Anon (SnE) 5^III

The two anonymous couplets (Anon (SnE) 5-6) edited here are transmitted in mss R (main ms.), Tˣ, W, U, A and C of Skm (SnE), and Anon (SnE) 6 is also preserved in the Y redaction of LaufE (mss 2368ˣ(122) and 743ˣ(92v)) as well as in RE 1665(Ji3). Neither redaction has been considered in the present edn. In Skj Finnur Jónsson groups the stanzas under Om kampe og mod ‘About battles and bravery’ and dates them to the tenth century. No date can be assigned to the first couplet based on linguistic and metrical criteria; for the second, see Notes to st. 6/1 below.

Odda gnýs við œsi
oddnets þinul setja.

Setja {þinul {oddnets}} við {œsi {gnýs odda}}.

Place {the rope-edging {of the point-net}} [SHIELD > SHIELD-RIM] against {the inciter {of the din of points}} [BATTLE > WARRIOR].

Mss: R(33v), Tˣ(35r), W(77), U(32v), A(11r), C(5r) (SnE)

Readings: [1] gnýs: ‘gnyrs’ C;    œsi: ‘osi’ Tˣ, éli U    [2] ‑nets: so U, ‑nes R, Tˣ, W, ‑ness C;    setja: setta Tˣ, C

Editions: Skj AI, 184, Skj BI, 173, Skald I, 93; SnE 1848-87, I, 420-1, II, 327, 438, 587, III, 78, SnE 1931, 149, SnE 1998, I, 67.

Context: The couplet is cited as one of several examples of kennings for ‘battle’ (gnýr odda ‘din of points’).

Notes: [All]: This must be the last couplet of a helmingr (ll. 3-4 or 7-8), and the subject of the clause as well as the auxiliary going with the inf. setja ‘place’ (l. 2) must have been contained in the no-longer extant first couplet. — [1, 2] odda; odd- ‘of points; of the point-’: The sharpened points of weapons, whether sword-points, spear-points or arrow-points. — [2] oddnets ‘of the point-net [SHIELD]’: So U. The R, Tˣ, W, A, C reading, nes(s) ‘promontory, of the promontory’, makes no sense in the context and leaves the line without internal rhyme (-et- : -et-). — [2] þinul ‘the rope-edging’: ON þinull (ModNorw. tenel) is the edging on a sail or net, or a bolt-rope on a ship. The choice of this particular base-word was most likely conscious and caused by the base-word net ‘net’ in the shield-kenning.

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. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
5. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
6. Internal references
7. 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].
8. (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 28 April 2024)
9. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Lausavísur, Stanzas from Snorra Edda 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. 516.
10. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Lausavísur, Stanzas from Snorra Edda 6’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 517.
11. (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 28 April 2024)