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Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Fragment — Þjóðólfr FragIII

Þjóðólfr

Edith Marold, translated from German by John Foulks 2017, ‘ Þjóðólfr, Fragment’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 464. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=3301> (accessed 19 April 2024)

 

The Third Grammatical Treatise (TGT; ms. W only) contains a four-line fragment attributed to a Þjóðólfr (Þjóðólfr Frag). The skald’s name is preserved only in 761bˣ (‘Þioðolfr’). Ms. W is now defective and reads ‘sem þi[…]’, which has been emended to ‘sem Þjóðólfr kvað’ in earlier editions (SnE 1848-87, II, 162; TGT 1884, 28; TGT 1927, 77). It could be that W was legible when Árni Magnússon copied it in 761bˣ. Earlier editors have attributed this kviðuháttr stanza to Þjóðólfr ór Hvini (ÞjóðI) or to Eyvindr skáldaspillir Finnsson (EyvI). Sveinbjörn Egilsson (SnE 1848-87, III, 399) thought it belonged to Þjóðólfr’s Ynglingatal (YtI), as did Detter (1896, 211), though under a different interpretation. However, the fragment’s assignment to Yt has met with scepticism (TGT 1884, 217; Skj; NN §1014B). Guðbrandur Vigfússon (CPB I, 251), followed by Storm (1899, 138) and Kock (NN §1014B), rejected the assignment to Yt for the stylistic reason that a new subordinate clause begins in l. 2, which is never the case in Yt. They suggested instead that the fragment might have been part of Eyvindr’s Háleygjatal (HálI). Some scholars (Sveinbjörn Egilsson in SnE 1848-87, III, 399-400; Konráð Gíslason 1881, 186) were inclined to believe that it could have belonged to Þjóðolfr ór Hvíni’s poem about Haraldr hárfagri (Þjóð HarI), some stanzas of which (Þjóð Har 1-3I) are contained in Flat and attributed there to Þjóðólfr ór Hvini (Konráð Gíslason 1881, 186). However, this conclusion is clearly contradicted by stylistic differences (Bugge 1894, 128), and none of the stanzas contained in Þjóð HarI is in kviðuháttr.

All these attributions of authorship are doubtful, because they are based solely on the name Þjóðólfr and on the fact that both the present fragment and Yt are composed in kviðuháttr metre. The helmingr also contains a word that is probably Christian (see Note to l. 2 below), and therefore an attribution to a poet of the ninth or tenth century remains tentative at best. It is possible that Þjóðólfr Arnórsson (ÞjóðAII) could have composed the stanza, but he is not known to have composed any poetry in kviðuháttr metre. Hence Finnur Jónsson’s (LH I, 439) conclusion that nothing certain can be said about the fragment, must be supported. In the present edition the half-stanza is therefore attributed to an unknown skald named Þjóðólfr.

References

  1. Bibliography
  2. 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.
  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. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
  5. CPB = Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and F. York Powell, eds. 1883. Corpus poeticum boreale: The Poetry of the Old Northern Tongue from the Earliest Times to the Thirteenth Century. 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon. Rpt. 1965, New York: Russell & Russell.
  6. LH = Finnur Jónsson. 1920-4. Den oldnorske og oldislandske litteraturs historie. 3 vols. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Gad.
  7. TGT 1927 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1927b. Óláfr Þórðarson: Málhljóða- og málskrúðsrit. Grammatisk-retorisk afhandling. Det kgl. Danske Videnskabernes Selskab. Historisk-filologiske meddelelser 13, 2. Copenhagen: Høst.
  8. Konráð Gíslason. 1881. ‘Nogle bemærkninger angående Ynglingatal’. ÅNOH, 185-251.
  9. Bugge, Sophus. 1894. Bidrag til den ældste skaldedigtnings historie. Christiania (Oslo): Aschehoug.
  10. Storm, Gustav. 1899. ‘Ynglingatal, dets forfatter og forfattelsestid’. ANF 15, 107-41.
  11. Detter, Ferdinand. 1896. Review of Sophus Bugge. 1894. Bidrag til den ældste skaldedigtnings historie. Christiania (Oslo): Aschehoug. ANF 12, 204-13.
  12. Internal references
  13. (forthcoming), ‘ Óláfr hvítaskáld Þórðarson, The Third Grammatical Treatise’ in Tarrin Wills (ed.), The Third Grammatical Treatise. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=32> (accessed 19 April 2024)
  14. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Flateyjarbók’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=44> (accessed 19 April 2024)
  15. Russell Poole 2012, ‘(Biography of) Eyvindr skáldaspillir Finnsson’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 170.
  16. Edith Marold 2017, ‘(Biography of) Þjóðólfr ór Hvini’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 431.
  17. Diana Whaley 2009, ‘(Biography of) Þjóðólfr Arnórsson’ 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. 57-176.
  18. Russell Poole 2012, ‘ Eyvindr skáldaspillir Finnsson, Háleygjatal’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 195. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1186> (accessed 19 April 2024)
  19. R. D. Fulk 2012, ‘ Þjóðólfr ór Hvini, Poem about Haraldr hárfagri’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 60. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1439> (accessed 19 April 2024)
  20. Edith Marold with the assistance of Vivian Busch, Jana Krüger, Ann-Dörte Kyas and Katharina Seidel, translated from German by John Foulks 2012, ‘ Þjóðólfr ór Hvini, Ynglingatal’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 3. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1440> (accessed 19 April 2024)
  21. R. D. Fulk (ed.) 2012, ‘Þjóðólfr ór Hvini, Poem about Haraldr hárfagri 1’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 61.
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