[4] bragar; hróðrs ‘poem; panegyric’: There is uncertainty here as to which of these gen. nouns belongs with upphaf, and which with hôttu. Skj B prefers upphaf hróðrs ‘the beginning of his panegyric’ and hôttu bragar ‘the forms of the poem’, while Skald (and SnE 1998), following Sveinbjörn Egilsson (SnE 1848-87, III), adopts upphaf bragar ‘the beginning of the poem’ and hôttu hróðrs ‘the forms of the panegyric’ (NN §2485). The latter is preferable in terms of syntax: the stanza thus has the structure of a main clause (ll. 1 and 4b) with two consecutive, separate intercalary clauses which are not interwoven with each other (i.e. l. 2; ll. 3 and 4a).
References
- Bibliography
- Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
- SnE 1848-87 = Snorri Sturluson. 1848-87. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar: Edda Snorronis Sturlaei. Ed. Jón Sigurðsson et al. 3 vols. Copenhagen: Legatum Arnamagnaeanum. Rpt. Osnabrück: Zeller, 1966.
- Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
- NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
- SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.