Cookies on our website

We use cookies on this website, mainly to provide a secure browsing experience but also to collect statistics on how the website is used. You can find out more about the cookies we set, the information we store and how we use it on the cookies page.

Continue

skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

Menu Search

Note to BjHall Kálffl 4I

[6] frest urðu þess ‘there was delay in this’: I.e. in the fulfilment of Knútr’s promise of land. Frest is n. pl., hence the pl. verb urðu, lit. ‘were, came about’. Hkr 1893-1901, Skj B and Skald emend urðu to urðut, giving the opposite meaning ‘there was no delay in this’, in order to avoid the contradiction with the stanza’s statement that Kálfr did receive gifts from the king (see Hkr 1893-1901, IV). But the original reading could express an ironically understated comment that the king’s promises never materialised, or simply that conditions had to be met before the promised lands were handed over.

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. Hkr 1893-1901 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1893-1901. Heimskringla: Nóregs konunga sǫgur af Snorri Sturluson. 4 vols. SUGNL 23. Copenhagen: Møller.

Close

Log in

This service is only available to members of the relevant projects, and to purchasers of the skaldic volumes published by Brepols.
This service uses cookies. By logging in you agree to the use of cookies on your browser.

Close