Stúfsdrápa §
Edited by Kari Ellen Gade
at ‘according’
[1] at fréttum ‘according to reports’: Skj B connects this prepositional phrase with the next cl.: drótt fekk mikinn ótta at fréttum (translated as ved efterretningen blev folk meget forskrækkede ‘at the news people became very frightened’). That interpretation creates an awkward syntax (see NN §881). Stúfr was blind or of weak eyesight, and he must have relied on eyewitness accounts of the events in Haraldr’s life that he commemorated in his drápa.
Closefréttum ‘to reports’
[1] at fréttum ‘according to reports’: Skj B connects this prepositional phrase with the next cl.: drótt fekk mikinn ótta at fréttum (translated as ved efterretningen blev folk meget forskrækkede ‘at the news people became very frightened’). That interpretation creates an awkward syntax (see NN §881). Stúfr was blind or of weak eyesight, and he must have relied on eyewitness accounts of the events in Haraldr’s life that he commemorated in his drápa.
Closegœddr ‘fattened’
[3] gœddr ‘fattened’: Gladdr ‘pleased’ (so H, FskAˣ) is metrically and syntactically possible, but the other ms. witnesses show that it is a lectio facilior.
CloseDanir ‘the Danes’
dan (noun m.; °-s, dat. -): Dane
[4] Danir ‘the Danes’: Bœndr (i.e. búendr) ‘the farmers’ (so FskBˣ, FskAˣ) is metrically correct, but clearly secondary.
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