OBarr Frag 1^III

Hvégis, Draupnis drógar
dís — ramman spyrk vísa —
(sá ræðr) valdr (fyr veldi)
vagnbrautar mér fagnar.

Hvégis {valdr {vagnbrautar}} fagnar mér, {dís {drógar Draupnis}}; spyrk vísa ramman; sá ræðr fyr veldi.

In whatever way {the ruler {of the wagon-road}} [SKY/HEAVEN > = God] welcomes me, {dís <minor female deity> {of the drawing of Draupnir <mythical ring>}} [GOLD > WOMAN]; I hear the lord is powerful; he rules over the realm.

Mss: R(26r), Tˣ(26v), W(56), U(29r), B(5r) (SnE)

Readings: [1] Hvégis (‘hvegi er’): hneigi er Tˣ;    Draupnis: ‘dro᷎pniss’ B;    drógar: ‘dro᷎gar’ B    [2] ramman: ‘raman’ Tˣ;    spyrk (‘spyr ec’): spyr W    [4] vagn‑: vagns B;    fagnar: fagnat Tˣ, W

Editions: Skj AI, 143, Skj BI, 135, Skald I, 74, NN §§303B, 427, 1895, 3027B; SnE 1848-87, I, 318-19, II, 314, 526, III, 48-9, SnE 1931, 114, SnE 1998, I, 34.

Context: See Introduction. The helmingr is introduced in R with the words Svá sem kvað Ormr Barreyjaskáld ‘Just as Ormr poet of Barra said’. Mss U and B also spell the poet’s nickname in this way, while Tˣ and W have Barreyjar-.

Notes: [All]: The main subject of Ormr’s poem is unknown. The poet seems to be speculating about the welcome he anticipates receiving in heaven. If Ormr came from the Hebrides, where much of the population was Christian well before Christianity came to Norway and Iceland, it is likely that the referent of the kenning in ll. 3-4 is the Christian God, rather than Óðinn. Skj B is undecided, while Faulkes (SnE 1998, I, 180) suggests the helmingr may be about Óðinn ‘and perhaps refers to the poet’s reception in Valhǫll or heaven’. — [All]: It is also possible to construe the helmingr’s syntax in several different ways; cf. Skj B for the above interpretation. Kock (NN §427) construes with two parallel clauses, ramman spyrk vísa ‘I hear the lord is powerful’ (l. 2) and sá valdr ræðr fyr veldi vagnbrautar ‘that ruler rules over the realm of the wagon-road’ (ll. 3-4). — [1] drógar Draupnis ‘of the drawing of Draupnir <mythical ring> [GOLD]’: The noun dróg occurs only here as a simplex and in the compounds almdróg (Gsind Hákdr 71^I) and ýdróg (Hfr Óldr 6/5^I), both meaning ‘bow-string’. The noun plausibly derives from the verb draga ‘draw, pull’ and means ‘that which is drawn’. It has been understood here (cf. LP: dróg) to mean ‘the drawing, i.e. that which is drawn’ from Draupnir, that is, gold. Draupnir (lit. ‘dripper’) was Óðinn’s gold arm-ring, which had been forged for him by some dwarfs. According to Gylf (SnE 2005, 47) it had the property that every ninth night there dripped from it eight gold rings of the same weight. An alternative interpretation is that dróg could mean ‘band, string’, as in the two compounds above; this would then form the base-word of a ring-kenning. Kock (NN §1895) proposed for dróg the meaning ‘that on which something is drawn’, and understood dróg Draupnis as a kenning for the arm (cf. Meissner 419-20). — [3, 4] valdr vagnbrautar ‘the ruler of the wagon-road [SKY/HEAVEN > = God]’: Very similar to other kennings for God as ruler of the heavens (LP: valdr 1). In a number of Christian skaldic poems, heaven is referred to as the road, path, bridge or roof of the wagon, meaning the constellation Ursa Major, called Karlsvagn in Old Norse (ModEngl. Charles’s Wain). Other early examples are ESk Geisl 71/7, 8^VII vísa hôs vagnræfrs ‘king of the high wagon-roof’ and Ník Jóndr 3/6^VII tyggi vagnbryggju ‘ruler of the wagon-bridge’.

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. Meissner = Meissner, Rudolf. 1921. Die Kenningar der Skalden: Ein Beitrag zur skaldischen Poetik. Rheinische Beiträge und Hülfsbücher zur germanischen Philologie und Volkskunde 1. Bonn and Leipzig: Schroeder. Rpt. 1984. Hildesheim etc.: Olms.
7. 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.
8. SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
9. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
10. SnE 2005 = Snorri Sturluson. 2005. Edda: Prologue and Gylfaginning. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
11. Internal references
12. (forthcoming), ‘ Snorri Sturluson, Gylfaginning’ 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=113> (accessed 21 May 2024)
13. Martin Chase (ed.) 2007, ‘Einarr Skúlason, Geisli 71’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 64-5.
14. Russell Poole (ed.) 2012, ‘Guthormr sindri, Hákonardrápa 7’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 166.
15. Beatrice La Farge (ed.) 2007, ‘Níkulás Bergsson, Jónsdrápa postula 3’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 68-9.
16. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2012, ‘Hallfreðr vandræðaskáld Óttarsson, Óláfsdrápa 6’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 398.