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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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ESk Frag 6III

Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Einarr Skúlason, Fragments 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. 157.

Einarr SkúlasonFragments
567

introduction

Jón Sigurðsson (SnE 1848-87, III, 355) assigned this half-stanza (ESk Frag 6) to Einarr’s panegyric about Haraldr gillikristr (Hardr III; see Introduction to Frag 4 above). It is preserved in mss R (main ms.), , U, A, B (and 744ˣ) and C of Skm (SnE), as well as in LaufE (mss 2368ˣ, 743ˣ) and in RE 1665(Ff3) (copied from a LaufE ms.). The poet’s full name is given in SnE, whereas in LaufE the helmingr is attributed to Einarr skálaglamm ‘Tinkle-scales’ Helgason (EskálI), who composed the stanza (Eskál Vell 35I) directly preceding this helmingr.

text and translation

Dolgskára kná dýrum
dýrr magnandi stýra
— Hugins fermu bregðr harmi
harmr — bliksólar Garmi.

{Dýrr magnandi {dolgskára}} kná stýra {dýrum Garmi {bliksólar}}; {harmr {fermu Hugins}} bregðr harmi.
 
‘The splendid strengthener of the battle-gull [RAVEN/EAGLE > WARRIOR] controls the splendid Garmr <dog> of the gleam-sun [SHIELD > WEAPON]; the grief of Huginn’s <raven’s> food [CORPSES > RAVEN/EAGLE] puts an end to its grief.

notes and context

Huginn is given as a name or heiti for ‘raven’ in both Skm and LaufE.

The metre is dunhent ‘echoing-rhymed’, a variant of dróttkvætt characterised by repetition of internal rhymes from the odd lines to the even lines (here -ár- : -ýr- : -ýr-, -erm- : -arm- : -arm-;  see SnSt Ht 24). That metre is also used in Frag 8 below, and it could be that the two stanzas belonged to the same poem.

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, 12. Ubestemmelige vers, tilhørende forskellige fyrstedigte eller lausavísur 6: AI, 480, BI, 452, Skald I, 223, NN §3102; SnE 1848-87, I, 488-9, II, 353, 456, 543, 597, III, 100, SnE 1931, 172, SnE 1998, I, 91; LaufE 1979, 351.

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