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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Refr Giz 3III

Edith Marold (ed.) 2017, ‘Hofgarða-Refr Gestsson, Poem about Gizurr gullbrárskáld 3’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 256.

Hofgarða-Refr GestssonPoem about Gizurr gullbrárskáld
23

text and translation

Þér eigum vér veigar,
Valgautr, salar brautar
Fals, hrannvala, fannar,
framr valdr, ramar gjalda.

Valgautr, vér eigum gjalda þér {ramar veigar {salar {Fals {brautar fannar}}}}, {framr valdr {hrannvala}}.
 
‘Valgautr <= Óðinn = Gizurr>, we have to repay you for the powerful drinks of the hall of the Falr <dwarf> of the path of the snow-drift [MOUNTAINS > GIANT = Suttungr > CAVE > POETRY], outstanding owner of wave-horses [SHIPS > SEAFARER].

notes and context

The stanza is cited in SnE and LaufE among stanzas illustrating names for Óðinn.

The metrical arrangement of the stanza is highly intricate: each line contains a double aðalhending, a technique Snorri refers to as alhent ‘completely rhymed’ in Ht (SnE 2007, 21; see Introduction above). — The interpretation of the stanza offered here, which treats the Óðinn-heiti Valgautr as an onomastic play on the name Gizurr (see Note to l. 2 below) rather than as an invocation to Óðinn, places the stanza unambiguously alongside the other two stanzas from the poem about Gizurr. This differs from earlier interpretations, which regard the Óðinn-heiti merely as a form of address and consider the stanza to be an early lausavísa (Kreutzer 1977, 190-1), or treat it as separate from the other Gizurr stanzas (Guðmundur Þorláksson 1882, 101). Previous eds (Skj B; Skald; Faulkes in SnE 1998, II, 515) view the stanza as a kind of prayer of gratitude to Óðinn for the gift of poetic art. According to that interpretation, which follows the readings offered in ms. R, Óðinn is apostrophised in an extended, complicated kenning: framr Valgautr, tamr valdi salar brautar fannar hrannvala ‘outstanding Valgautr <= Óðinn>, accustomed to the rule of the hall of the path of the snowdrift of wave-horses [SHIPS > WAVES > SEA > SKY/HEAVEN]’. That kenning poses several difficulties. First of all, it is highly unusual for Óðinn, a heathen god, to be referred to as the ruler of heaven. This might be explained as a syncretistic blending of the heathen god with the Christian one, commonly praised as ‘God in heaven’, but the kenning pattern ‘hall of the sea’ for ‘sky/heaven’ is not attested elsewhere, unlike sky/heaven-kennings of the common type ‘house of the earth/mountains’ (see Meissner 104). Moreover, tamr ‘accustomed’ does not otherwise occur in constructions with the dat. (here, valdi n. dat. sg. ‘rule, power’); rather, it is either construed with the gen. or with the prepositions við or at in the sense ‘to’ (LP: tamr). Because the problematic readings valdi and tamr are found in ms. R only, the present edn has adopted the readings of the majority of the mss, valdr (so , W, U; ms. B has valr) and ramar (so , W, U, B). The rationale behind that choice is explained in the Notes below.

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: Hofgarða-Refr Gestsson, 2. Et digt om Gizurr Gullbrárskáld 3: AI, 319, BI, 295, Skald I, 150; SnE 1848-87, I, 240-1, II, 304, 519, III, 7, SnE 1931, 90, SnE 1998, I, 9-10; LaufE 1979, 331.

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