Alison Finlay (ed.) 2012, ‘Glúmr Geirason, Gráfeldardrápa 1’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 248.
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2. hlýða (verb): hear, listen; be able
[1] hlýði ‘listen’: This 3rd pers. sg./pl. pres. subj. verb functions as an imp., calling for a hearing and marking the helmingr as the conventional introduction to a poem, cf. Þhorn Harkv 1/1 Hlýði hringberendr ‘Let sword-bearers [WARRIORS] listen’. For it to occur without a subject is unusual; for a suggested emendation which supplies one, see Note to l. 2 mildinga.
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hafr (noun m.; °hafrs/-s(SnEU 56¹⁹), dat. hafri; hafrar): goat
[1, 2] gildi beiðis hapta ‘the banquet of the ruler of the gods [= Óðinn > POETRY]’: One of several skaldic kennings based on the myth of the mead of poetry, on which, see Note to ESk Vell 1 [All].
[1, 2] gildi beiðis hapta ‘the banquet of the ruler of the gods [= Óðinn > POETRY]’: One of several skaldic kennings based on the myth of the mead of poetry, on which, see Note to ESk Vell 1 [All].
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beiðir (noun m.): demander
[1, 2] gildi beiðis hapta ‘the banquet of the ruler of the gods [= Óðinn > POETRY]’: One of several skaldic kennings based on the myth of the mead of poetry, on which, see Note to ESk Vell 1 [All].
[1, 2] gildi beiðis hapta ‘the banquet of the ruler of the gods [= Óðinn > POETRY]’: One of several skaldic kennings based on the myth of the mead of poetry, on which, see Note to ESk Vell 1 [All].
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hefja (verb): lift, start
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hefja (verb): lift, start
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mildi (noun f.): generosity, mercy
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mildingr (noun m.; °-s): ruler, generous one
[2] mildinga: mildi W
[2] mildinga ‘of princes’: (a) The gen. pl. mildinga is retained here and by Faulkes (SnE 1998, I, 12, 162, II, 356). There are parallels in prose to the use of gen. to refer to the subject of poetry, e.g. í kvæðum hans ‘in poetry about him’, cited from Egils saga in the Introduction above. Mildinga ‘of princes’ would not literally apply to the poem as it survives, with its strong focus on Haraldr, but it could be taken as a pl. for sg. referring to Haraldr as its subject, or perhaps generally to ‘princes’ as the natural subject of poetry. Faulkes (SnE 1998, I, 162) takes mildinga as a possible indication that the poem is ‘addressed to an assembly of rulers (or at least to more than one of the dead king’s brothers)’; cf. Fidjestøl (1982, 91, 230). (b) Finnur Jónsson in Skj B and Kock in Skald emend to the nom. pl. mildingar and construe it with hlýði, hence ‘let the princes hear!’. However, reading mildingar goes against all mss and produces an awkward word order.
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2. gildr (adj.; °compar. -ari, superl. -astr): valued at, worth
[1, 2] gildi beiðis hapta ‘the banquet of the ruler of the gods [= Óðinn > POETRY]’: One of several skaldic kennings based on the myth of the mead of poetry, on which, see Note to ESk Vell 1 [All].
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því (adv.): therefore, because
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bjóða (verb; °býðr; bauð, buðu; boðinn (buð- Thom¹ 5²n.)): offer, order, invite
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biðja (verb; °biðr; bað, báðu; beðinn (beiþ- Martin¹ 573, bỏþ- HákEirsp 661, cf. ed. intr. xl)): ask for, order, pray
[3] biðjum: so W, U, B, bjóðum R, biðju Tˣ
[3] biðjum ‘we [I] ask’: This reading is adopted by all eds in place of bjóðum ‘we [I] command, offer’, the reading of R.
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vér (pron.; °gen. vár, dat./acc. oss): we, us, our
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þǫgn (noun f.; °þagnar): silence
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þegn (noun m.; °dat. -/-i; -ar): thane, man, franklin
[4] tjón þegna ‘the loss of the man’: (a) Tjón ‘loss, destruction’ normally takes the gen. of the person or thing lost (LP, Fritzner: tjón), and this phrase could refer to the death of Haraldr gráfeldr (as assumed in Skj B and this edn), with gen. pl. þegna ‘of men’ for gen. sg. ‘of the man’. (b) Þegn, however, seems inappropriately lowly as a designation of a king, and the sense here may be ‘the followers’ loss [of their lord]’ (so Kock, NN §254; Faulkes, SnE 1998, II, 433). A further possibility is a reference to all those who fell in battle.
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2. tjón (noun n.; °-s; -): loss
[4] tjón þegna ‘the loss of the man’: (a) Tjón ‘loss, destruction’ normally takes the gen. of the person or thing lost (LP, Fritzner: tjón), and this phrase could refer to the death of Haraldr gráfeldr (as assumed in Skj B and this edn), with gen. pl. þegna ‘of men’ for gen. sg. ‘of the man’. (b) Þegn, however, seems inappropriately lowly as a designation of a king, and the sense here may be ‘the followers’ loss [of their lord]’ (so Kock, NN §254; Faulkes, SnE 1998, II, 433). A further possibility is a reference to all those who fell in battle.
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af (prep.): from
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1. fregna (verb): hear of
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