[3] hôttu ‘the forms’: This is the acc. pl. of the noun háttr ‘manner, verse-form, metre’ (as in the title of Háttatal ‘Enumeration of verse-forms’). It seems to be used here as a technical term, self-consciously drawing attention to the poem that will follow – especially, perhaps, in terms of its metrical aspects, as this seems to be the first recorded use of hálfhnept for a royal encomium. Cf. Óttarr’s opening stanza to his Hfl for Óláfr Haraldsson (Ótt Hfl 1/1I).
References
- Internal references
- (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Háttatal’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=165> (accessed 20 April 2024)
- Matthew Townend (ed.) 2012, ‘Óttarr svarti, Hǫfuðlausn 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. 741.