Kate Heslop (ed.) 2012, ‘Hallfreðr vandræðaskáld Óttarsson, Erfidrápa Óláfs Tryggvasonar 15’ 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. 421.
Gótt es gǫrva at frétta
— gunnr óx fyr haf sunnan —
— sverð bitu feigra fyrða
fjǫrrǫnn — at því mǫnnum:
hvern rakkligast rekka
randláðs viðir kvôðu
— Surts ættar vinnk sléttan
sylg — Ôleifi fylgja.
Gótt es mǫnnum at frétta gǫrva at því — gunnr óx fyr sunnan haf; sverð bitu {fjǫrrǫnn} feigra fyrða —: hvern rekka {viðir {randláðs}} kvôðu fylgja Ôleifi rakkligast; vinnk {sléttan sylg {ættar Surts}}.
It is good for people to ask searchingly about this — battle swelled south of the sea; swords bit {life-halls} [BREASTS] of fated men —: which of the champions did {trees {of the rim-land}} [SHIELD > WARRIORS] say supported Óláfr most bravely; I make {the smooth drink {of the family of Surtr <giant>}} [GIANTS > POETRY].
Mss: 61(69rb), 53(65va), 54(66vb), Bb(102va), Flat(65vb) (ÓT)
Readings: [1] gǫrva at: corrected from at gǫrva in a later hand 53 [2] gunnr: gunn 53, 54, Bb, Flat [3] fyrða: so 53, 54, Bb, Flat, added above the line 61 [4] ‑rǫnn: runn Flat [5] rakkligast: ‘reckligazst’ Bb [6] randláðs viðir kvôðu: om. Flat; rand‑: vand‑ Bb [7] Surts ættar vinnk: satt mun ítr um Flat; vinnk (‘vinn ek’): mun ek 54, Bb; sléttan: sléttar 54, ‘sleittar’ Bb
Editions: Skj AI, 162, Skj BI, 153, Skald I, 83, NN §1957; SHI 3, 2-3, ÓT 1958-2000, II, 288 (ch. 256), Flat 1860-8, I, 493.
Context: After describing the battle of Svǫlðr, ÓT reports the different accounts of its last moments, and observes that the bravery of Óláfr’s men will be long remembered. Hallfreðr’s stanza is introduced as a witness that Þorkell nefja ‘Nose’ gave outstanding support to his brother Óláfr.
Notes: [1]: The final a of gǫrva and initial a of at must be elided to make the line regular (Gade 1995a, 66), and so es cannot be cliticised to yield Gótts (cf. Note to st. 12/7 ek). The line resembles st. 18/7: hætts til hans at frétta ‘it’s risky to enquire about him’, i.e. about Óláfr’s fate. — [2] gunnr ‘battle’: So only 61. The majority reading gunn is difficult to explain, as none of the inflectional forms of gunnr f. lack an ending. — [7] sléttan ‘smooth’: Sléttan, m. acc. sg. agreeing with the poetry-kenning based on sylg ‘drink’, is here taken as the adj. used attributively. It could otherwise be taken as predicative, hence ‘make (the poetry) smooth’, or else as the p. p. of slétta ‘to smoothe’, cf. slétta óð ‘smoothe a poem’, ESk Geisl 50/3VII. This is the earliest surviving example in the skaldic corpus of sléttr ‘smooth, smoothed’ applied to poetry, a very common metaphor in C12th and later, especially Christian, poetry. — [7-8] sylg ættar Surts ‘drink of the family of Surtr <giant> [GIANTS > POETRY]’: The giant Gillingr and his family are prominent in the complex myth of the mead of poetry, and the mead is in the possession of Gillingr’s son Suttungr until gained by Óðinn (see SnE 1998, I, 3-5, and on the myth see Introduction to SkP III). The fire-giant Surtr seems to be used merely as a representative giant here, so that his ætt are giants, though for a suggestion that Surtr himself figured in the myth of the mead of poetry, see Note to Eyv Hál 1/7.
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