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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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HSt Rst 32I

Rolf Stavnem (ed.) 2012, ‘Hallar-Steinn, Rekstefja 32’ 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. 934.

Hallar-SteinnRekstefja
313233

text and translation

Hringskóðs herðimeiðar
hvar viti, þann es anni,
eldvellds annan stilli,
óð*ríkr frama slíkum,
gunnelds geymirunnum
(gǫndlar fýst*) sem lýstak
(hirð vas hans at morði
hrygg) arfþega Tryggva.

Hvar viti {herðimeiðar {eldvellds hringskóðs}} annan stilli, þann es óð*ríkr anni slíkum frama, sem lýstak {geymirunnum {gunnelds}} {arfþega Tryggva}; hirð fýst* gǫndlar vas hrygg at morði hans.
 
‘Where would hardening trees of the fire-forged mail-shirt-harmer [SWORD > WARRIORS] know of any other ruler, who, very mighty, is able to perform such splendid deeds as I have described to the keeping trees of the battle-fire [SWORD > WARRIORS] concerning the heir of Tryggvi [= Óláfr]; the retinue eager for battle was desolate at his killing.

notes and context

There may be influence from Steinn ÓldrII here; see Note to st. 12 [All]. It is also noticeable that, as in Hfr ErfÓl 27 (see Note to st. 27 [All]), the two helmingar are syntactically linked in order to convey the idea that Óláfr’s greatness is unmatched. — [3] eldvellds : stilli: The rhyme could be formed by eld- or -vellds with stilli, and cf. st. 33/3 tjalds : stilli. These could be rhymes involving first consonant only, i.e. of l and not ld (cf. Kuhn 1983, 77), or it could be that d has been assimilated in consonant clusters such as lds: see following Note. — [5-8]: The helmingr is apparently corrupt and emendations unavoidable. (a) The text and translation above adopt the minor emendations of ms. fýstr (m. nom. sg.) to fýst (f. nom. sg.) ‘eager’ and of arfþegi (m. nom. sg.) to arfþega (m. gen./dat. sg.) ‘heir’ as in Skj B. (b) A solution retaining the grammatical concord of fýstr arfþegi ‘eager heir’ and avoiding emendations to those two words is possible if it is assumed that vas ‘was’ (emended from ms. ‘va’ by all eds) in l. 7 functions in two clauses, hirð vas hrygg at morði hans ‘the retinue was desolate at his killing’ and arfþegi Tryggva vas fýstr gǫndlar ‘the heir of Tryggvi was eager for battle’. An understood vas ‘was’ would be paralleled in st. 17/7. (c) Kock (NN §1186) also retains fýstr, assuming that it qualifies the ek ‘I’ of lýstak ‘I described’, referring to the skald, but it would be exceptional for Hallar-Steinn to refer to his own valour in this way.

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: Hallar-Steinn, 1. Rekstefja 32: AI, 551, BI, 533, Skald I, 259, NN §§1186, 3123; SHI 3, 264-7, CPB II, 300, Wisén 1886-9, I, 50, Finnur Jónsson 1893b, 164, Konráð Gíslason 1895-7, I, 281-3.

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