Heiti for sea-kings — Þul Sea-kings^III

The anonymous stanza below (Þul Sea-kings) is recorded in mss A (main ms.) and W of TGT. The stanza illustrates one of the Donatan categories, Dialiton, i.e. asyndeton (TGT 1884, 99): her ærv mǫrg nǫfn ok ækci ok imilli ‘there are many names here, and no “and” between them’. See also Máni Lv 5 and Anon (TGT) 27. As is the case with some other poetic lists of heiti composed in dróttkvætt metre which are recorded later in the þulur-section of Skm in ms. A (see, above all, Þul Islands), this stanza seems to be a skaldic exercise aimed at illustrating names of sea-kings employed as determinants in various types of kennings, thus making them easier to memorise. The mnemonic function of this stanza is evident from the arrangement of names and the abundant use of internal rhyme comprising almost entire words and thus surpassing the requirements of regular aðalhending (aðalhending also appears in all lines of the first helmingr). Most of the names of the sea-kings collected in this stanza are also listed in Þul Sækonunga. The stanza is also transmitted in LaufE, where all the names are given as a consecutive list preceded by Sækonga heite ‘Names of sea-kings’ (so 2368ˣ(124); ms. 743ˣ(93v) only gives the first four names preceded by Huc pertinent ‘Here belong’). Because the list as it appears in 2368ˣ does not appear to be derived from either W or A, the 2368ˣ readings have been included in the present edition.

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. Internal references
4. (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 26 April 2024)
5. (forthcoming), ‘ Snorri Sturluson, Skáldskaparmál’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=112> (accessed 26 April 2024)
6. Tarrin Wills (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Lausavísur, Stanzas from the Third Grammatical Treatise 27’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 555.
7. Elena Gurevich 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Heiti for islands’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 994. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=2987> (accessed 26 April 2024)
8. Elena Gurevich 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Sækonunga heiti’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 677. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=3183> (accessed 26 April 2024)
9. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Máni, Lausavísa 5’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 290.
10. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Laufás Edda’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=10928> (accessed 26 April 2024)