ESk Frag 11^III

Gráns (bera gollna spônu)
— gǫfug ferð es sú jǫfri —
skýtr holmfjǫturr Heita
hrafni (snekkju stafnar).

{Holmfjǫturr} skýtr {hrafni gráns Heita}; stafnar snekkju bera gollna spônu; sú ferð es gǫfug jǫfri.

{The island-fetter} [SEA] pushes {the horse of the hostile Heiti <sea-king>} [SHIP]; the prows of the warship bear golden plates; that journey is glorious for the prince.

Mss: R(26v), Tˣ(27v), W(57), U(29v), B(5r), 744ˣ(31v-32r) (SnE); 2368ˣ(126), 743ˣ(95r) (LaufE)

Readings: [1] Gráns: grams U;    gollna: so Tˣ, W, 744ˣ, 2368ˣ, 743ˣ, goldna R, gyllta U    [2] sú: sá 743ˣ;    jǫfri: jǫfra U    [3] holm‑: so W, 744ˣ, 2368ˣ, 743ˣ, ‘hvm‑’ R, ‘hiolm‑’ Tˣ, ‘hlomn‑’ U;    Heita: ‘heiþa’ U    [4] hrafni: hrafna 744ˣ;    stafnar: stafna all

Editions: Skj AI, 481, Skj BI, 453, Skald I, 223; SnE 1848-87, I, 328-9, II, 316, 529, III, 53, SnE 1931, 117, SnE 1998, I, 38; LaufE 1979, 389.

Context: As Frag 9-10 above in Skm. In LaufE, hólmfjǫturr ‘the island-fetter’ is given as one of the examples of sea-kennings.

Notes: [All]: In R, Tˣ, W and B the stanza is preceded by a brief prose link (ok enn kvað hann ‘and again he said’ R), and in LaufE it is attributed to Einarr Skúlason. — [1] gráns (m. or n. gen. sg.) ‘hostile’: The only word that can be qualified by this adj. is Heita (m. gen. sg.) ‘of Heiti’, and gráns Heita ‘of the hostile Heiti’ is taken here to refer to the raging ocean (see also Note to Þfagr Frag 1/3). Skj B and Skald emend to gránn (m. nom. sg.) and take the adj. with holmfjǫturr (m. nom. sg.): gránn holmfjǫturr ‘the grey island-fetter’. Faulkes (SnE 1998) adopts the U variant and reads stafnar snekkju grams ‘the prows of the king’s warship’, which causes a lack of internal rhyme in l. 1 and is not supported by the other ms. witnesses. — [1] gollna spônu ‘golden plates’: So Tˣ, W, 744ˣ, 2368ˣ, 743ˣ.  Spánn was a plate that adorned the prow of a ship. Such plates could be elaborately carved and gilded (see Fritzner: ennispænir; Falk 1912, 43). For the R variant goldna ‘golden’, see ANG §275. — [3] Heita ‘Heiti <sea-king>’: For this name, see Note to Þul Sea-kings l. 3. — [4] hrafni ‘the horse’: This is the name of a legendary horse and a heiti for ‘horse’ (see Note to Anon Þorgþ I 1/1, Þul Hesta 3/2 and Anon Kálfv 2/5-6). — [4] stafnar (m. nom. pl.) ‘the prows’: In keeping with earlier eds, the acc./gen. pl. stafna has been emended to nom. pl. to provide the missing subject for the verb bera (3rd pers. pl. pres. indic.) ‘bear’ (l. 1).

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
3. 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.
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. ANG = Noreen, Adolf. 1923. Altnordische Grammatik I: Altisländische und altnorwegische Grammatik (Laut- und Flexionslehre) unter Berücksichtigung des Urnordischen. 4th edn. Halle: Niemeyer. 1st edn. 1884. 5th unrev. edn. 1970. Tübingen: Niemeyer.
7. Falk, Hjalmar. 1912. Altnordisches Seewesen. Wörter und Sachen 4. Heidelberg: Winter.
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. SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
10. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
11. Internal references
12. Kari Ellen Gade 2017, ‘(Biography of) Einarr Skúlason’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 140.
13. (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 3 May 2024)
14. Elena Gurevich 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Heiti for sea-kings’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 987. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1045> (accessed 3 May 2024)
15. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Þorgrímsþula I 1’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 670.
16. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Kálfsvísa 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. 666.
17. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Hesta heiti 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. 937.
18. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Þorleikr fagri, Fragments 1’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 484.
19. (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 3 May 2024)