Hfr Hákdr 7^III

Rôð lukusk, at sá síðan
snjallráðr konungs spjalli
átti eingadóttur
Ónars viði gróna.

Rôð lukusk, at {sá snjallráðr spjalli konungs} átti síðan {eingadóttur Ónars}, gróna viði.

The marriage was concluded, so {that shrewdly-advising king’s intimate} [RULER] afterward possessed {the only daughter of Ónarr <giant>} [= Jǫrð (jǫrð ‘earth’)], grown with forest.

Mss: R(26r), R(36v), Tˣ(27r), Tˣ(38r), W(56), W(82), U(29v), U(35v) (ll. 1-2), B(5r), 744ˣ(30r) (SnE)

Readings: [1] lukusk: lauksk B    [2] ‑ráðr: so Tˣ(27r), W(56), U(29v), U(35v), B, ‑aðr R(26r), ‑mælt R(36v), ‑mæltr Tˣ(38r), W(82)    [3] einga‑: enga Tˣ(38r), ‘o᷎nga’ B    [4] Ónars: Ánars Tˣ(27r), Tˣ(38r), ‘anas’ U(29v), annars B;    viði: vini R(36v), viðr U(29v);    gróna: om. Tˣ(27r), græna Tˣ(38r), U(29v), ‘gra[…]a’ B, ‘granna’ 744ˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 155-6, Skj BI, 148, Skald I, 80, NN §318; SnE 1848-87, I, 320-1, 460-1, II, 315, 338, 528, III, 50, SnE 1931, 115, 163, SnE 1998, I, 35-6; Davidson 1983, 449, 504-9.

Context: This helmingr is quoted twice in Skm, the first time in a series of six citations exemplifying kennings for ‘earth’ (jǫrð), and the second as an example of the ruler-kenning spjalli konungs ‘king’s intimate’.

Notes: [1] rôð ‘the marriage’: See Fritzner: ráð 13. Rôð (here pl.) could alternatively mean ‘extra-marital sexual relations’, ‘counsel’, ‘strategy’ or ‘agreement’ (CVC: ráð; Fritzner: ráð). The skald exploits this polysemousness to continue the metaphor of Jǫrð as both a goddess, possessed sexually by Hákon, and as the land (jǫrð) of Norway, which he rules. — [1] lukusk ‘was concluded’: This disyllabic pl. form must undergo resolution if the line is to scan (Gade 1995a, 63). Ms. B’s lauksk (sg.) is an acceptable alternative solution, as ráð occurs in both sg. and pl. in most of its senses, but is most probably scribal. — [2] spjalli konungs ‘king’s intimate [RULER]’: The prose introduction to the first citation of this half-stanza makes it clear that Snorri regards this kenning as referring to a ruler of lower rank than a king (SnE 1998, I, 35). — [3] eingadóttur ‘the only daughter’: Hallfreðr calls his beloved Kolfinna eingadóttir Ávalds ‘only daughter of Ávaldr’ (Hfr Lv 2/3-4^V (Hallfr 3)), perhaps implying, as Davidson (1983, 509) suggests, that she is Ávaldr’s (prose Ávaldi; cf. ÍF 8, 147 n.) sole heir and so an especially desirable prize. — [4] Ónars ‘of Ónarr <giant>’: The name Ónarr (or Ánarr, Annarr, cf. ms readings; see Note to ­Þul Dverga 3/6, AEW: Ónarr and SnE 2005, 163 for word forms and etymology) appears in several earth-kennings. He is said in Gylf (SnE 2005, 13) to be the second husband of Nótt, perhaps owing to association of his name with the ordinal annarr ‘second’, and father of Jǫrð; a figure of the same name appears in lists of dwarfs (Vsp 11; Þul Dverga 3/6). Frank (2007, 180 n. 23) suggests that Ónarr is an Óðinn-name (although this is not stated in SnE as she implies), as Jǫrð is described in kennings both as Ónarr’s daughter and as his wife, and Gylf (SnE 2005, 13) says of Óðinn, Jǫrðin var dóttir hans ok kona hans ‘The earth was his [Óðinn’s] daughter and his wife’; see the Note to Gsind Hákdr 5/1, 2-3^I for an alternative explanation. — [4] gróna viði ‘grown with forest’: The image of Jǫrð’s hair as vegetation also occurs in st. 5/3-4, and (in a line very similar to the present stanza’s l. 4) in Gsind Hákdr 5/3^I, a poem for Hákon góði ‘the Good’ Haraldsson.

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. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. AEW = Vries, Jan de. 1962. Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 2nd rev. edn. Rpt. 1977. Leiden: Brill.
6. CVC = Cleasby, Richard, Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and W. A. Craigie. 1957. An Icelandic-English Dictionary. 2nd edn. Oxford: Clarendon.
7. Gade, Kari Ellen. 1995a. The Structure of Old Norse dróttkvætt Poetry. Islandica 49. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
8. Fritzner = Fritzner, Johan. 1883-96. Ordbog over det gamle norske sprog. 3 vols. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske forlagsforening. 4th edn. Rpt. 1973. Oslo etc.: Universitetsforlaget.
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. SnE 2005 = Snorri Sturluson. 2005. Edda: Prologue and Gylfaginning. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
13. ÍF 8 = Vatnsdœla saga. Ed. Einar Ólafur Sveinsson. 1939.
14. Frank, Roberta. 2007. ‘The Lay of the Land in Skaldic Praise Poetry’. In Glosecki 2007, 175-96.
15. Internal references
16. Edith Marold 2017, ‘Snorra Edda (Prologue, Gylfaginning, Skáldskaparmál)’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols [check printed volume for citation].
17. (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 7 May 2024)
18. (forthcoming), ‘ Snorri Sturluson, Gylfaginning’ 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=113> (accessed 7 May 2024)
19. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Dverga heiti 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. 697.
20. Russell Poole (ed.) 2012, ‘Guthormr sindri, Hákonardrápa 5’ 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. 163.
21. Not published: do not cite ()
22. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2022, ‘Hallfreðar saga 3 (Hallfreðr vandræðaskáld Óttarsson, Lausavísur 2)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross, Kari Ellen Gade and Tarrin Wills (eds), Poetry in Sagas of Icelanders. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 5. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 875.