Ótt Hfl 17I/4 — folds ‘of the land’
Lýtandi, hefr ljótu
lands rôðǫndum, branda,
umbstillingar allar,
ifla folds, of goldit.
Hafa lézt heiðska jǫfra,
herskorðandi, forðum,
mundangs laun, þás meinum,
mætr gramr, við þik sættu.
Lýtandi branda folds ifla, hefr of goldit ljótu rôðǫndum lands allar umbstillingar. Herskorðandi, mætr gramr, lézt heiðska jǫfra, þás forðum sættu meinum við þik, hafa laun mundangs.
Harmer of the flames of the land of the hawk [HAND > GOLD > GENEROUS MAN = Óláfr], you have paid with ill the rulers of the land for all their plottings. Army-supporter [RULER], excellent ruler, you let the Hedmark princes who previously planned injuries against you receive an appropriate payment.
readings
[4] folds: flóðs Bb, fold 325VII, Flat, Tóm
notes
[4] folds ‘of the land’: A problematic reading, though most mss (including the best ones) have it, since fold ‘land’ is f., with foldar as its usual gen. sg. (a) ÍF 27 suggests simply that folds is an irregular gen. sg. for foldar, of a type paralleled by some other f. nouns, though normally in compounds (e.g. hjálpsmaðr for usual hjálparmaðr ‘helper’: see CVC: hjálps-maðr); this solution is followed here since it respects the dominant ms. form. (b) Kock (NN §730; Skald) emends to foldar, even though this requires the deletion of the expletive particle of, in order to retain the requisite six syllables in the line. (c) Finnur Jónsson in Skj B adopts the reading fold, found in the relatively unauthoritative mss 325VII, Flat, and Tóm, and suggests that it combines with branda to form a cpd fold-branda ‘land-flames (of the hawk) [ARM > GOLD]’ whose elements are separated by a kind of reverse tmesis. However, as Kock notes, Finnur in LP is inconsistent, suggesting ifla fold-branda under lýta, but brandr ifla foldar under 1. brandr .
kennings
- folds ifla, — of the land of the hawk, [HAND]
- branda folds ifla, — of the flames of the land of the hawk, [GOLD]
- Lýtandi branda folds ifla, — Harmer of the flames of the land of the hawk, [GENEROUS MAN = Óláfr]
grammar
case: gen.