Anon (TGT) 2^III

Svanr þyrr beint til benja
blóðs vindára róðri.

{Svanr blóðs} þyrr {róðri {vindára}} beint til benja.

{The swan of blood} [RAVEN/EAGLE] rushes with {the rowing {of wind-oars}} [WINGS > FLIGHT] straight to the wounds.

Mss: A(3v), A(5v) (l. 2), B(2v), W(101), W(105) (l. 2) (TGT)

Readings: [2] blóðs: corrected from ‘blioðs’ A(3v)

Editions: Skj AI, 598, Skj BI, 598, Skald I, 291; SnE 1818, 311, 321, SnE 1848, 183, 189, SnE 1848-87, II, 102-3, 136-7, 406, 416, 509, III, 139, TGT 1884, 14, 22, 66, 88, 173, TGT 1927, 44, 63, 92.

Context: Cited as an example of barbarismus in the form of a shortened vowel (stundar afdráttr ‘reduction of [vowel] length’) for metrical and aesthetic purposes. The second line is cited again for its shortened vowel in the section on metaplasmus, illustrating the same phenomenon under the classical term systole (‘sistola’; TGT 1927, 63): Sistola gerir langa samstǫfu skamma sem fyrr er ritat ‘Systole makes a long syllable short as was written earlier’.

Notes: [All]: The rhetorical figure exemplified here is realised in the second syllable of vindára, which is pronounced with a short vowel (TGT 1927, 44): Hér er vindara sett fyrir vindára róðri þat er flugr. Þessi samstafa er skǫmm gǫr fyrir fegrðar sakir, þvíat þá hljóðar betr ‘Here vindara is used instead of vindára róðri, that is, flight. This syllable is made short for the sake of beauty, because it sounds better’. It is not immediately clear why an even line of Type D2 (with a short syllable in metrical position 3) should be more pleasing to the ear than a Type D1-line (with a long syllable in metrical position 3), because both types are attested in dróttkvætt poetry. It could be that the long syllable with secondary stress was perceived to be too heavy (see Sievers 1893, 104 Anm. 4; Kuhn 1983, 147, 165). — [2] vindára ‘of wind-oars [WINGS]’: The context here suggests the referent ‘wings’ for this kenning, but it may more properly refer to feathers: a similar kenning occurs in an inscription from Lund (Bone piece 4: Run DRTil5^VI; cf. Moltke 1985, 460), which contains the sentence arar ara æru fiaþrar ‘the eagle’s oars are feathers’.

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. SnE 1848 = Sveinbjörn Egilsson, ed. 1848. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar, eða Gylfaginning, Skáldskaparmál og Háttatal. Reykjavík: Prentsmiðja landsins.
5. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
6. Sievers, Eduard. 1893. Altgermanische Metrik. Sammlung kurzer Grammatiken germanischer Dialekte. Ergänzungsreihe 2, ed. Wilhelm Braune. Halle: Niemeyer.
7. Kuhn, Hans (1899). 1983. Das Dróttkvætt. Heidelberg: Winter.
8. 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.
9. SnE 1818 = Rask, Rasmus Kristian, ed. 1818a. Snorra Edda ásamt Skáldu og þarmeð fylgjandi ritgjörðum. Stockholm: Elmen.
10. Moltke, Erik. 1985. Runes and their Origin: Denmark and Elsewhere. Trans. Peter Foote. Copenhagen: The National Museum of Denmark.