Note to StarkSt Frag 1III
[4] hrammastan ‘mightiest’: This form of the adj. ram(m)r ‘strong’ with initial <h> is not elsewhere attested, but is required for the alliteration. The fact that this is the hǫfuðstafr of the alliterative sequence should mean that the other alliterative syllables are dependent on it. Although the sound change hr- > r- occurred in C9th in Denmark (Haugen 1976, 208), the verse cannot be dated on this basis, as the form hrammr cannot be linked etymologically to rammr (see AEW: rammr, ramr). Björn Magnússon Ólsen (TGT 1884, 176) suggests that, given the apparent Danish provenance of the helmingr, it should read ringreytanda rammastan at afli. Óláfr hvítaskáld spent a considerable time at the Danish court (see TGT 1884, xxxiv-xxxv) and may have heard the stanza there.
References
- Bibliography
- TGT 1884 = Björn Magnússon Ólsen, ed. 1884. Den tredje og fjærde grammatiske afhandling i Snorres Edda tilligemed de grammatiske afhandlingers prolog og to andre tillæg. SUGNL 12. Copenhagen: Knudtzon.
- AEW = Vries, Jan de. 1962. Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 2nd rev. edn. Rpt. 1977. Leiden: Brill.
- Haugen, Einar. 1976. The Scandinavian Languages: An Introduction to their History. London: Faber & Faber.