Note to RvHbreiðm Hl 17^III

[3-4]: (a) In the present edn, which follows Hl 1941, váði ‘danger’ (l. 3) is taken as the base-word in a kenning for ‘sword’ (váði brynju ‘danger of the byrnie’), which functions as the subject in a passive construction with rauðsk ‘was reddened’ (l. 3). Bauðsk ‘was offered’ is taken as the verb in a passive construction with mǫrg bjǫrg (f. nom. sg.) ‘much nourishment’ as the subject. (b) The texts in Skj B and Skald are based on Rugman’s later corrections in R683ˣ and they provide the following reading: brátt, þrátt, brynju neytir | barg margfrekum vargi. Skj B places the adv. þrátt ‘often, persistently’ (l. 3) in the first clause of the helmingr (bræddi þrátt ‘fed often’) and the second adv. brátt ‘quickly’ (l. 3) in the second clause (beit brátt ‘bit quickly’. Kock (NN §1159) objected to that tortuous syntax and construed brátt, þrátt, brynju neytir barg margfrekum vargi, translated as snabbt, beständigt brynjebärarn räddade den glupske varj ‘quickly, stubbornly, the byrnie’s wearer (i.e. warrior) saved the greedy wolf’.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. Hl 1941 = Jón Helgason and Anne Holtsmark, eds. 1941. Háttalykill enn forni. BA 1. Copenhagen: Munksgaard.