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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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ESk Øxfl 6III

Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Einarr Skúlason, Øxarflokkr 6’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 146.

Einarr SkúlasonØxarflokkr
567

text and translation

Frák, at Fróða meyjar
fullgóliga mólu
(lætr stillir grið golli)
Grafvitnis beð (slitna).
Mjúks (bera mínar øxar
meldr þann við hlyn feldrar)
konungs dýrkar fé (Fenju
fǫgr hlýr) bragar stýri.

Frák, at {meyjar Fróða} mólu fullgóliga {beð Grafvitnis}; stillir lætr grið slitna golli. Fé mjúks konungs dýrkar {stýri bragar}; fǫgr hlýr øxar mínar, feldrar við hlyn, bera {þann meldr Fenju}.
 
‘I heard that Fróði’s <legendary king’s> girls [= Fenja and Menja] very splendidly ground Grafvitnir’s <serpent’s> bed [GOLD]; the ruler lets the truce for the gold be broken. The wealth of the kind king celebrates the controller of praise [POET]; the fair cheeks of my axe, attached to the shaft, bear that flour of Fenja <giantess> [GOLD].

notes and context

The stanza is recorded immediately after Grott in Skm, and the imagery and kennings are used to illustrate the story told in that poem. In LaufE, beð Grafvitnis ‘Grafvitnir’s <serpent’s> bed’ is given as one of several examples of kennings for ‘gold’.

For the story of the giantesses Fenja and Menja grinding gold for King Fróði of Denmark see Note to st. 3/5, 6, 7 above. — The poet is identified as Einarr Skúlason in all mss of Skm. In 2368ˣ (LaufE) the stanza is given as two helmingar with a brief insert of prose in between, and the poet is Einarr and same ‘the same’; in 743ˣ (LaufE) the stanza is given as one and the poet’s name is added in the margin (Einarr, with Skúlason in another hand).

readings

sources

Text is based on reconstruction from the base text and variant apparatus and may contain alternative spellings and other normalisations not visible in the manuscript text. Transcriptions may not have been checked and should not be cited.

editions and texts

Skj: Einarr Skúlason, 11. Øxarflokkr(?) 6: AI, 478, BI, 450, Skald I, 222, NN §958; SnE 1848-87, I, 390-3, III, 66, SnE 1931, 138, SnE 1998, I, 57; LaufE 1979, 348.

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