Cookies on our website

We use cookies on this website, mainly to provide a secure browsing experience but also to collect statistics on how the website is used. You can find out more about the cookies we set, the information we store and how we use it on the cookies page.

Continue

skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

Menu Search

Note to ÞjóðA Sex 27II

[4] vǫluspakra ‘of joint-calm’: The syntax and meaning of the helmingr are complete without these syllables, which constitute a localised, but difficult crux. The mss are divided between vǫlu and vala, each of which is grammatically and lexically ambiguous, and it is not obvious whether vǫlu/vala and spakra form a cpd or not. The gen. pl. spakra, assuming it is not used substantivally, ‘of the wise ones’, must qualify bauga ‘rings’, which is striking in itself since spakr is usually applied in skaldic poetry to human beings, especially in contexts where the theme is wisdom or native wit; ‘peaceable’ is another possible sense. (a) Finnur Jónsson takes vǫlu as gen. sg. of vala f. ‘joint-bone’ in a cpd vǫluspakr, describing the rings as resting peaceably on the arm-bone (SnE 1848-87, I, 399, Skj B and LP: vǫluspakr, though see also LP: vala where Finnur takes the word as referring to leg-bones; so also Faulkes in SnE 1998, II, 431). This seems the best solution available without recourse to emendation, but it cannot be regarded as at all certain. (b) A solution involving instead valr ‘falcon, hawk’ as the determinant of the arm-kenning is attractive, given that ‘falcon’s ground’ is the most common pattern of arm-kenning (Meissner 141) and that one such kenning is found in the second helmingr; but bauga would be left without function, unless it joined ǫrð burðar Yrsu to mean ‘gold of/in rings’. Fidjestøl (1982, 137-9) argued for brattakr vala ‘steep field of falcons [ARM]’ and suggested emendation of bauga to bjúgri ‘curved’ qualifying dat. sg. ǫrð ‘grain, corn, produce’ and describing simultaneously the metaphorical grain or corn (bending in the wind) and the actual gold (rings), the referent of the kenning of which ǫrð is the base-word. However, this seems a little forced, and a solution which avoids emendation is in principle preferable. (c) Collocations, especially in eddic poetry, of Valir ‘Franks, the French’ or valr ‘Frankish, French’ with terms for treasure, e.g. valamalmr StarkSt Vík 25/2VIII, Hyndl 9/2, or valbaugr Akv 27/10 offer tantalising possibilities, such as brattakr bauga spakra Vala ‘steep field of rings of clever Franks’. As a further element of complexity, Fidjestøl (1982, 140) notes the possibility of word-play on valr: ‘falcon’ and ‘the slain’.

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. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. LP = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1931. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis: Ordbog over det norsk-islandske skjaldesprog oprindelig forfattet af Sveinbjörn Egilsson. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Møller.
  6. Fidjestøl, Bjarne. 1982. Det norrøne fyrstediktet. Universitet i Bergen Nordisk institutts skriftserie 11. Øvre Ervik: Alvheim & Eide.
  7. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
  8. Internal references
  9. Not published: do not cite ()
  10. Not published: do not cite ()
  11. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Gautreks saga 33 (Starkaðr gamli Stórvirksson, Víkarsbálkr 25)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 276.

Close

Log in

This service is only available to members of the relevant projects, and to purchasers of the skaldic volumes published by Brepols.
This service uses cookies. By logging in you agree to the use of cookies on your browser.

Close