EBrún Lv 1^III

Kaupir árr — né eyri
allrífum skal hlífa —
orðrakkr ilja snekkjur
austrœnar sér flausta.

{Orðrakkr árr flausta} kaupir sér {austrœnar snekkjur ilja}; né skal hlífa allrífum eyri.

{The word-bold messenger of ships} [SEAFARER] buys himself {eastern warships of footsoles} [SHOES]; one must not spare abundant money.

Mss: papp10ˣ(41r), 743ˣ(70v-71r marg) (LaufE)

Readings: [4] austrœnar sér: ‘austrer aser’ 743ˣmarg

Editions: Skj AII, 82, Skj BII, 93, Skald II, 50; LaufE 1979, 270, 345 n.

Context: This stanza is cited in LaufE to illustrate a foot-kenning in the section Fót má kenna ‘Foot can be called’.

Notes: [All]: The helmingr appears to be an ironic comment on the purchase of expensive Norwegian shoes (see Note to l. 4 below) by someone who travels by sea and is rather well off. If one accepts the idea that Eyjólfr was an economically poor friend of Snorri Sturluson, Eyjólfr could have composed a stanza, of which only this helmingr has survived, in response to a lausavísa by Snorri (SnSt Lv 6; see Biography of Eyjólfr Brúnason above). This is suggested not only by the ironic content, but also by the use of a seafarer-kenning (qualified by the adj. orðrakkr ‘word-bold’, i.e. ‘eloquent’) and the allusion to the use of money (Snorri’s wealth and extravagance are well documented; see also Máni Lv 4^IV and Anon (Stu) 19^IV). — [1-2] allrífum eyri ‘abundant money’: In skaldic poetry the adj. allrífr occurs only here (cf. LP: allrífr), and it was translated by Finnur Jónsson as i rigelig grad tilstede og gærne uddelt, (altså passivt; om penge) ‘plentifully available and gladly distributed (passive meaning; about money)’. In prose texts the adj. rífr means ‘something desirable’ (see Fritzner: rífr), but more often the meaning ‘something acceptable’ can be inferred from the examples given (cf. ONP: rífr). The Old Norse noun derives from Lat. aureus ‘golden’ (a Roman gold coin) and means an ounce (of silver) or ‘money, wealth, coins, currency’ (LP, ONP: eyrir). Since there is no specific information given in this helmingr as to exactly what eyri refers to here, one can only assume that the word denotes ‘money’ in general. Hence the combination of allrífum (m. dat. sg.) and eyri (m. dat. sg.) ‘money’ would indicate the meaning ‘acceptable money’; cf. the example from Skarðsárbók: í gulli ok brendu silfri eðr í rífum aurum ‘in gold and burned silver or in acceptable coins’ (Jakob Benediktsson 1958, 194). However, Finnur Jónssons interpretation fits best in the context of the stanza and is adopted in the present edn. — [1, 3, 4] orðrakkr árr flausta ‘the word-bold messenger of ships [SEAFARER]’: This common type of seafarer-kenning is formed according to the pattern ‘man of the ship’ (cf. Eskál Lv 3/1-2^I, Anon Pl 13/7-8^VII; cf. LP: rr 2 and Meissner 88). The adj. orðrakkr ‘word-bold’ in the sense ‘eloquent’ or ‘someone true to one’s word’ serves as a qualifier for ‘seafarer’ here (see Note to [All] above). — [3-4] austrœnar snekkjur ilja ‘eastern warships of footsoles [SHOES]’: The adj. austrœnar (f. acc. pl.) can only qualify snekkjur (f. acc. pl.) ‘warships’ (l. 3). and is often used to refer to goods from Norway, seen from an Icelandic point of view (ONP: austrǿnn). Austrœnar snekkjur ilja ‘eastern warships of footsoles [SHOES]’ most likely means here that these are shoes from Norway. Kennings denoting ‘foot’ or ‘shoe(s)’ are attested elsewhere in poetry (Meissner 434), and the noun il f. ‘footsole’ is used as a determinant in several of these (see ÞjóðA Lv 6/6^II, ÞjóðA Lv 8/2^II, Eil Þdr 3/7). A ship-term as the base-word of such a kenning also appears in ÞjóðA Sex 20/7^II hleypikjólar hæls ‘the speeding ships of the heel [SHOES]’. In Skj A, Finnur Jónsson used only ms. 743ˣ, and he emended the reading ‘austrer aser’ to austrœnna (gen. pl.) sér to construe Orðrakkr rr austrœnna flausta ‘The word-bold captain of a Norwegian ship [a Norwegian merchant]’ (Skj B). Finnur’s emendation was adopted by Kock (Skald).

References

1. Bibliography
2. 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.
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. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. 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.
6. Meissner = Meissner, Rudolf. 1921. Die Kenningar der Skalden: Ein Beitrag zur skaldischen Poetik. Rheinische Beiträge und Hülfsbücher zur germanischen Philologie und Volkskunde 1. Bonn and Leipzig: Schroeder. Rpt. 1984. Hildesheim etc.: Olms.
7. LP = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1931. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis: Ordbog over det norsk-islandske skjaldesprog oprindelig forfattet af Sveinbjörn Egilsson. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Møller.
8. Fritzner = Fritzner, Johan. 1883-96. Ordbog over det gamle norske sprog. 3 vols. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske forlagsforening. 4th edn. Rpt. 1973. Oslo etc.: Universitetsforlaget.
9. ONP = Degnbol, Helle et al., eds. 1989-. A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose / Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog. 1-. Copenhagen: The Arnamagnæan Commission.
10. Jakob Benediktsson, ed. 1958. Skarðsárbók. Landnámabók Björns Jónssonar á Skarðsá. Reykjavík: Manuscript Institute of Iceland.
11. Internal references
14. Jonna Louis-Jensen and Tarrin Wills (eds) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Plácitusdrápa 13’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 190.
15. Guðrún Nordal (forthcoming), ‘ Snorri Sturluson, Lausavísur’ in Guðrún Nordal (ed.), Poetry on Icelandic History. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 4. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1378> (accessed 26 April 2024)
16. Not published: do not cite (Anon (Stu) 19^IV)
17. Edith Marold (ed.) 2017, ‘Eilífr Goðrúnarson, Þórsdrápa 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. 80.
18. Not published: do not cite (Máni Lv 4^IV)
19. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Þjóðólfr Arnórsson, Sexstefja 20’ 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, pp. 134-5.
20. (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 26 April 2024)