Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Einarr Skúlason, Fragments 7’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 158.
The helmingr (ESk Frag 7) must have belonged to a royal panegyric, and Jón Sigurðsson (SnE 1848-87, III, 355) assigned it to Einarr’s encomium about Haraldr gilli (Hardr III; see Introduction to Frag 4 and 6 above). The half-stanza is transmitted in mss R (main ms.), Tˣ, U, A, B (and 744ˣ) and C of Skm (SnE) and in LaufE (mss 2368ˣ and 743ˣ). It was copied in RE 1665(Ff3), which has no independent value. The helmingr follows Frag 6 above without intervening prose in LaufE (with idem ‘the same’ in the left margin, 743ˣ) and it is preceded by Ok enn sem hann kvað ‘And again, as he said’ in Skm. Hence it is attributed variously to Einarr skálaglamm (LaufE) or Einarr Skúlason (SnE). See Introduction to Frag 6.
En við hjaldr, þars hauldar,
hugþrútit svellr, lúta,
— Muninn drekkr blóð ór benjum
blásvartr — konungs hjarta.
En hugþrútit hjarta konungs svellr við hjaldr, þars hauldar lúta; blásvartr Muninn drekkr blóð ór benjum.
And the courage-enlarged heart of the king swells at the battle where freeholders sink down; blue-black Muninn <raven> drinks blood from wounds.
Mss: R(38r), Tˣ(39v), U(40v), A(14r), B(6v), 744ˣ(44v), C(7r) (SnE); 2368ˣ(95), 743ˣ(74v) (LaufE)
Readings: [1] hauldar: so all others, haulda R [2] hug‑: haug‑ U; ‑þrútit: ‑þrútinn U, C, ‘þrut[…]’ B, ‘‑þruti. .’ 744ˣ; svellr: svellir Tˣ, svelgr U, C [4] ‑svartr: ‘[…]’ B, ‘suartr’ 744ˣ; konungs: munins U, kennir 2368ˣ, 743ˣ
Editions: Skj AI, 480, Skj BI, 452, Skald I, 223; SnE 1848-87, I, 488-9, II, 353, 456, 543, 597, III, 100, SnE 1931, 172, SnE 1998, I, 91; LaufE 1979, 351.
Context: As Frag 6 above. Here Muninn is a name or heiti for ‘raven’.
Notes: [1] hauldar ‘freeholders’: Hauldar were Norwegian free farmers. The word is variously spelled hǫlðar, hǫldar and hauldar. The latter form is Norwegian (see ANG §§105 Anm., 319.2 and Note to Anon Nkt 15/2II). — [2] hugþrútit ‘courage-enlarged’: This cpd, which is otherwise not attested in Old Norse, is formed from the noun hugr m. ‘mind, courage’ and the adj. þrútinn ‘enlarged, swollen’. — [3] Muninn ‘Muninn <raven>’: Muninn (from munr ‘mind, soul’) was the other of Óðinn’s ravens in Old Norse myth (see Note to Frag 6/3 above and Note to Þul Hrafns 1/7).
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