HSt Frag 6^III

Hart (fló hvast of snertu)
hregg magnaðisk, bragna
(bókar sól) þars búkar,
benvargs, hnigu margir.

{Hart hregg {benvargs}} magnaðisk, þars margir búkar bragna hnigu; {sól bókar} fló hvast of snertu.

{The strong storm {of the wound-wolf}} [SWORD > BATTLE] increased, where many bodies of men sank down; {the sun of the book} [COLOUR (steinn ‘stone’)] flew sharply in battle.

Mss: papp10ˣ(52v), 2368ˣ(133), 743ˣ(99v) (LaufE)

Readings: [1] snertu: ‘Suerttu’ 2368ˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 553, Skj BI, 535, Skald I, 260; LaufE 1979, 307, 398.

Context: This helmingr is cited in LaufE among fragments exemplifying kennings and heiti for ‘stone’, and, more specifically, among a group of stone-kennings referring to them as the sheen, colour etc. of books or ships (LaufE 1979, 307): þui bækur eru lystar, skip steind ‘because books are illuminated, ships painted’. In the Y redaction of LaufE Frag 6 and Frag 7 are cited as one stanza, and the latter is also given as an example of a stone-kenning (hnegg foldar ‘heart of the earth’).

Notes: [2] bragna ‘of men’: This noun could technically be accommodated in any of the helmingr’s three clauses. Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) connects it with búkar ‘bodies’ (l. 3), which is adopted in the present edn. Kock (NN §1189) takes it with snertu ‘battle’ (l. 1) and cites a few parallels for the syntagm ‘battle of men’, none of which are fully equivalent. — [3] sól bókar ‘the sun of the book [COLOUR (steinn ‘stone’)]’: This is an ofljóst construction, based on the homonymy of ON steinn, which can mean both ‘stain, colour’ and ‘stone’.

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. 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. Internal references
7. (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 30 April 2024)