Refr Frag 2^III

This couplet (Refr Frag 2) is preserved only in LaufE (mss papp10ˣ (main ms.), 2368ˣ and 743ˣ).

Soðs ok síðra heðna;
sundr fœrir tré Grundi.

… soðs ok síðra heðna; Grundi fœrir sundr tré.

… of broth and of long furs; Grundi splits wood asunder.

Mss: papp10ˣ(48vb), 2368ˣ(118), 743ˣ(89v) (LaufE)

Editions: Skj AI, 321, Skj BI, 297, Skald I, 151, NN §844G; SnE 1848-87, II, 632, III, 201, LaufE 1979, 294, 377.

Context: The couplet is cited in LaufE to illustrate how tré ‘wood’ can come to mean ullarflóki ‘felted wool’ through substitution by a long series of homonyms and synonyms.

Notes: [All]: The prose context does not contribute much to the interpretation of the couplet, because it consists of a long, consecutive string of substitutions of homonyms and synonyms intended to demonstrate that ullarflóki ‘felted wool’ can replace tré ‘wood’. This substitution process is called rekit ‘extended’ in LaufE, which, however, is incompatible with the way the word rekit is used in Snorri’s Ht (SnE 2007, 5), where the term denotes multisegmental kennings. Thus according to the chain of replacements, Grundi is supposed to be plucking apart a knot of wool rather than chopping wood, as the text appears to say at first glance. This extreme use of substitution by synonyms and homonyms, however, seems to be more of a language affectation of the late Middle Ages than something that could contribute to an understanding of these two lines by Refr. — [2] Grundi: This monothematic pers. n. might be that of a farmhand (SnE 1848-87, III, 201; LP: Grundi). It is possible to connect the two genitives in l. 1 with the name (SnE 1848-87, III, 201; NN §844G), which would then be characteristics of his (‘Grundi of broth and long furs’).

References

1. Bibliography
2. 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.
3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 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. 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.
7. SnE 2007 = Snorri Sturluson. 2007. Edda: Háttatal. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
8. Internal references
9. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Háttatal’ 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=165> (accessed 2 May 2024)
10. Not published: do not cite (Run^VI)
11. Edith Marold (ed.) 2017, ‘Hofgarða-Refr Gestsson, Fragments 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. 261.
12. (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 2 May 2024)