ESk Lv 10III
Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Einarr Skúlason, Lausavísur 10’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 173.
Víst ‘truly’
(not checked:)
1. víss (adj.): wise, certain(ly)
hermð ‘anger’
(not checked:)
hermð (noun f.; °-ar; -ir): [anger]
á ‘at’
(not checked:)
3. á (prep.): on, at
hesti ‘the horse’
(not checked:)
hestr (noun m.; °-s, dat. -i; -ar): horse, stallion
hefr ‘has’
(not checked:)
hafa (verb): have
fljóð ‘the woman’
(not checked:)
fljóð (noun n.): woman
ef ‘if’
(not checked:)
3. ef (conj.): if
vill ‘she wants’
(not checked:)
vilja (verb): want, intend
góðan ‘a good one’
(not checked:)
góðr (adj.): good
Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses
The couplet is cited in TGT to illustrate poetic play on words (ofljóst ‘too transparent’) as well as changes in vowel quantity and accent (barbarismus).
The surrounding prose, provided by Óláfr Þórðarson, gives a detailed explanation of the word-play. The first clause plus the last word in the second line (víst erumk hermð á hesti – góðan ‘I truly have anger at the horse – a good one’) can be paraphrased as víst legg ek á jó reiðiþokka góðan lit. ‘I truly place on the horse a strong (lit. ‘good’) dislike’, in which jó (nom. jór) = hesti (nom. hestr ‘horse’) and reiði = hermð (‘anger’). By rearranging the morphological boundaries the poet arrives at the following statement: Víst legg ek á Jóreiði þokka góðan ‘I truly place on Jóreiðr a strong (lit. ‘good’) liking’. The second clause, hefr fljóð, ef vill lit. ‘(he) has the woman if he wants to’, can be paraphrased as konu má ná ‘the woman (he) may obtain’ (if fljóð ‘woman’ is taken as acc. rather than nom.). Changing the morphological boundaries as well as the quantity of the vowel in the last word (má ná > má na) results in the nominal phrase konu Mána ‘the wife of Máni’. Taken together the two lines read as follows: ‘I truly have a strong liking for Jóreiðr, the wife of Máni’ (see also TGT 1884, 174-5 and Meissner 86). — Finnur Jónsson (TGT 1927, 92-3) rejects the above interpretation, which he attributes to Óláfr Þórðarson’s imagination. In his opinion, it is not possible to reconstruct how the two lines would have fitted into the context of the stanza because the helmingr has not been preserved in its entirety.
Stanza/chapter/text segment
Use the buttons at the top of the page to navigate between stanzas in a poem.
Information tab
- text: if the stanza has been published, the edited text of the stanza and translation are here; if it hasn't been published an old edition (usually Skj) is given for reference
- sources: a list of the manuscripts or inscriptions containing this stanza, with page and line references and links (eye button) to images where available, and transcription where available
- readings: a list of variant manuscript readings of words in the main text
- editions and texts: a list of editions of the stanza with links to the bibliography; and a list of prose works in which the stanza occurs, allowing you to navigate within the prose context
- notes and context: notes not linked to individual words are given here, along with the account of the prose context for the stanza, where relevant
Interactive tab
The text and translation are given here, with buttons to toggle whether the text is shown in the verse order or prose word order. Clicking on indiviudal words gives dictionary links, variant readings, kennings and notes, where relevant.
Full text tab
This is the text of the edition in a similar format to how the edition appears in the printed volumes.
Chapter/text segment
This view is also used for chapters and other text segments. Not all the headings shown are relevant to such sections.