Ólhv Frag 5^III

Herr búask hvatt til snerru.

Herr búask hvatt til snerru.

The army prepare themselves keenly for battle.

Mss: A(6r), W(106) (TGT)

Readings: [1] búask: so W, bjósk A;    hvatt: hvárir or hvatir W

Editions: Skj AI, 599, Skj BI, 599, Skald I, 292, NN §§2125, 2991B; SnE 1818, 323, SnE 1848, 191, SnE 1848-87, II, 144-5, 418, TGT 1884, 23, 93, 205, TGT 1927, 67, 102.

Context: Cited as a second example of syllepsis, the first being Anon (TGT) 18 (see Context there for a definition). In this case a plural verb is used with a singular collective noun. Óláfr states (TGT 1927, 67): Þessi fígúra finz ok sjaldan í nórænum skáldskap ‘This figure is also seldom found in Norse poetry’.

Notes: [All]: The attribution of this fragment to Óláfr is based on the similarity with the corresponding text and example in the Doctrinale of Alexander of Villa Dei. The following has been identified by Wellendorf (forthcoming) as the source for this section of TGT: Cum collectivo iunctum plurale sylempsim | assignant aliqui: ‘plebs ista parant equitare’. | sed magis est propria constructio: ‘plebs parat ire’ (Reichling 1893, 164, ll. 2458-60) ‘Some assign [i.e. term it] sylempsis when a plural is connected with a collective: “this mass of people prepare itself to ride”. But a more proper construction is “the mass of people prepares to go” (Wellendorf [forthcoming]). — [1] búask hvatt ‘prepare themselves keenly’: This edn follows all previous eds in taking W’s reading búask (pl.) over A’s bjósk (sg.). A pl. verb is required to make sense of the prose explanation. This edn reads hvárir in W (so also SnE 1848-87 and Skj A), whereas TGT 1884 and TGT 1927 read hvatir. In his notes to the line, Finnur Jónsson (TGT 1927, 102) mistrusts Óláfr’s grammatical interpretation and suggests taking hvatir ‘the keen ones’ (conflicting with his own reading in Skj A) as the subject of búask and assuming herr belongs to a separate sentence. However, A’s reading hvatt is preferred here as the main ms. (so TGT 1884, TGT 1927 and Skald) and because W’s reading produces a hypermetrical line (NN §2991B).

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. Skj A = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15a. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. A: Tekst efter håndskrifterne. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1967. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
4. 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.
5. SnE 1848 = Sveinbjörn Egilsson, ed. 1848. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar, eða Gylfaginning, Skáldskaparmál og Háttatal. Reykjavík: Prentsmiðja landsins.
6. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
7. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
8. CCCM = [Anonymous] Corpus Christianorum. 1971-. Continuatio mediaevalis. Turnhout: Brepols.
9. 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.
10. Reichling, Dietrich, ed. 1893. Das Doctrinale des Alexander de Villa-Dei. Monumenta Germaniae paedagogica 12. Berlin: A. Hofmann & Comp. Rpt. 1974. Burt Franklin Research and Source Works Series, Studies in the History of Education 11. New York: Burt Franklin.
11. SnE 1818 = Rask, Rasmus Kristian, ed. 1818a. Snorra Edda ásamt Skáldu og þarmeð fylgjandi ritgjörðum. Stockholm: Elmen.
12. Internal references
13. (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 30 April 2024)
14. Tarrin Wills (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Lausavísur, Stanzas from the Third Grammatical Treatise 18’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 550.