Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Einarr Skúlason, 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. 153.
This helmingr (ESk Frag 2) must have been part of an encomium honouring a king of Norway (see konungs Hǫrða ‘of the king of the Hǫrðar’ (l. 2) and Fidjestøl 1982, 100-1), but his identity cannot be established. Jón Sigurðsson (SnE 1848-87, III, 354) assigned the half-stanza to Einarr’s panegyric about Sigurðr jórsalafari ‘Jerusalem-farer’ (ESk Sigdr III). That attribution is highly unlikely, however, because all extant stanzas of that encomium are composed in the preterite tense and this helmingr, as well as the other stanzas which Jón assigns to that poem (Frag 10-11, 14-16 below), is in the present tense. The half-stanza is preserved in mss R (main ms.), Tˣ, W and U of Skm (SnE) and it is attributed to Einarr in all mss, but no patronymic is given for him. He is more likely to be Einarr Skúlason than Einarr skálaglamm ‘Tinkle-scales’ Helgason (EskálI), the other skald designated as ‘Einarr’ in Skm, because Einarr skálaglamm is not known to have composed about any kings of Norway.
Snáks berr fald of frœknu
folkvǫrðr — konungs Hǫrða
frama telr greppr fyr gumnum —
geðsnjallr skarar fjalli.
{Geðsnjallr folkvǫrðr} berr {fald snáks} of {frœknu fjalli skarar}; greppr telr frama {konungs Hǫrða} fyr gumnum.
{The quick-witted guardian of the people} [RULER] wears {the headdress of the serpent} [HELMET] on {his heroic mountain of hair} [HEAD]; the poet recounts the prowess {of the king of the Hǫrðar} [NORWEGIAN KING] before men.
Mss: R(35v), Tˣ(37r), W(81), U(35r) (SnE)
Readings: [1] fald: fold U; frœknu: so U, frœknum R, Tˣ, W [2] folk‑: so all others, fold‑ R; Hǫrða: orða U [3] greppr fyr: gipt með U [4] ‑snjallr: ‑snjallar Tˣ
Editions: Skj AI, 480, Skj BI, 452, Skald I, 222; SnE 1848-87, I, 454-5, II, 335, III, 92, SnE 1931, 160, SnE 1998, I, 79.
Context: Folkvǫrðr ‘guardian of the people’ (R: foldvǫrðr ‘guardian of the earth’) is given in Skm as one of several kennings for ‘king’.
Notes: [1] fald snáks ‘the headdress of the serpent [HELMET]’: This refers to the helmet of terror (œgishjálmr) worn by the dragon Fáfnir (see Fáfn 16-19 and end prose, NK 188; see also Marold 1998a, 13-17 as well as Notes to Sturl Hákkv 14/2II and Eskál Vell 25/5, 6I). Here ‘wear a helmet of terror’ must mean ‘rule firmly’. — [1] frœknu (n. dat. sg.) ‘heroic’: So U. The adj. qualifies fjalli (n. dat. sg.) ‘mountain’ (l. 4), and the reading of the other mss, frœknum (m. dat. sg. or dat. pl.), is ungrammatical. — [2] folkvǫrðr ‘the guardian of the people [RULER]’: So Tˣ, W and U. Foldvǫrðr ‘guardian of the land’ (R) is also possible but less likely in view of the majority of the ms. witnesses.
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