Cite as: Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Snorri Sturluson, Háttatal 85’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1196.

Mærð vilk auka Mistar lauka góma sverði grundar skerði.

Dýrð skal segja — drótt má þegja — styrjar glóða støkkvi-Móða.

Vilk auka mærð {skerði {grundar {lauka Mistar}}} {sverði góma}. Skal segja dýrð {støkkvi-Móða {glóða styrjar}}; drótt má þegja.

I wish to increase the praise {for the notcher {of the ground {of Mist’s <valkyrie’s> leeks}}} [SWORDS > SHIELD > WARRIOR] {with my sword of the gums} [TONGUE]. I shall recount the glory {of the scattering Móði <god> {of embers of strife}} [SWORDS > WARRIOR]; the court must be silent.

Mss: W(150), R(52v) (SnE)

Readings: [1] vilk: so R, skal W    [2] Mistar lauka: ‘m[…]avka’ R    [3] sverði: ‘[…]’ R    [8] støkkvi‑Móða: ‘stꜹkq[…]þa’ R

Editions: Skj: Snorri Sturluson, 2. Háttatal 85: AII, 74, BII, 84, Skald II, 46; SnE 1848-87, I, 702-3, III, 132, SnE 1879-81, I, 14, 84, II, 31, SnE 1931, 249, SnE 2007, 35; Konráð Gíslason 1895-7, I, 55-6.

Context: This runhent-variant is unnamed, but it consists of tetrasyllabic odd and even lines (fornyrðislag, Type A2), with identical rhymes in couplets (in minnsta runhenda ‘the least end-rhyme’).

Notes: [All]: Ms. R is partly damaged, and W is the main ms. for this stanza. — [6] drótt má þegja ‘the court must be silent’: Again, this seems to imply that Snorri had intended to recite the poem himself at the Norwegian court (see Note to st. 81/8). — [8] -Móða ‘Móði <god>’: Son of the god Þórr in Old Norse myth.