Cite as: Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Snorri Sturluson, Háttatal 45’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1154.
Lætr undin brot brotna
bragningr fyr sér hringa;
sá tekr fyr men menja
mætt orð of sik fættir. |
Armr kná við blik blikna
brimlands viðum randa,
þars hǫnd at lið liðnar
lýslóðar berr glóðir. |
Bragningr lætr {undin brot hringa} brotna fyr sér; {sá fættir menja} tekr mætt orð of sik fyr men. Armr {viðum randa} kná blikna við {blik {brimlands}}, þars hǫnd berr {glóðir {lýslóðar}} liðnar at lið.
The ruler lets {twisted fragments of rings} [GOLD] be fragmented before him; {that diminisher of necklaces} [GENEROUS MAN] gains a worthy reputation for himself on account of the necklaces. The arms {of the trees of shields} [WARRIORS] gleam against {the gleam {of the surf-land}} [SEA > GOLD] where the hand wears {embers {of the pollack-track}} [SEA > GOLD], slid onto the wrist.
Mss: R(49r), Tˣ(51v), W(145), U(54r) (SnE)
Readings: [3] menja: meina U [4] mætt: met Tˣ, U, mæt W; fættir: ‘fetir’ Tˣ, U, ‘fætir’ W [5] Armr: orm Tˣ; blik: so all others, brim R [7] þars (‘þar er’): þvít W; at: við W; liðnar: liðna W
Editions: Skj: Snorri Sturluson, 2. Háttatal 45: AII, 64, BII, 73, Skald II, 41; SnE 1848-87, I, 658-9, II, 392, III, 122, SnE 1879-81, I, 8, 79, II, 19, SnE 1931, 235, SnE 2007, 21-2; Konráð Gíslason 1895-7, I, 27.
Context: The dróttkvætt
variant is stamhendr háttr ‘the
stuttering-rhymed form’. In the odd lines, alliteration and internal rhyme (aðalhending) fall on the syllables in
metrical positions 4 and 5, creating a stuttering effect. The rhyming words usually involve words with the same etymological root (see also sts 46-8 below).
Notes: [All]: The heading in Tˣ is 37. For this metrical variant, see Kuhn (1969c, 226-7; 1983, 289) and Gade (1995a, 86, 99, 215, 226, 249 n. 21). — [5] armr ‘the arms’: Lit. ‘the arm’ (see Note to st. 42/8). — [5] blik ‘the gleam’: Brim ‘surf’ has been corrected in R to blik (R*). — [8] lýslóðar ‘of the pollack-track [SEA]’: See Note to st. 22/5 above.
