HSt Rst 35^I

Eigi einkar lága
ek fæ ina þriðju,
hyr-Njǫrðr, hróðri stœrða
hóps tvískelfða drôpu.
Slíkr hôttr — svá munk vátta —
sjaldstundum verðr fundinn;
herr prúðr hǫrvi kvæða
hafi gagn, en ek þagna.

{{Hóps hyr-}Njǫrðr}, ek fæ ina þriðju eigi einkar lága tvískelfða drôpu stœrða hróðri. Slíkr hôttr verðr sjaldstundum fundinn; munk svá vátta; herr prúðr hǫrvi hafi gagn kvæða, en ek þagna.

{Njǫrðr <god> {of the fire of the bay}} [(lit. ‘fire-Njǫrðr of the bay’) GOLD > MAN], I increase with praise the third not extremely poor drápa in tvískelft. Such a metre is rarely found; I can attest to that; may the troop splendid in linen [women] have benefit from the poem [lit. poems], and I fall silent.

Mss: Bb(112va)

Readings: [3] Njǫrðr: ‘morðr’ Bb    [4] hóps: hofs Bb    [6] sjald‑: ‘siall‑’ Bb

Editions: Skj AI, 552, Skj BI, 534, Skald I, 260, NN §§2097, 2543; SHI 3, 266-9, CPB II, 300, Wisén 1886-9, I, 50, Finnur Jónsson 1893b, 164, Konráð Gíslason 1895-7, I, 287-90.

Notes: [1] eigi einkar lága ‘not extremely poor’: Lágr is more literally ‘low’. The poet’s reference to his own work is, at least superficially, modest in tone, as typical of skaldic poetry of the Christian era (cf. st. 24/3 and Note). It may also be noted that the line is not tvískelft or skjálfhent. — [2]: The line lacks hending, but since there is no other reason to suspect corruption, and no obvious alternative, it is retained without emendation. — [2, 3] fæ … stœrða ‘increase’: Lit. ‘get ... increased’. — [3, 4] hóps hyr-Njǫrðr ‘Njǫrðr <god> of the fire of the bay [(lit. ‘fire-Njǫrðr of the bay’) GOLD > MAN]’: (a) This edn follows Konráð Gíslason (1895-7) and Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) in emending the nonsensical ms. reading ‘morðr’ to Njǫrðr, which is only a matter of reading <ni> instead of <m>, and ms. ‘hofs’ to hóps. The kenning is taken here as a vocative directed to the recipient of the poem, but it is uncertain whether this would be Óláfr or an unknown commissioner of the poem. Alternatively it could be appositional to ek ‘I’ (l. 2), as seemingly assumed in Skj B. (b) Kock (NN §2097) argued against a vocative warrior-kenning instoppad mitt ibland fruntimren ‘squeezed in among the women’, as he puts it, and emends Njǫrðr to an endingless dat. sg. form Njǫrð (a younger variant on Nirði; cf. ANG §§394, 395.3). He sees the kenning as elaborating on drôpu and referring to the recipient of the praise-poem, King Óláfr; he cites parallels in st. 1/3 and st. 34/5-6, and further parallels in NN §2543A, C. — [4]: For the rhyme hóps : drôp-, see Note to st. 3/8. — [4] tvískelfða ‘in tvískelft’: On this metre, see Introduction. — [6] sjaldstundum ‘rarely’: Ms. ‘siall-’; cf. Note to st. 32/3. — [7] herr prúðr hǫrvi ‘the troop splendid in linen [women]’: Apparently the same group of women addressed in st. 1/1-2; see Note. Though not structurally a kenning, this phrase resembles the kenning in st. 1/1, and cf. Meissner 415 for further examples in which linen (hǫr or lín) is the distinguishing attribute of women. — [8] en ek þagna ‘and I fall silent’: The same phrase also closes Geisli (ESk Geisl 71/8^VII).

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
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. Meissner = Meissner, Rudolf. 1921. Die Kenningar der Skalden: Ein Beitrag zur skaldischen Poetik. Rheinische Beiträge und Hülfsbücher zur germanischen Philologie und Volkskunde 1. Bonn and Leipzig: Schroeder. Rpt. 1984. Hildesheim etc.: Olms.
6. ANG = Noreen, Adolf. 1923. Altnordische Grammatik I: Altisländische und altnorwegische Grammatik (Laut- und Flexionslehre) unter Berücksichtigung des Urnordischen. 4th edn. Halle: Niemeyer. 1st edn. 1884. 5th unrev. edn. 1970. Tübingen: Niemeyer.
7. CPB = Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and F. York Powell, eds. 1883. Corpus poeticum boreale: The Poetry of the Old Northern Tongue from the Earliest Times to the Thirteenth Century. 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon. Rpt. 1965, New York: Russell & Russell.
8. Wisén, Theodor, ed. 1886-9. Carmina Norrœnæ: Ex reliquiis vetustioris norrœnæ poësis selecta, recognita, commentariis et glossario instructa. 2 vols. Lund: Ohlsson.
9. Finnur Jónsson. 1893b. Carmina Norrœna: Rettet Tekst. Copenhagen: Nielsen & Lydiche.
10. Konráð Gíslason. 1895-7. Efterladte skrifter. 2 vols. I: Forelæsninger over oldnordiske skjaldekvad. II: Forelæsninger og videnskablige afhandlinger. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
11. SHI = Sveinbjörn Egilsson, ed. 1828-46. Scripta historica islandorum de rebus gestis veterum borealium, latine reddita et apparatu critico instructa, curante Societate regia antiquariorum septentrionalium. 12 vols. Copenhagen: Popp etc. and London: John & Arthur Arch.
12. Internal references
13. Martin Chase (ed.) 2007, ‘Einarr Skúlason, Geisli 71’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 64-5.