Cite as: Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Snorri Sturluson, Háttatal 30’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1136.
Þoll biðk hilmis hylli
halda grœnna skjalda;
askr beið af því þroska
þilju Hrungnis ilja. |
Vígfoldar, njót, valdi
vandar, margra landa
(nýtr vast oss) til ítrar
elli (dolga fellir). |
Biðk {þoll grœnna skjalda} halda hylli hilmis; {askr {þilju ilja Hrungnis}} beið þroska af því. {Valdi {vandar {vígfoldar}}}, njót margra landa til ítrar elli; vast oss nýtr, {fellir dolga}.
I ask that {the fir-tree of green shields} [WARRIOR = Snorri] keep the lord’s good grace; {the ash-tree {of the plank of Hrungnir’s <giant’s> foot-soles}} [SHIELD > WARRIOR] gained advancement from that. {Wielder {of the rod {of the war-land}}} [SHIELD > SWORD > WARRIOR = Hákon], enjoy many lands until splendid old age; you were beneficial to us [me], {feller of enemies} [WARRIOR].
Mss: R(48r), Tˣ(50v), W(143), U(47r) (ll. 1-2), U(52r-v) (SnE)
Readings: [1] Þoll: Holl Tˣ; biðk (‘bið ec’): ‘[…] ek’ W [2] grœnna: ‘græna’ U(47r) [5] njót: ‘nio’ Tˣ, mót U [7] vast (‘vartv’): ‘vatv’ U; ítrar: ítra U [8] fellir: fellis W
Editions: Skj: Snorri Sturluson, 2. Háttatal 30: AII, 60, BII, 69, Skald II, 39, NN §1308; SnE 1848-87, I, 640-1, II, 371, 387, III, 118, SnE 1879-81, I, 5, 77, II, 14, SnE 1931, 229, SnE 2007, 16-17; Konráð Gíslason 1895-7, I, 19.
Context: The dróttkvætt
variant illustrated by the stanza is draugsháttr
‘ghost’s verse-form’ or ‘trunk’s verse-form’. The variation occurs in the even lines and
consists of a regularised trochaic pattern (Type A) with three disyllabic
long-stemmed words in each line and the first aðalhending fixed in metrical position 1.
Notes: [All]: The headings are 23 (Tˣ) and ‘Dravgs þáttr’ ‘ghost’s þáttr’ (corrected to ‘Dravgs háttr’, U(47r)). It is unclear what draugsháttr means (draugr translates as ‘ghost’ or ‘tree-trunk’), but in light of the similar pattern in the hrynhent-variant trollsháttr ‘troll’s verse-form’ in st. 63 below, ‘ghost-rhymed’ would appear to be the most likely translation of the term. A closely similar unnamed variant is found in RvHbreiðm Hl 71-2. Trochaic even lines are not uncommon in dróttkvætt stanzas, but they are never used systematically as here. — [All]: This
is the last stanza devoted solely to the praise of King Hákon Hákonarson. The
following stanzas honour Hákon’s father-in-law and regent, Jarl Skúli Bárðarson
(sts 31-96/1-4) or both rulers (sts 96/5-8-102). — [2] grœnna skjalda ‘of green shields’: For shields painted green, see Falk (1914b, 147). — [4] þilju ilja Hrungnis ‘of the plank of Hrungnir’s <giant’s> footsoles [SHIELD]’: For this kenning, see Skm (SnE 1998, I, 20-4) and Note to Sturl Hákkv 16/7-8II. For the underlying myth of the god Þórr’s combat with the giant Hrungnir, see Þjóð Haustl 14-20.
