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Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Note to Tindr Hákdr 9I

[All]: The Óðinn-heiti Hroptr can be taken alone or as part of a kenning, yielding a statement in ll. 1-2 that either Óðinn or a warrior gains slain men. Unfortunately the matter cannot be finally resolved. (a) In the Text presented above, Hroptr ‘Óðinn’ (l. 1) and hjaldrskýja ‘of battle-clouds [SHIELDS]’ (l. 2) are construed together, since they are the first nominal elements in the helmingr and form a warrior-kenning of an extremely prolific type (cf. Meissner 260-3, 275-6). Although a statement that Óðinn, rather than a warrior, receives the slain might have been expected, the rest of this helmingr is human in focus, and in st. 11 it seems that Hákon is portrayed as assisting Óðinn in procuring the slain. Hroptr hjaldrskýja is also taken as a kenning in Fms 12, though there the kenning includes linds and is construed as the subject to hrauð ‘cleared’ in l. 1. Line 3 is interpreted in this edn as a syntactic unit, with emendation of ms. ‘lindz’, normalised linds, to lind ‘(linden-)shield’ (as by Kock; see below). (b) Finnur Jónsson (1886b, 349; cf. Skj B; Reichardt 1928, 205-6) emends ‘lindz’ to lundr ‘grove, tree’, hence lundr hjaldrskýja ‘tree of battle-clouds [SHIELDS > WARRIOR]’, which he takes as the subject of hrauð ‘cleared’. Hroptr is unqualified in l. 2 and the subject of náði ‘gained’, so that it is Óðinn who receives the slain. However, Finnur’s analysis assumes a complex word order with a tripartite l. 3. (c) Kock (NN §436, cf. §805A and similarly Reichardt 1928, 205), objecting to the complexity, emends lightly to lind ‘(linden) shield’. The resulting l. 3, which matches that of this edn, reads þar vas lind fyr landi, which Kock renders här fanns sköld till landets värn ‘here was found a shield for defence of the land’. Kock (NN §1911C anm.) identifies analogues to this in ÞKolb Eirdr 2/7, Ótt Knútdr 1/7-8 and Þfagr Sveinn 3/1-2II, which do lend support, although in each of them the context is more explanatory, the action described being slightly more decisive than in the present case. Kock, like Finnur Jónsson, believes that the god Óðinn is the subject of náði, but at the same time reads Hroptr hjaldrskýja as ‘Óðinn of shields’, i.e. Óðinn, whereas this appears best analysed as a warrior-kenning.

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. Fms = Sveinbjörn Egilsson et al., eds. 1825-37. Fornmanna sögur eptir gömlum handritum útgefnar að tilhlutun hins norræna fornfræða fèlags. 12 vols. Copenhagen: Popp.
  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. Meissner = Meissner, Rudolf. 1921. Die Kenningar der Skalden: Ein Beitrag zur skaldischen Poetik. Rheinische Beiträge und Hülfsbücher zur germanischen Philologie und Volkskunde 1. Bonn and Leipzig: Schroeder. Rpt. 1984. Hildesheim etc.: Olms.
  6. Reichardt, Konstantin. 1928. Studien zu den Skalden des 9. und 10. Jahrhunderts. Palaestra 159. Leipzig: Mayer & Müller.
  7. Finnur Jónsson. 1886b. ‘Bidrag til en rigtigere forståelse af Tindr Hallkelssons vers’. ÅNOH, 309-68.
  8. Internal references
  9. Matthew Townend (ed.) 2012, ‘Óttarr svarti, Knútsdrápa 1’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 769.
  10. Jayne Carroll (ed.) 2012, ‘Þórðr Kolbeinsson, Eiríksdrápa 2’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 491.
  11. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Þorleikr fagri, Flokkr about Sveinn Úlfsson 3’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 315-16.

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