Hfr Hákdr 1^III

Askþollum stendr Ullar
austr at miklu trausti
rœkilundr inn ríki
randfárs brumaðr hári.

{Inn ríki rœkilundr {randfárs}}, brumaðr hári, stendr {{Ullar ask}þollum} at miklu trausti austr.

{The mighty heeding-tree {of shield-harm}} [SWORD > WARRIOR], budded with hair, stands in firm support {of firs {of Ullr’s <god’s> ship}} [(lit. ‘Ullr’s ship-firs’) SHIELD > WARRIORS] in the east.

Mss: R(33v), Tˣ(34v), W(76), U(32r), A(10v), C(4v-5r) (SnE)

Readings: [1] Askþollum: so Tˣ, W, A, C, ‘[…]skþollvm’ R, ‘Alþol[…]’ U;    stendr: gengr C    [3] rœki‑: so U, A, C, ‘reyki‑’ R, ‘reuki’ Tˣ, ‘ræyki’ W;    inn: ‘h[…]’ U;    ríki: reiki Tˣ    [4] randfárs: ‘[…]ndfars’ U;    brumaðr: ‘bry[…]r’ U, ‘brvmar’ A;    hári: harri U

Editions: Skj AI, 155, Skj BI, 147, Skald I, 80; SnE 1848-87, I, 414-15, II, 325, 436, 585, III, 75, SnE 1931, 147, SnE 1998, I, 65; Davidson 1983, 450, 516-19.

Context: This helmingr is quoted in Skm in a series of examples of man-kennings with names for trees as base-words, here lundr ‘tree’.

Notes: [All]: The sg. warrior-kenning (rœkilundr randfárs ‘heeding-tree of shield-harm’) refers to the subject of the poem; so, presumably, Hákon jarl, while the reference to austr ‘east’ here indicates Norway (LP: 2 austr 1). The stanza shares much of its vocabulary with Eskál Vell 8^I, redistributed around the helmingr in a witty recapitulation of Einarr’s stanza. — [1] Ullar askþollum ‘of firs of Ullr’s <god’s> ship [(lit. ‘Ullr’s ship-firs’) SHIELD > WARRIORS]’: Askr ‘ash’ (tree of the genus Fraxinus) here refers to a ship made of ash-wood, a meaning occasionally attested in prose (ONP: askr 4), and found in verse in Eskál Vell 4/2^I and ǪrvOdd Lv 2/4^VIII (Ǫrv 8); cf. Jesch (2001a, 135-6), Note to Þul Skipa 1/4 and OE æsc ‘ash-ship, viking ship’. ‘Ullr’s ship’ is a reasonably common kenning for ‘shield’ (LP: Ullr; Meissner 166), as noted in Skm (SnE 1998, I, 67, 167-8, 194), although the reasons for this association (he is also called áss skjaldar ‘god of the shield’ in Skm, SnE 1998, I, 19) are obscure. See also Hallv Knútdr 3/5, 7, 8 and Note there. — [3] rœkilundr ‘heeding-tree’: The first element of this cpd, rœki- (from rœkja ‘heed, take care of’), is apt in a stanza celebrating the traust n. ‘support, protection’ that the ruler offers his subjects. The cpd is only otherwise attested in Eskál Vell 8/4^I. — [3] inn ríki ‘the mighty’: Hákon’s nickname. — [4] brumaðr hári ‘budded with hair’: The verb bruma ‘bud’ is otherwise unknown, but brum n. ‘buds, shoots; (in later prose) beginnings’ (ONP: 1 brum 1-2; LP: brum) and brumr m. ‘point in time’ (ONP, LP: brumr) are fairly well attested. As Finnur Jónsson (LP: hár n.) points out, this is an extended metaphor, in which Hákon is a tree, whose buds are his hair. This organic metaphor thus includes his relationship to his subjects, who are called þollar ‘firs’: the mighty tree shelters them. Davidson (1983, 469-71) suggests this is also an image of dynastic fruitfulness, traditionally symbolised by luxuriant hair (cf. Hálfdan svarti’s dream, ÍF 26, 90-1). The sense of a beginning inherent in brumaðr ‘budded’ could be regarded as appropriate to the opening section of the poem, though there is no external evidence to support such a placement of this helmingr.

References

1. Bibliography
2. SnE 1848-87 = Snorri Sturluson. 1848-87. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar: Edda Snorronis Sturlaei. Ed. Jón Sigurðsson et al. 3 vols. Copenhagen: Legatum Arnamagnaeanum. Rpt. Osnabrück: Zeller, 1966.
3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. 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.
5. LP = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1931. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis: Ordbog over det norsk-islandske skjaldesprog oprindelig forfattet af Sveinbjörn Egilsson. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Møller.
6. Jesch, Judith. 2001a. Ships and Men in the Late Viking Age: The Vocabulary of Runic Inscriptions and Skaldic Verse. Woodbridge: Boydell.
7. ONP = Degnbol, Helle et al., eds. 1989-. A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose / Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog. 1-. Copenhagen: The Arnamagnæan Commission.
8. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
9. SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
10. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
11. Davidson, Daphne L. 1983. ‘Earl Hákon and his Poets’. D. Phil. thesis. Oxford.
12. Internal references
13. (forthcoming), ‘ Snorri Sturluson, Skáldskaparmál’ 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=112> (accessed 25 April 2024)
14. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Skipa heiti 1’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 861.
15. Edith Marold (ed.) 2012, ‘Einarr skálaglamm Helgason, Vellekla 4’ 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. 287.
16. Edith Marold (ed.) 2012, ‘Einarr skálaglamm Helgason, Vellekla 8’ 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. 292.
17. Matthew Townend (ed.) 2017, ‘Hallvarðr háreksblesi, Knútsdrápa 3’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 233.
18. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Ǫrvar-Odds saga 8 (Ǫrvar-Oddr, Lausavísur 2)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 819.