Refr Ferðv 4^III

Barðristinn nemr brjósti
borðheimr drasils skorðu,
— nauð þolir viðr — en víði
verpr inn of þrǫm stinnan.

{Barðristinn borðheimr} nemr brjósti {drasils skorðu}, en verpr víði inn of stinnan þrǫm; viðr þolir nauð.

{The prow-carved world of ship-planks} [SEA] strikes the breast {of the steed of the prop} [SHIP], and the ocean is thrown in over the firm gunwale; the timber suffers distress.

Mss: R(38r), Tˣ(40r), A(13r), C(7v) (SnE); 2368ˣ(126), 743ˣ(95r) (LaufE)

Readings: [1] Barð‑: ‘Brad‑’ C;    ‑ristinn: ‑ristin 743ˣ;    nemr: náir 2368ˣ, 743ˣ    [2] ‑heimr: ‑heim 2368ˣ, 743ˣ;    drasils: drasill Tˣ, A, 2368ˣ, 743ˣ    [3] en: enn Tˣ, A, hinn C, 743ˣ    [4] inn: enn Tˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 321, Skj BI, 297, Skald I, 151; SnE 1848-87, I, 498-9, II, 451, 600, III, 103, SnE 1931, 175, SnE 1998, I, 94; LaufE 1979, 389.

Context: This stanza is cited in Skm (SnE) and LaufE among stanzas exemplifying sea-heiti.

Notes: [1-2]: In l. 2, mss R and C read drasils (the descender on the final <s> is very faint in R and earlier eds read <l> here), and mss Tˣ and A, as well as the LaufE mss, contain two nom. forms, borðheimr ‘world of ship-planks’ and drasill ‘steed’. In order to decide which of them ought to be the subject of the sentence, one must take the case assignment and semantic structure of the verb nema into account, because the dat. brjósti ‘breast’ must be accommodated syntactically. The only example of a similar syntactic structure is found in LP: nema 5: spjót nemr hjartarótum ‘the spear strikes the heart at the roots’ (Anon Pét 38/6^VII). Hence the subject of the sentence must be the sea which strikes the breast of the ship, i.e. it crashes against the bow of the ship. This interpretation also matches the general tenor of the helmingr, which characterises the sea in this confrontation as the aggressive entity and the ship as the affected one. This is also the sense of the intercalary ‘the ship suffers distress’. Hence borðheimr ‘world of ship-planks’ (so all mss), the base-word of the sea-kenning, must be the subject of the sentence, and drasils (gen.) (so R and C) is the base-word in the ship-kenning qualifying the dat. brjósti ‘breast’. Previous eds (SnE 1848-87; Skj B; Skald; SnE 1998) take drasill as the subject of the sentence and emend borðheimr nom. sg. ‘world of ship-planks [SEA]’ to borðheim (acc. sg.) as the object. However, the semantic interpretation of nemr is problematic here. Cf. LP: nema 3, which gives the following complicated interpretation: tage imod noget (for at støde det tilbage, holde det ude) ‘receive something (in order to push it back, keep it outside)’, slightly different than the translation in Skj B: Skibet sætter sit bryst imod den stavnfurede sø ‘the ship pushes its breast against the prow-carved sea’, where the dat. brjósti cannot be accommodated syntactically. — [2] skorðu ‘of the prop’: This refers to a structurally reinforcing brace used in shipbuilding (Falk 1912, 30-1; Meissner 215; Jesch 2001a, 171; cf. also Note to Sigv ErfÓl 15/3^I). — [3] viðr þolir nauð ‘the timber suffers distress’: For this clause, see Anon (Mberf) 6/2^II and Note there. Viðr ‘timber’ can also be pars pro toto for ‘ship’ here. — [3] víði ‘the ocean’: Víðir (‘wide one’) is a heiti for ‘sea’ (see Þul Sjóvar 2/2).

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. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. LaufE 1979 = Faulkes, Anthony, ed. 1979. Edda Magnúsar Ólafssonar (Laufás Edda). RSÁM 13. Vol. I of Two Versions of Snorra Edda from the 17th Century. Reykjavík: Stofnun Árna Magnússonar, 1977-9.
6. Meissner = Meissner, Rudolf. 1921. Die Kenningar der Skalden: Ein Beitrag zur skaldischen Poetik. Rheinische Beiträge und Hülfsbücher zur germanischen Philologie und Volkskunde 1. Bonn and Leipzig: Schroeder. Rpt. 1984. Hildesheim etc.: Olms.
7. LP = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1931. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis: Ordbog over det norsk-islandske skjaldesprog oprindelig forfattet af Sveinbjörn Egilsson. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Møller.
8. Jesch, Judith. 2001a. Ships and Men in the Late Viking Age: The Vocabulary of Runic Inscriptions and Skaldic Verse. Woodbridge: Boydell.
9. Falk, Hjalmar. 1912. Altnordisches Seewesen. Wörter und Sachen 4. Heidelberg: Winter.
10. SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
11. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
12. Internal references
13. Edith Marold 2017, ‘Snorra Edda (Prologue, Gylfaginning, Skáldskaparmál)’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols [check printed volume for citation].
14. (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)
15. David McDougall (ed.) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Pétrsdrápa 38’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 829.
16. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Sjóvar heiti 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. 835.
17. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Anonymous Lausavísur, Lausavísur from Magnúss saga berfœtts 6’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 833-4.
18. Judith Jesch (ed.) 2012, ‘Sigvatr Þórðarson, Erfidrápa Óláfs helga 15’ 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. 682.
19. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Laufás Edda’ 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=10928> (accessed 26 April 2024)