Note to Hfr Hákdr 6III
[4] systur Auðs ‘Auðr’s <giant’s> sister [= Jǫrð (jǫrð ‘earth’)]’: The giant Auðr is otherwise known only from SnE, where he is mentioned once in Gylf (SnE 2005, 13) and once in Skm (see Context), and Davidson (1983, 514) suggests he is a Snorronian invention, on the basis of a scribe’s addition of systr in U. It is true that only U reads systr (nom. pl., emended here to systur acc. sg.), but a word is needed to complete both syntax and metre, and as the mss offer no other candidates (B’s ‘þerssa’ cannot be construed in a meaningful way; see Davidson 1983 for some suggested emendations), and U’s reading makes good sense, it seems wisest to accept it.
References
- Bibliography
- Davidson, Daphne L. 1983. ‘Earl Hákon and his Poets’. D. Phil. thesis. Oxford.
- SnE 2005 = Snorri Sturluson. 2005. Edda: Prologue and Gylfaginning. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
- Internal references
- Edith Marold 2017, ‘Snorra Edda (Prologue, Gylfaginning, Skáldskaparmál)’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols [check printed volume for citation].
- (forthcoming), ‘ Snorri Sturluson, Skáldskaparmál’ 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=112> (accessed 20 April 2024)
- (forthcoming), ‘ Snorri Sturluson, Gylfaginning’ 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=113> (accessed 20 April 2024)