Arn Frag 6^III

Kreisti knútu lostna
klifs bein fjǫrusteini.

{Bein klifs} kreisti knútu, lostna fjǫrusteini.

{The bone of the cliff} [STONE] pressed against the joint, battered by beach-shingle.

Mss: 2368ˣ(133), 743ˣ(99v) (LaufE)

Editions: Skj AI, 354, Skj BI, 326, Skald I, 165, NN §844H; LaufE 1979, 399; Whaley 1998, 314.

Context: The couplet is preserved in LaufE, in a section on terms for ‘stone’ or ‘rock’ (steinn), in this case bein klifs ‘bone of the cliff’.

Notes: [All]: The source of this fragment, along with other material peculiar to the Y branch of LaufE (copied in RE 1665(Ll2); cf. Note to st. 2 [All] above) and not found elsewhere, cannot be identified (LaufE 1979, 176), either in terms of Arnórr’s poems or of the route by which it entered the LaufE tradition. The image seems to be of the remains of slain warriors jostling against stones on a sea-shore, presumably due to the motion of the waves. It recalls the corpses pictured in Arn Magndr 15/1-2^II (and cf. ÞjóðA Magn 2/5-6, 8^II), as well as Frag 2 above, but there are no other clues. The couplet makes reasonable sense and has been tentatively treated as a syntactic unit here, but it presumably formed part of a larger unit, and therefore the construal cannot be certain. — [2] bein klifs ‘bone of the cliff [STONE]’: Probably a kenning for ‘stone’ or ‘rock’, as Magnús Ólafsson, compiler of LaufE, takes it to be; cf. Þjóð Yt 19/10^I beinum foldar ‘bones of the earth [STONES]’ and Vst Erf 2/4 beina Hlóðynjar ‘bones of Hlóðyn <earth> [MOUNTAINS]’. As Faulkes (LaufE 1979, 176) points out, the kenning also appears in the prose list of heiti for ‘stone, rock’ in the X version of LaufE (ibid., 307).

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
3. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. 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.
5. Whaley, Diana, ed. and trans. 1998. The Poetry of Arnórr jarlaskáld: An Edition and Study. Westfield Publications in Medieval Studies 8. Turnhout: Brepols.
6. Internal references
7. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Arnórr jarlaskáld Þórðarson, Magnússdrápa 15’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 225.
8. Edith Marold (ed.) 2012, ‘Þjóðólfr ór Hvini, Ynglingatal 19’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 42.
9. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Þjóðólfr Arnórsson, Stanzas about Magnús Óláfsson in Danaveldi 2’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 89.
10. Edith Marold (ed.) 2017, ‘Vǫlu-Steinn, Ǫgmundardrápa 2’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 429.
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 3 May 2024)