Eskál Hardr 1^III

Liðbrǫndum kná Lundar
landfrœkn jǫfurr granda;
hykka ræsis rekka
Rínar grjót of þrjóta.

{Landfrœkn jǫfurr Lundar} kná granda {liðbrǫndum}; hykka {grjót Rínar} of þrjóta rekka ræsis.

{The land-valiant prince of Lund} [DANISH KING] harms {limb-fires} [ARM-RINGS]; I do not think that {the stones of the Rhine <river>} [GOLD] run short for the warriors of the chieftain.

Mss: R(32v), Tˣ(34r), W(75), U(31v), A(10r), B(3v), B(5v), 744ˣ(18r), 744ˣ(35r), C(4r) (SnE)

Readings: [1] kná: ‘ligr kna’ B(3v), ‘l[…] kna’ B(5v), ‘l . gr kna’ 744ˣ(35r);    Lundar: lund Tˣ, landa U    [2] land‑: om. Tˣ;    granda: branda U    [3] hykka (‘hycka ec’): ‘[…]’ B(3v), hykkað ek B(5v), ‘hýck . d ek’ 744ˣ(18r)    [4] þrjóta: so all others, þrjóti R

Editions: Skj AI, 122, Skj BI, 116, Skald I, 65, NN §2239; SnE 1848-87, I, 404-5, II, 322, 433, 517, 534, 582, III, 69-70, SnE 1848, 84, SnE 1931, 144, SnE 1998, I, 61.

Context: The helmingr is cited to illustrate a kenning referring to gold.

Notes: [1, 2] kná granda liðbrǫndum ‘harms limb-fires [ARM-RINGS]’: The meaning is that he is generous, since he breaks pieces off armlets of gold to distribute. — [1-2] landfrœkn jǫfurr Lundar ‘the land-valiant prince of Lund [DANISH KING]’: Lund is in Skåne, now in southern Sweden, though it was under Danish rule until 1658. The ms. readings are retained here, as by Finnur Jónsson (1891a, 181-2), despite his reservations about the construction. In Skj B Finnur follows Konráð Gíslason (1892, 100, but cf. Finnur Jónsson 1891a, 181-2, defending the ms. reading, though conceding that the construction is unusual) in emending land- to lands, so that the reference is to frœkn jǫfurr lands Lundar ‘the valiant prince of the land of Lund’. Kock (NN §2239) argues that landfrœkn ‘land-valiant’ is comparable to víðfrœkn ‘widely-valiant’ and þjóðsterkr ‘mightily-strong’, and the construction ‘the land of Lund’ is unusual. — [4] grjót Rínar ‘the stones of the Rhine <river> [GOLD]’: In the best-known legend of the early Germanic world, the fateful gold of the Niflungar, the curse on which brought death to many, was finally sunk in the Rhine, never to be found again. The tale is told succinctly in Skm (SnE 1998, I, 46-9).

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. SnE 1848 = Sveinbjörn Egilsson, ed. 1848. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar, eða Gylfaginning, Skáldskaparmál og Háttatal. Reykjavík: Prentsmiðja landsins.
5. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
6. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
7. SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
8. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
9. Konráð Gíslason, ed. 1892a. Udvalg af oldnordiske skjaldekvad, med anmærkninger. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
10. Finnur Jónsson. 1891a. ‘Vellekla: Tekstkritiske bemærkninger’. ÅNOH, 147-82.
11. Internal references
12. (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 26 April 2024)