga ‘fall (in battle), pass away, topple, bend down’), sometimes in the sense of ‘passed away from the skald’ (cf. Skj B: nu er manden død fra skjalden (mig) ‘now the man has passed away from the skald (me)’; Clunies Ross 2005a, 61 ‘is departed from the poet’). However, neither hníga nor deyja ‘die’ is attested with a dat. object in the sense of ‘pass away from sby, leave sby behind’. Kock (NN §2463E) compares hníga e-m with falla e-m which he translates as falla för ngns hand ‘fall by sby’s hand’, which would mean that Hofgarða-Refr had killed Gizurr. Faulkes (SnE 1998, II, 315) entertains both of these possibilities. In the present edn, skaldi is taken as a dat. with the adj. hollr ‘loyal, faithful, well-disposed towards sby’, which is regularly construed with the dat. (Fritzner: hollr 1). The sense is that the skald (Hofgarða-Refr) laments the fact that the man (Gizurr) who was loyal to him and taught him the art of skaldic composition has fallen in battle. — [2] es ‘has’: Lit. ‘is’. A monosyllabic finite verb (here es ‘is’) does not usually carry alliteration and full stress, but Kock (NN §2070D) has collected a few examples in which such verbs can do so in line-initial position (see also Gade 1995a, 122-3). — [4] hrafnásar ‘of the raven-god [= Óðinn]’: This periphrasis for Óðinn is only attested here and in Þjóð Haustl 4/4 (see Note to Þjóð Haustl 4/3, 4). It is possible that Hofgarða-Refr knew Þjóðólfr’s poem (cf. Þjóð Haustl 4/3 helgum skutli ‘the holy trencher’ and helgu fulli ‘the holy cup’ in l. 3 above).

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. SnE 1848-87 = Snorri Sturluson. 1848-87. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar: Edda Snorronis Sturlaei. Ed. Jón Sigurðsson et al. 3 vols. Copenhagen: Legatum Arnamagnaeanum. Rpt. Osnabrück: Zeller, 1966.
4. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
6. Gade, Kari Ellen. 1995a. The Structure of Old Norse dróttkvætt Poetry. Islandica 49. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
7. Fritzner = Fritzner, Johan. 1883-96. Ordbog over det gamle norske sprog. 3 vols. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske forlagsforening. 4th edn. Rpt. 1973. Oslo etc.: Universitetsforlaget.
8. Clunies Ross, Margaret. 2005a. A History of Old Norse Poetry and Poetics. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer.
9. SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
10. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
11. Internal references
12. Edith Marold 2017, ‘Snorra Edda (Prologue, Gylfaginning, Skáldskaparmál)’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols [check printed volume for citation].
13. (forthcoming), ‘ Snorri Sturluson, Skáldskaparmál’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=112> (accessed 28 April 2024)
14. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Þjóðólfr ór Hvini, Haustlǫng 4’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 437.