Arn Frag 4III
Diana Whaley (ed.) 2017, ‘Arnórr jarlaskáld Þórðarson, Fragments 4’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 6.
text and translation
Bekks lá eldr ok axla
ulfliðs Dǫnum miðli;
ek sá armhrauð þakka
eitt Skônunga hônum.
{Eldr bekks} lá miðli ulfliðs ok axla Dǫnum; ek sá Skônunga þakka hônum eitt armhrauð.
‘Fire of the stream [GOLD] lay between the wrist and shoulders of the Danes; I saw the Skánungar thank him for one arm-ring. ’
notes and context
The helmingr is cited in a section of LaufE concerning terms for ‘gold’, here the kenning eldr bekks ‘fire of the stream’.
The fragment is preserved only in the Y branch of LaufE and in RE 1665(Ff) (copied from a LaufE Y ms. and not used in the present edn). The route by which it entered the tradition is unknown (LaufE 1979, 176). No poem by Arnórr in praise of a Danish ruler is specifically mentioned in the medieval sources. However, the Danish allusions in l. 2 (Dǫnum ‘Danes’) and l. 4 (Skônunga ‘Skánungar’) would tally with the fact that Skáldatal (SnE 1848-87, III, 258, 267) lists Arnórr among the poets who composed in honour of Knútr inn ríki (Cnut the Great), and the fragment may well praise Knútr’s generosity to his retainers.
readings
sources
Text is based on reconstruction from the base text and variant apparatus and may contain alternative spellings and other normalisations not visible in the manuscript text. Transcriptions may not have been checked and should not be cited.
-
GKS 2368 4°x (2368x) — 93 - 93
Bekks lá eldr ok axla
images
ulfliðs †daun̄† miðli;
ek sá arm þakka
eitt Skônunga hônum. -
AM 743 4°x (743x) — 73r/20 - 73r/23
Bekks lá eldr ok axla
images
ulfliðs †daun̄† miðli;
ek sá †armraud† þakka
eitt Skônunga hônum.
editions and texts
Skj: Arnórr Þórðarson jarlaskáld, 7. Vers af ubestemmelige digte, samt én lausavísa 3: AI, 354, BI, 326, Skald I, 165, NN §843; LaufE 1979, 348; Whaley 1998, 308-10.
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