Øxarflokkr — ESk Øxfl^III

The title Øxarflokkr ‘Flokkr about an Axe’ (ESk Øxfl) was first coined by Jón Sigurðsson (SnE 1848-87, III, 364-5) to designate a hypothetical poem that comprised a series of stanzas and helmingar attributed to Einarr Skúlason in SnE (for the attributions to Einarr, see Notes to the individual stanzas). The theme common to these stanzas is the gift of an axe or a sword (see below) presented to the poet by an anonymous patron. Finnur Jónsson (LH 1894-1901, II, 70) expressed doubts as to whether all these fragments originally belonged to one single poem, but he retained the name (marked with a query) and the grouping of stanzas in his edition, although he excluded one stanza included by Jón Sigurðsson (see ESk Frag 1, below; see also Fidjestøl 1982, 156). For the sake of convenience the same principle has been adopted in the present edition, but it must be emphasised that the existence of this poem is at best dubious.

Throughout the stanzas, Einarr praises weapons he has received as gifts, but in many of the stanzas it is not clear whether the weapon, which in most cases is denoted by a kenning, is an axe or a sword (see the discussion in Meissner 149 and Notes to the individual stanzas below). An axe is explicitly mentioned in st. 6/5, and in st. 10 the weapon-kenning Gríðr fjǫrnis ‘the Gríðr <troll-woman> of the helmet’ is a conventional kenning for ‘axe’. In sts 1-3 and 7 the kennings can refer either to axes or to swords, and in st. 9 both weapon-kennings are given in a section of Skm (and LaufE) that enumerates kennings for ‘sword’. Hence it looks as though Einarr is praising the gift of more than one weapon in these stanzas. It is clear that most of the weapons were precious commodities inlaid with gold and silver – in one instance (st. 10) Einarr mentions that dragons or serpents were engraved on the blade of the axe (for inlaid axes, swords and spears, see Falk 1914b, 22-6, 31-3, 88-9, 108, 118-19). He draws on Old Norse myth and legend to describe the gold decorations on the weapons, such as the goddess Freyja weeping tears of gold (sts 1-3, 9) and the giantesses Fenja and Menja grinding gold (sts 3, 6), and he also uses a series of ofljóst ‘too transparent’ constructions to refer to the hnoss ‘treasure’ he has received (sts 3-5), by alluding to Hnoss, Freyja’s daughter. The word order in these stanzas is unusually convoluted and uncharacteristic of Einarr’s poetry, and the stanzas contain many inverted kennings as well as examples of tmesis.

All stanzas are recorded in Skm (SnE). Mss R and Tˣ contain all stanzas, W has sts 1-4, 7-10, U sts 2, 4-5, 7-10, A sts 2, 7-10, B sts 7-8, C sts 2, 7-9, and l. 8 of st. 3 and sts 6-10 are also found in LaufE (mss 2368ˣ, 743ˣ). Stanzas 3/8, 6-7 and 8/5-8 were copied in RE 1665(Ff) from a LaufE ms., but that redaction has no independent value and has not been considered in the present edition. Ms. R is the main ms., except for st. 8, where R is damaged and W is the main ms.

References

1. Bibliography
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. Fidjestøl, Bjarne. 1982. Det norrøne fyrstediktet. Universitet i Bergen Nordisk institutts skriftserie 11. Øvre Ervik: Alvheim & Eide.
5. Falk, Hjalmar. 1914b. Altnordische Waffenkunde. Videnskapsselskapets skrifter, II. Hist.-filos. kl. 1914, 6. Kristiania (Oslo): Dybwad.
6. LH 1894-1901 = Finnur Jónsson. 1894-1901. Den oldnorske og oldislandske litteraturs historie. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Gad.
7. Internal references
8. Edith Marold 2017, ‘Snorra Edda (Prologue, Gylfaginning, Skáldskaparmál)’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols [check printed volume for citation].
9. Kari Ellen Gade 2017, ‘(Biography of) Einarr Skúlason’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 140.
10. (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 24 April 2024)
11. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Einarr Skúlason, Fragments 1’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 151.
12. (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 24 April 2024)