Bragi Rdr 7^III

Þat segik fall á fǫgrum
flotna randar botni.
Ræs gǫfumk reiðar mána
Ragnarr ok fjǫl sagna.

Segik þat fall flotna á fǫgrum botni randar. Ragnarr gǫfumk {mána {reiðar Ræs}} ok fjǫl sagna.

I relate that fall of men on the splendid base of the shield. Ragnarr gave me {a moon {of the chariot of Rær <sea-king>}} [SHIP > SHIELD] and a multitude of stories.

Mss: R(31r), Tˣ(32r), C(2r) (SnE)

Readings: [1] segik: ‘se eg’ Tˣ, ‘segig’ C    [3] gǫfumk: gáfu við C;    mána: om. C    [4] Ragnarr ok: ‘ragnar[…]’ C

Editions: Skj AI, 2, Skj BI, 2, Skald I, 1, NN §2002; SnE 1848-87, I, 374-5, II, 577, III, 61, SnE 1931, 134, SnE 1998, I, 51.

Context: As for Rdr 3-6. This stanza follows immediately on st. 6.

Notes: [All]: Stanza 7 is the stef or refrain for the section of Rdr dealing with the legend of Hamðir and Sǫrli. It corresponds to st. 12, which is the stef for the stanzas dealing with Hildr and the Hjaðningar. In both stanzas, the first couplet refers to the painted shield, while the second couplet, repeated from st. 7 to st. 12, alludes to Bragi’s patron Ragnarr, the gift of the splendid shield and the multitude of stories it brings with it as poetic capital. — [1] segik ‘I relate’: From segja ‘say, tell, relate’. Tˣ’s ‘se eg’ suggests a possible alternative reading sék ‘I see’. — [3] mána reiðar Ræs ‘a moon of the chariot of Rær <sea-king> [SHIP > SHIELD]’: The kenning draws a comparison between a round shield and the moon, and, via a ship-kenning, alludes to the Viking-Age practice of placing shields in rows along the gunwales of ships. — [4] Ragnarr: Bragi’s patron, who gave him the ornamented shield and has presumably commissioned Rdr; assumed by Snorri to be Ragnarr loðbrók (see Introduction).

References

1. Bibliography
2. 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.
3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
6. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
7. Internal references
8. Not published: do not cite (Rloð^VIII)
9. Margaret Clunies Ross 2017, ‘ Bragi inn gamli Boddason, Ragnarsdrápa’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 27. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1130> (accessed 23 April 2024)
10. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Bragi inn gamli Boddason, Ragnarsdrápa 3’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 31.