HSt Frag 5III
Edith Marold (ed.) 2017, ‘Hallar-Steinn, Fragments 5’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 206.
text and translation
Ek hef óðar lokri,
ǫlstafna, þér skafna,
væn mǫrk, — skala verki
vandr — stefknarrar branda.
Ek hef skafna þér {branda {stefknarrar}} {lokri óðar}, {væn mǫrk {ǫlstafna}}; verki skala vandr.
‘I have smoothed the bows of the refrain-ship [DRÁPA > UPPHAF] for you with the plane of poetry [TONGUE], beautiful forest of ale-prows [DRINKING HORNS > WOMAN]; the poem should not be difficult. ’
notes and context
This helmingr is cited in Skm (SnE) to exemplify a woman-kenning with mǫrk ‘forest’ as its base-word.
In this stanza, Hallar-Steinn compares the activity of composing poetry to that of a ship-builder smoothing wood with a plane; the poem (drápa) is a ship (stefknǫrr ‘refrain-ship’) and the beginning of the poem (upphaf) the bow(s) (brandar) of a ship (Clunies Ross 2005a, 38). Cf. also RvHbreiðm Hl 3/3, where framstafn ‘the prow’ refers to the beginning of the poem (see Kreutzer 1977, 255-7 on comparison of poems to ships in skaldic poetry, as well as Clunies Ross 2005a, 87).
readings
- [1] hef: ‘[…]’ U
- [1] óðar lokri: ‘o[…]’ U
- [2] ǫl‑: ‘au‑’ Tˣ, auð‑ W
- [2] ‑stafna: ‘sta(f)na’(?) U
- [2] þér: bil A
- [2] skafna: ‘skafn(a)’(?) U
- [3] væn: so all others, ‘vetz’ R
- [3] verki: verki corrected from merki Tˣ, verka C
- [4] vandr: ‘[…]ndir’ U
- [4] ‑knarrar: so Tˣ, W, A, C, ‘‑knarrarar’ R, ‘[…]’ U
- [4] branda: ‘[…]randa’ U
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.
-
GKS 2367 4° (R) — 33r/22 - 33r/24
imagesEk hef óðar lokri,
ǫlstafna, þér skafna,
†vetz† mǫrk, — skala verki
vandr — stef†-knarrarar† branda.Ec | hefi odar lokri avlstafna þer skafna vetz mork skala verki vandr | stefknaʀarar branda
(KS)
-
Traj 1374x (Tx) — 34v/20 - 34v/20
Ek hef óðar lokri,
images
†au-†stafna, þér skafna,
væn mǫrk, — skala verki
vandr — stefknarrar branda. -
AM 242 fol (W) — 76/14 - 76/15
Ek hef óðar lokri,
images
auð-stafna, þér skafna,
væn mǫrk, — skala verki
vandr — stefknarrar branda. -
DG 11 (U) — 32r/4 - 32r/6
Ek †[…] o[…]† ,
images
ǫl†sta(f)na†, þér †skafn(a)†,
væn mǫrk, — skala verki
†[…]ndir† — stef†[…] […]randa†. -
AM 748 I b 4° (A) — 10v/6 - 10v/8
imagesEk hef óðar lokri,
ǫlstafna, bil skafna,
væn mǫrk, — skala verki
vandr — stefknarrar branda.Æk hæ | fi óðar lokri ǫlstafna bil skafna væn mǫrk skala verki vandr stæfknarrar | branda .
(VEÞ)
-
AM 748 II 4° (C) — 4v/12 - 4v/13
Ek hef óðar lokri,
images
ǫlstafna, þér skafna,
væn mǫrk, — skala verka
vandr — stefknarrar branda.
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