Refr Frag 5III
Edith Marold (ed.) 2017, ‘Hofgarða-Refr Gestsson, Fragments 5’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 264.
Sæll ‘fortunate’
(not checked:)
sæll (adj.): happy, blessed
es ‘who’
(not checked:)
2. er (conj.): who, which, when
es ‘is’
(not checked:)
2. vera (verb): be, is, was, were, are, am
hranna ‘of waves’
(not checked:)
hrǫnn (noun f.; °; dat. -um): wave
kennings
hádýri hranna‘the tall animal of waves ’
= SHIP
the tall animal of waves → SHIP
há ‘the tall’
(not checked:)
3. hár (adj.; °-van; compar. hǽrri, superl. hǽstr): high < hádýr (noun n.)
kennings
hádýri hranna‘the tall animal of waves ’
= SHIP
the tall animal of waves → SHIP
dýri ‘animal’
(not checked:)
1. dýr (noun n.; °-s (spec.: dyʀiɴs KonrA 66⁴, etc., cf. Seip 1955 188-189); -): animal < hádýr (noun n.)
[2] ‑dýri: ‑dýra all
kennings
hádýri hranna‘the tall animal of waves ’
= SHIP
the tall animal of waves → SHIP
vel ‘well’
(not checked:)
vel (adv.): well, very
stýrir ‘steers’
(not checked:)
stýra (verb): steer, control
erumk ‘I take’
(not checked:)
2. vera (verb): be, is, was, were, are, am
notes
[3] tíð erumk ‘I take pleasure in’: see LP: tíðr.
vitnis ‘of the wolf’
(not checked:)
vitnir (noun m.): wolf
kennings
vitnis váða vín‘of the wine of the threat of the wolf. ’
= POETRY
the threat of the wolf. → Óðinn
the wine of ÓÐINN → POETRY
notes
[3] váða vitnis ‘of the threat of the wolf [= Óðinn]’: The word váði ‘threat’ is an abstract noun, which does not designate persons, but here it refers metonymically to Óðinn, and there are other examples of similar use (see LP: váði). The kenning refers to Óðinn’s fight against Fenrisúlfr at the end of the world; cf. the kenning bági ulfs ‘adversary of the wolf’ in Egill St 24/2V (Eg 95) and in SnSt Ht 3/1. These are the only three kennings that make reference to Óðinn’s and Fenrir’s final battle.
vitnis ‘of the wolf’
(not checked:)
vitnir (noun m.): wolf
kennings
vitnis váða vín‘of the wine of the threat of the wolf. ’
= POETRY
the threat of the wolf. → Óðinn
the wine of ÓÐINN → POETRY
notes
[3] váða vitnis ‘of the threat of the wolf [= Óðinn]’: The word váði ‘threat’ is an abstract noun, which does not designate persons, but here it refers metonymically to Óðinn, and there are other examples of similar use (see LP: váði). The kenning refers to Óðinn’s fight against Fenrisúlfr at the end of the world; cf. the kenning bági ulfs ‘adversary of the wolf’ in Egill St 24/2V (Eg 95) and in SnSt Ht 3/1. These are the only three kennings that make reference to Óðinn’s and Fenrir’s final battle.
váða ‘of the threat’
(not checked:)
váði (noun m.; °-a): danger
kennings
vitnis váða vín‘of the wine of the threat of the wolf. ’
= POETRY
the threat of the wolf. → Óðinn
the wine of ÓÐINN → POETRY
notes
[3] váða vitnis ‘of the threat of the wolf [= Óðinn]’: The word váði ‘threat’ is an abstract noun, which does not designate persons, but here it refers metonymically to Óðinn, and there are other examples of similar use (see LP: váði). The kenning refers to Óðinn’s fight against Fenrisúlfr at the end of the world; cf. the kenning bági ulfs ‘adversary of the wolf’ in Egill St 24/2V (Eg 95) and in SnSt Ht 3/1. These are the only three kennings that make reference to Óðinn’s and Fenrir’s final battle.
váða ‘of the threat’
(not checked:)
váði (noun m.; °-a): danger
kennings
vitnis váða vín‘of the wine of the threat of the wolf. ’
= POETRY
the threat of the wolf. → Óðinn
the wine of ÓÐINN → POETRY
notes
[3] váða vitnis ‘of the threat of the wolf [= Óðinn]’: The word váði ‘threat’ is an abstract noun, which does not designate persons, but here it refers metonymically to Óðinn, and there are other examples of similar use (see LP: váði). The kenning refers to Óðinn’s fight against Fenrisúlfr at the end of the world; cf. the kenning bági ulfs ‘adversary of the wolf’ in Egill St 24/2V (Eg 95) and in SnSt Ht 3/1. These are the only three kennings that make reference to Óðinn’s and Fenrir’s final battle.
kennings
vitnis váða vín‘of the wine of the threat of the wolf. ’
= POETRY
the threat of the wolf. → Óðinn
the wine of ÓÐINN → POETRY
gerð ‘the production’
(not checked:)
1. gerð (noun f.): deed < víngerð (noun f.)
[4] ‑gerð: so all others, ‑grið R
unir ‘he is content’
(not checked:)
1. unna (verb): love
sínu ‘with his lot’
(not checked:)
3. sinn (pron.; °f. sín, n. sitt): (refl. poss. pron.)
Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses
The helmingr is given in Ht (SnE) as an example of poetic licence (leyfi), in this case the repetition of er (es) ‘is’ or ‘who’ in l. 1.
Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) interpreted ll. 1-2, 4 of this helmingr as follows: Hinn hranna hádýra stýrir, es unir sínu vel, es sæll, which can be translated as ‘That commander of the tall animals of waves [SHIPS > SEAFARER], who is well content with his own condition, is happy’. That interpretation results in a tripartite l. 1 as well as a tripartite l. 2: Sæll es hinn, es, hranna | hádýra, vel, stýrir. Kock (NN §§1827Ec, 1837) justifiably objected to this tortuous word order, and he attempted to avoid a tripartite l. 2 by combining the last two words into a cpd (velstýrir lit. ‘well-steerer’). Kock’s suggestion is metrically acceptable, since l. 2 would then be an even E3-line which allows for such trisyllabic compounds in positions 3-6 (cf. Gade 1995a, 79-80). Kock (NN §1936G) himself also lists numerous lines of a similar metrical structure. The cpd velstýrir is problematic, however, because no cpd with vel- as the first element and a nomen agentis as the second is otherwise attested. According to the entries in Fritzner, the adv. vel- forms compounds with nomina actionis (e.g. velferð ‘wellbeing’), adjectives (e.g. velfœrr ‘easily traversed’) and participles (e.g. velborinn ‘wellborn’, velgerandi ‘well-doing’), but not with nomina agentis. Because Kock’s suggestion is untenable, the present edn emends hádýra (n. gen. pl.) ‘of tall animals’ to hádýri (n. dat. sg. and the object of the verb stýrir ‘steers’), which results in a simple syntax and a straightforward word order in ll. 1-2.
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