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Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Note to Gamlkan Has 65VII

[6] skýtjalds saman alla: The tjalds : alla rhyme is dubious in a poem purporting to date from before C13th and is, indeed, one of the late linguistic features which led Finnur Jónsson (LH II, 115) to suggest that the poem can hardly be older than from c. 1200, if the reading does not involve error. Konráð Gíslason (and Eiríkur Jónsson 1875-89, II, 253-4) suggests that the original reading was skýstalls, gen. sg. of skýstallr m. ‘pedestal, altar of the sky’, but that a later copyist substituted tjalds. Rydberg (1907, lxvi) agrees that stallr, which is used by Gamli at 29/8 and 35/5, would fit well with vǫrðr ‘warden, guardian’ (l. 5). Jón Helgason (1935-6, 262) suggests that alla should be emended to alda, gen. pl. of ǫld f. ‘people’, the kenning skýtjalds aldir ‘people of the tent of cloud’ being a reference to the blessed, whose vǫrðr ‘guardian’ is God. The B scribe, however, has correctly rendered skýstalls in 29/8, where there is a full rhyme with allri. The tjald : alla rhyme again occurs in a strikingly similar l. in Líkn 25/4, heiðtjalds saman alla. As Kock (NN §2328) points out, the pronunciation of lds as lls can be exemplified from slightly later verse (Játg Lv 1/2II, Sturl Hákkv 18/5II) and a similar process accounts for the aðalhendingar vindsamt : finna in Halli XI Fl 3/8II (Skj B emends to vinnsamt here), considerably earlier than Gamli. This edn therefore follows Kock in assuming that tjalds : alla is an acceptable full rhyme, and retains the ms. reading.

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. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
  4. Rydberg, Hugo, ed. 1907. ‘Die geistlichen Drápur und Dróttkvættfragmente des Cod. AM 757 4to.’. Ph.D. thesis. University of Lund. Copenhagen: Møller.
  5. Jón Helgason. 1935-6. ‘Til skjaldedigtningen’. APS 10, 250-64.
  6. LH = Finnur Jónsson. 1920-4. Den oldnorske og oldislandske litteraturs historie. 3 vols. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Gad.
  7. Internal references
  8. George S. Tate (ed.) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Líknarbraut 25’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 255-6.
  9. Russell Poole (ed.) 2009, ‘Halli stirði, Flokkr 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. 340-1.
  10. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Játgeirr Torfason, Lausavísa 1’ 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. 652-3.
  11. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Sturla Þórðarson, Hákonarkviða 18’ 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. 712-13.

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