Anon (SnE) 4^III

The couplet (Anon (SnE) 4) is transmitted in mss R (main ms.), Tˣ, W, U, A and C of Skm (SnE), as well as in the Y redaction of LaufE (ms. 2368ˣ) and RE 1665(Hh3). Because RE 1665 contains a reading that diverges from the other redactions, both LaufE and RE 1665 have been considered in the present edition. The couplet is anonymous in all mss.

‘Heill komt, handar svella
hlynr!’ Kvaddi svá brynja.

‘Komt heill, {hlynr {svella handar}}!’ Svá kvaddi brynja.

‘Welcome, {maple {of ice-sheets of the hand}} [SILVER > MAN]!’ Thus was the greeting of the byrnie.

Mss: R, Tˣ(35r), W(76), U(32r), A(10v), C (SnE); 2368ˣ(114) (LaufE); RE 1665(Hh3)

Readings: [1] Heill: ‘[…]ill’ U;    komt (‘kom þv’): ‘sie tu’ RE 1665    [2] brynja: brynju Tˣ, U, A, C

Editions: Skj AI, 601, Skj BI, 601, Skald I, 293, NN §3132; SnE 1848-87, I, 416-17, II, 326, 437, 586, III, 76, SnE 1931, 148, SnE 1998, I, 65; LaufE 1979, 373, Resen 1977, Hh3.

Context: The couplet is cited to illustrate man-kennings in which the base-word (m.) is a kind of tree, here, hlynr ‘maple’.

Notes: [All]: The couplet is fragmentary, and the present edn attempts to make syntactic and semantic sense of the two lines that are preserved. — [1] komt heill ‘welcome’: Lit. ‘come you hale, healthy’. The RE 1665 variant, (normalised) sé þú lit. ‘be you’, is also possible, but apparently an innovation in that redaction. — [1] svella handar ‘of ice-sheets of the hand [SILVER]’: For a comparable silver-kenning, see svell greipar ‘ice of the hand’ (Anon Stríðk l. 7). — [2] brynja ‘the byrnie’: So R, W, 2368ˣ, RE 1665. Taken here as the subject of kvaddi lit. ‘greeted’. The Tˣ, U, A, C variant brynju (oblique, sg.) has stronger support among the SnE mss and could be the object of kvaddi, which would require that hlynr svella handar be construed as the subject of that verb rather than as a form of address (‘thus the maple of ice-sheets of the hand [SILVER > MAN] greeted the byrnie’; so Skj B and Skald). However, as Kock (NN §3132) points out, that entails emendation of the m. heill (lit. ‘healthy, hale’) to f. heil because brynju is f. acc. sg. The present edn follows SnE 1848-87 and SnE 1998.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
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. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
6. LaufE 1979 = Faulkes, Anthony, ed. 1979. Edda Magnúsar Ólafssonar (Laufás Edda). RSÁM 13. Vol. I of Two Versions of Snorra Edda from the 17th Century. Reykjavík: Stofnun Árna Magnússonar, 1977-9.
7. SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
8. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
9. Resen 1977 = Faulkes, Anthony. 1977a. Edda Íslandorum. Völuspá. Hávamál. Vol. II of Two Versions of Snorra Edda from the 17th Century. Reykjavík: Stofnun Árna Magnússonar. 1977-9.
10. Internal references
11. 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].
12. (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 23 April 2024)
13. Margaret Clunies Ross 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Stríðkeravísur’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 628. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1042> (accessed 23 April 2024)
14. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Lausavísur, Stanzas from Snorra Edda 4’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 515.
15. (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 23 April 2024)