Kolb Lv 7^III

Myndi mér fyr stundu
mikit orðalag þikkja
of elgrenni unnar
eyrum slíkt at heyra.

Myndi þikkja mér fyr stundu mikit orðalag at heyra eyrum slíkt of {{unnar elg}renni}.

It would have seemed to me a while ago a significant expression if I had heard with my own ears such a thing about {the impeller {of the elk of the wave}} [(lit. ‘wave’s elk-impeller’) SHIP > SEAFARER].

Mss: A(5r), W(104) (TGT)

Readings: [1] Myndi: Mundi A, W    [3] of (‘um’): so W, ef A;    elgrenni: eldgrenni W

Editions: Skj AII, 39, Skj BII, 48, Skald II, 30; SnE 1848-87, II, 124-5, 412, III, 143, TGT 1884, 19, 81, 191-2, TGT 1927, 56, 98.

Context: In TGT the helmingr is cited to illustrate the rhetorical figure pleonasmos, which is defined as follows (TGT 1927, 56): hégómlig viðrlagning einnar sagnar yfir þat fram, sem fullu máli heyrir ‘a useless addition of a word beyond that which is suitable for the complete clause’. According to Óláfr Þórðarson (loc. cit.), in this particular case eyrum (lit. ‘with ears’, l. 4) is superfluous, because hearing is the only sense a person uses for listening to something, and one hears with the ears.

Notes: [All]: Nothing is known about the circumstances that prompted the composition of this half-stanza, and the identity of the ‘seafarer’ is also unknown. Finnur Jónsson (TGT 1927, 98) speculates that this may have been Kolbeinn’s brother-in-law, Bishop Guðmundr Arason of Hólar, but that cannot be ascertained. — [1] myndi ‘it would’: Both mss have the variant form mundi, which is also possible (cf. ANG §524.2) but results in aðalhending rather than skothending in this odd line. — [2] þikkja ‘have seemed’: Lit. ‘seem’ (inf.). This form, rather than the earlier þykkja (see ANG §147; Björn K. Þórólfsson 1925, xvi-xvii) is required by internal rhyme (-ik- : -ikk-). — [3] unnar elgrenni ‘the impeller of the elk of the wave [(lit. ‘wave’s elk-impeller’) SHIP > SEAFARER]’: This is the reading of ms. A. The W variant could be construed as unnar eldgrenni ‘the diminisher of the fire of the wave [(lit. ‘wave’s fire diminisher’) GOLD > GENEROUS MAN]’, in which the agent noun grennir ‘diminisher’ is derived from the weak verb grenna in the sense ‘diminish’. Grennir is, however, much more common as base-word in the sense ‘feeder’ (from grenna ‘feed, satiate’), and the A variant has been adopted here (so also earlier eds; cf. LP: grennir 1-2). — [4] heyra eyrum ‘if I had heard with my own ears’: Lit. ‘to hear with ears’. For a similar play on eyru ‘ears’ and heyra ‘hear’, see Sigv Berv 8/3^II and SnSt Lv 6/4.

References

1. Bibliography
2. TGT 1884 = Björn Magnússon Ólsen, ed. 1884. Den tredje og fjærde grammatiske afhandling i Snorres Edda tilligemed de grammatiske afhandlingers prolog og to andre tillæg. SUGNL 12. Copenhagen: Knudtzon.
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. LP = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1931. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis: Ordbog over det norsk-islandske skjaldesprog oprindelig forfattet af Sveinbjörn Egilsson. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Møller.
6. ANG = Noreen, Adolf. 1923. Altnordische Grammatik I: Altisländische und altnorwegische Grammatik (Laut- und Flexionslehre) unter Berücksichtigung des Urnordischen. 4th edn. Halle: Niemeyer. 1st edn. 1884. 5th unrev. edn. 1970. Tübingen: Niemeyer.
7. Björn K. Þórólfsson. 1925. Um íslenskar orðmyndir á 14. og 15. öld og breytingar þeirra úr fornmálinu. Reykjavík: Fjelagsprentsmiðjan. Rpt. 1987. Rit um íslenska málfræði 2. Reykjavík: Málvísindastofnun Háskóla Íslands.
8. TGT 1927 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1927b. Óláfr Þórðarson: Málhljóða- og málskrúðsrit. Grammatisk-retorisk afhandling. Det kgl. Danske Videnskabernes Selskab. Historisk-filologiske meddelelser 13, 2. Copenhagen: Høst.
9. Internal references
10. (forthcoming), ‘ Óláfr hvítaskáld Þórðarson, The Third Grammatical Treatise’ in Tarrin Wills (ed.), The Third Grammatical Treatise. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=32> (accessed 12 May 2024)
11. Guðrún Nordal (forthcoming), ‘ Snorri Sturluson, Lausavísur’ in Guðrún Nordal (ed.), Poetry on Icelandic History. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 4. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1378> (accessed 12 May 2024)
12. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Sigvatr Þórðarson, Bersǫglisvísur 8’ 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, p. 19.