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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Anon (SnE) 13III

Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Lausavísur, Stanzas from Snorra Edda 13’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 525.

Anonymous LausavísurStanzas from Snorra Edda
121314

introduction

This helmingr (Anon (SnE) 13) is transmitted in mss R (main ms.), , A, B (and 744ˣ) and C of Skm (SnE) and in TGT (mss A and W). It is anonymous in all mss. In Skj Finnur Jónsson dates it to the tenth century, but it cannot be older than the middle of the eleventh century (see Note to l. 1 below).

text and translation

Hrauð í himin upp glóðum
hafs; gekk sær af afli;
bǫrð, hykk, at ský skerðu;
skaut Ránar vegr mána.

Hrauð glóðum hafs upp í himin; sær gekk af afli; hykk, at bǫrð skerðu ský; {vegr Ránar} skaut mána.
 
‘The embers of the ocean were thrown up towards heaven; the sea moved powerfully; I believe that prows pierced the clouds; the road of Rán <goddess> [SEA] dashed against the moon.

notes and context

In Skm the helmingr illustrates that the name of Rán, wife of the sea-giant Ægir, can be used in kennings for ‘sea’ (vegr Ránar ‘the road of Rán’). In TGT it is given as an example of yperbola ‘hyperbole’ which is defined as follows (TGT 1927, 82): … yfirganga sannleiks yfir þat framm, sem trúanligt er, sem hér er kveðitHér er óeiginlig líking ok merking milli mǫru-elds ok náttúruligs loga ‘… the exaggeration of truth beyond that which is believable, as is said here … Here there is an improper comparison between, and an interpretation of, phosphorescence and normal fire’.

[1]: This is a Type A-line with a resolved second lift and a heavy dip in position 4, which is a metrical type that originated among the skalds of the Norwegian king Haraldr harðráði ‘Hard-rule’ Sigurðarson (d. 1066). See Note to Hharð Gamv 2/1II and Kuhn (1983, 68). Hence it is highly unlikely that the present helmingr is older than from c. 1050 (see Introduction above).

readings

sources

Text is based on reconstruction from the base text and variant apparatus and may contain alternative spellings and other normalisations not visible in the manuscript text. Transcriptions may not have been checked and should not be cited.

editions and texts

Skj: Anonyme digte og vers [X], III. C. Om sørejser 1: AI, 184-5, BI, 174, Skald I, 93; SnE 1848-87, I, 500-1, II, 451, 534, 600, III, 103, SnE 1931, 175, SnE 1998, I, 95; SnE 1848-87, II, 174-5, 424, TGT 1884, 29, 110, TGT 1927, 82, 107.

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