Edith Marold (ed.) 2017, ‘Hofgarða-Refr Gestsson, Fragments 4’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 262.
In this helmingr (Refr Frag 4), found in Skm (SnE) (mss R (main ms.), Tˣ, W, U and A) and LaufE (mss papp10ˣ, 2368ˣ and 743ˣ), the skald praises his weapon, a spear.
Kná myrkdreki markaðr
minn, þars ýtar finnask,
æfr á aldar lófum
eikinn bezt at leika.
Æfr, eikinn, markaðr myrkdreki minn kná at leika bezt á lófum aldar, þars ýtar finnask.
‘My furious, raging, ornate dark-dragon <spear> can play best in the hands of people where men meet. ’
This helmingr is given as an example that the spear can be called ‘snake’ in Skm (SnE). In LaufE the half-stanza is cited in the context of a collection for heiti for ‘spear’ as an example that a spear is called ‘oxn’ (presumably an error for orm).
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.
Kná myrkdreki marka
minn, þars ýtar finnask,
æfr á aldar lófum
eikinn bezt at leika.
Kná myrkdreki marka
minn, þars ýtar finnask,
æfr á aldar lófum
eikin †bez† at leika.
Kná myrkdreki marka
minn, þars ýtar finnask,
æfr á aldar lófum
eikin †bozt† at leika.
†kn[…] […]rk†dreki markaðr
minn, þars ýtar finna,
æfr á aldar †lo[…]†
†[…] […]orþz† á leika.
Kná myrkdreki markar
minn, þars ýtar finnask,
æfr á aldar lófum
eikin borðs at leika.
Kna myrkdræki markar minn þar ær y | tar finnaz ǽfr a alldar lófvm æikin borz at læika .
(VEÞ)
Kná myrkdreki marka
minn, þars ýtar finnask,
æfr á aldar lófum
eikinn bezt at leika.
Kná myrkdreki marka
minn, þars ýtar finnask,
æfr á aldar lófum
eikinn bezt at leika.
Kná myrkdreki marka
minn, þars ýtar finnask,
æfr á aldar lófum
eikin †bozt† at leika.
Use the buttons at the top of the page to navigate between stanzas in a poem.
The text and translation are given here, with buttons to toggle whether the text is shown in the verse order or prose word order. Clicking on indiviudal words gives dictionary links, variant readings, kennings and notes, where relevant.
This is the text of the edition in a similar format to how the edition appears in the printed volumes.
This view is also used for chapters and other text segments. Not all the headings shown are relevant to such sections.