Kálf Kátr 3^VII

... drápu að fremja
drottinn lýðs, er guðs son þýðiz;
inna skal þá elda spennir
eyja hrings frá helgri meyju.
Kátrín, frá eg, að kóngs jóð hieti
kostum prýdd, en góð verk þýddiz;
veglig jungfrú var hun og tígin
vitr og fróð að öllu góðu.

{Drottinn lýðs}, er þýðiz {guðs son}, ... að fremja drápu, þá skal {spennir {elda {hrings eyja}}} inna frá helgri meyju. Eg frá, að kóngs jóð hieti Kátrín, prýdd kostum, en þýddiz góð verk; hun var veglig jungfrú og tígin, vitr og fróð að öllu góðu.

{Lord of people} [= God], who is explained as {God’s son} [= Christ], ... to complete a drápa; then {the clasper {of the fires {of the ring of islands}}} [SEA > GOLD > MAN = Kálfur Hallson (= I)] shall tell of a holy maiden. I heard that a king’s daughter was named Catherine, endowed with virtues, and she performed good deeds; she was a noble maiden and high-born, wise and knowledgeable about all good things.

Mss: 713(129), 399a-bˣ(3), 920ˣ(213r)

Readings: [1] drápu: so 399a‑bˣ, ‘[...]rápu’ 713, ‘rapu’ 920ˣ

Editions: Skj AII, 415, Skj BII, 569-70, Skald II, 312-13; NN §§1775, 3382A, B, Kahle 1898, 67, 105, Sperber 1911, 43, 78.

Notes: [1]: Finnur Jónsson (Skj A) observes that this l., which is almost illegible due to a tear in 713, may be more or less of a repetition of l. 8 in st. 2. If so, the poet is employing a rhetorical figure (anadiplosis) similar to the one that Snorri Sturluson called drǫgur ‘drawings’ in Ht (SnE 1999, 11 and n. to st. 16/9-10). Kock (Skald; NN §3383) has Dæmi gefi mér drápu at fremja ‘Give me a model to complete a drápa’. Sperber suggests Deili orðfimi drápu að fremja ‘Award word-skill to complete a drápa’, but his reading is unmetrical (the fourth, unstressed syllable cannot carry internal rhyme). The expected sense seems to require a concessional cl.: ‘assuming Christ helps me to complete a drápa, I will tell of a holy maiden …’.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj A = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15a. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. A: Tekst efter håndskrifterne. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1967. 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. Sperber, Hans, ed. 1911. Sechs isländische Gedichte legendarischen Inhalts. Uppsala Universitets årsskrift, filosofi, språkvetenskap och historiska vetenskaper 2. Uppsala: Akademische Buchdruckerei Edv. Berling.
6. Kahle, Bernhard, ed. 1898. Isländische geistliche Dichtungen des ausgehenden Mittelalters. Heidelberg: Winter.
7. SnE 1999 = Snorri Sturluson. 1999. Edda: Háttatal. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. Rpt. with addenda and corrigenda. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
8. Internal references
9. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Háttatal’ 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=165> (accessed 27 April 2024)