Bragi Frag 4^III

This fjórðungr ‘couplet’ (Bragi Frag 4) is found in mss A, taken here as the main ms., and W, in both cases within the text of the Third Grammatical Treatise (TGT) by Óláfr Þórðarson. It is difficult to understand because its context is unknown. It exemplifies the use of syncope in poetry in ch. 14 of the so-called Málskrúðsfræði ‘Science of the ornaments of speech’ section of TGT, headed in A Hér eru merktir lestir metaplasmi ‘Here the faults of metaplasmus are noted’. The example here (observed in both mss) is of þar es > þars, i.e. elision of the initial vowel of an enclitic for metrical reasons. Óláfr adds þetta kǫllum vér bragarmál í skáldskap ‘we call that “poetic speech” in prosody’, almost certainly echoing Snorri Sturluson’s discussion of the phenomenon in Ht (SnE 2007, 8), where a different example is given, and the elision is seen as a kind of leyfi ‘licence’.

Þars, sem lofðar líta
lung váfaðar Gungnis.

Þars, sem lofðar líta {lung {váfaðar Gungnis}}.

It is there as men see {the longship {of the swinger of Gungnir <Óðinn’s spear>}} [= Óðinn > HORSE = Sleipnir].

Mss: A(5v), W(105) (TGT)

Readings: [1] sem: er W

Editions: Skj AI, 4, Skj BI, 4, Skald I, 3, NN §§1004, 2208; SnE 1848-87, II, 134-5, 415, III, 145, TGT 1884 21, 87, 200, TGT 1927, 62, 101.

Context: See Introduction. The couplet is introduced in the following words (text of A, minor variation in W): Sincopa tekr íbrott staf eða samstǫfu ór miðju orði, sem Bragi hinn gamli qvað ‘Syncope takes away a letter or a syllable from the middle of a word, as Bragi the old said’. Björn Magnússon Ólsen (TGT 1884, 87 n. 5) observes that Óláfr seems to have thought of þar es as a single word.

Notes: [All]: The original context of the stanza of which this couplet presumably formed part is unknown. The reference to a place where men see a representation of Óðinn’s eight-legged horse Sleipnir may indicate that the stanza was part of an ekphrasis; alternatively there may have been a constellation of stars thought to represent Sleipnir. Depictions of a figure presumed to be Óðinn, carrying a spear and sometimes accompanied by birds (probably his ravens) astride an apparently eight-legged horse appear on several Gotland picture stones, though this interpretation has been questioned (cf. Simek 1993, 124, 293-4). — [1] sem ‘as’: The force of sem in the clause is not clear; Skj B understands it as som om ‘as if’, but one would then expect a subj. (líti) and not an indic. verb (líta). The probable meaning of the whole clause is also obscure: ‘there’, wherever that is, it is as men see Sleipnir. — [2] lung ‘the longship’: Here presumed to be the base-word of a horse-kenning. From Lat. [navis] longa, probably via OIr. long (Falk 1912, 89; Jesch 2001a, 123; see also Note to Þul Skipa 2/7). Lungr occurs as a horse-name in Anon Þorgþ I 1/7 and Þul Hesta 2/4 and (possibly) in an obscure fragment attributed to Egill Skallagrímsson (Egill Frag), cited in TGT (TGT 1884, 86) in the same chapter as Bragi’s couplet (it also includes a reference to Gungnir). Horse-kennings are rare in skaldic poetry, the only comparable example being Sigv Frag 2/3 knǫrr rastar ‘the ship of the league’. Both these kennings invert the common metaphor ‘horse of the sea’ for ‘ship’; see Note to Sigv Frag 2/3. — [2] váfaðar ‘of the swinger’: Váfuðr (or vafǫðr, so Vsp 1/5 in Hb, NK 1 n.), from váfa ‘move, swing [to and fro]’ is a name for Óðinn (see Note to Þul Óðins 5/7); cf. Eskál Lv 1ab/1, 4^{I, V} veig Váfaðar ‘the drink of Váfuðr [POETRY]’, elsewhere a name for the wind (Alv 20/2, same verse cited in Skm, SnE 1998, I, 90, and 146 n.). Here, however, the kenning becomes awkward if Váfuðr is regarded as a proper name, as it has to form a base-word with a second proper name, Gungnir, as determinant; rather, it appears to be used in its etymological sense but with reference to Óðinn, as the owner of Gungnir. — [2] Gungnis ‘of Gungnir <Óðinn’s spear>’: The name of Óðinn’s spear, forged by some dwarfs and later given to Óðinn by Loki (SnE 1998, I, 41-2).

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 B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. 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. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
6. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
7. Jesch, Judith. 2001a. Ships and Men in the Late Viking Age: The Vocabulary of Runic Inscriptions and Skaldic Verse. Woodbridge: Boydell.
8. Falk, Hjalmar. 1912. Altnordisches Seewesen. Wörter und Sachen 4. Heidelberg: Winter.
9. NK = Neckel, Gustav and Hans Kuhn (1899), eds. 1983. Edda: Die Lieder des Codex Regius nebst verwandten Denkmälern. 2 vols. I: Text. 5th edn. Heidelberg: Winter.
10. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
11. 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.
12. Simek, Rudolf. 1993. Dictionary of Northern Mythology. Trans. Angela Hall. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer.
13. SnE 2007 = Snorri Sturluson. 2007. Edda: Háttatal. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
14. Internal references
15. (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 28 April 2024)
16. Not published: do not cite (Egill^V)
17. (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 28 April 2024)
18. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Háttatal’ 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=165> (accessed 28 April 2024)
20. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Óðins nǫfn 5’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 743.
21. Margaret Clunies Ross 2017, ‘ Egill Skallagrímsson, Fragment’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 66. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1168> (accessed 28 April 2024)
22. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Hesta heiti 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. 936.
23. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Skipa heiti 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. 863.
24. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Bragi inn gamli Boddason, Fragments 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. 59.
25. Not published: do not cite ()
26. Not published: do not cite ()
27. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2017, ‘Sigvatr Þórðarson, Fragments 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. 349.
28. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2012, ‘Einarr skálaglamm Helgason, Lausavísur 1a’ 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. 331.