Ótt Hfl 2^I

Góðmennis þarfk gunnar
glóðbrjótanda at njóta;
hérs alnennin inni
inndrótt með gram svinnum.

Þarfk at njóta góðmennis {{gunnar glóð}brjótanda}; hérs alnennin inndrótt inni með svinnum gram.

I need to enjoy the favour of the good men {of the breaker {of the ember of battle}} [(lit. ‘ember-breaker of battle’) SWORD > WARRIOR]; here there is a very active household retinue inside with a wise king.

Mss: R(33r), R(36r), Tˣ(34v), Tˣ(37v), W(75-76), W(82), U(31v), A(10r), B(5v), C(4r) (SnE)

Readings: [1] ‑mennis: ‘[…]ennis’ U;    þarfk (‘þarf ek’): ‘þarf e’ W(75), ‘þar[…] ek’ U    [2] glóð‑: so R(36r), Tˣ(37v), W(82), A, golls R(33r), C, goll‑ Tˣ(34v), W(75), U, B;    ‑brjótanda: ‑brjótandi Tˣ(37v);    at: om. Tˣ(34v), W(75), B, C;    njóta: ‘ni[…]’ U    [3] hérs (‘her er’): hann er W(75), ‘[…]’ U;    alnennin: ‘[…]is’ U    [4] inn‑: ‘[…]’ U;    gram: so all others, ‘gu[...]a’ R(33r)

Editions: Skj AI, 290, Skj BI, 268, Skald I, 137; SnE 1848-87, I, 406-7, 458-9, II, 323, 434, 533, 583, SnE 1931, 145, 163, SnE 1998, I, 62, 81.

Context: The helmingr is quoted twice in SnE (Skm). The first citation illustrates how ‘gold’ is used in kennings for ‘man’ (specifying brjótr gullsins ‘breaker of gold’), and the second how ‘men’ or ‘retainers’ are to be referred to (here inndrótt ‘household retinue’).

Notes: [All]: Following on from st. 1, this helmingr is of interest in illustrating how a skald might feel obliged to appeal to a king’s retinue, as well as to the king himself, in seeking new service. — [1] gunnar ‘of battle’: The usual uncertainty exists here whether to take this as the abstract noun gunnr ‘battle’ or the valkyrie-name Gunnr; cf. Note to Hfr ErfÓl 6/6. — [1-2] gunnar glóðbrjótanda ‘of the breaker of the ember of battle [(lit. ‘ember-breaker of battle’) SWORD > WARRIOR]’: The exact configuration of kennings is elusive here. The first citation in SnE draws attention to golls brjótandi or gollbrjótandi ‘gold-breaker’, a kenning for ‘generous man’. If this construal is correct, gunnar ‘of battle’ is not integral to the kenning but must loosely qualify either this, hence ‘generous man of battle’ referring to Óláfr, or else góðmennis ‘good men’, hence ‘good men of battle’, i.e. warriors. However, the construal may be incorrect (so Faulkes in SnE 1998, I, 190, II, 251), and the full kenning may be a kenning not for ‘generous man/ruler’ but rather for ‘warrior’: Óttarr’s idiom plays with the ‘generous man/ruler’ concept in passing, but embeds it and re-analyses it within the ‘warrior’ concept, creating a sword-kenning by combining either glóð ‘ember’ or goll(s) ‘gold’ with gunnar ‘battle’. The second citation in SnE has glóðbrjótandi ‘ember-breaker’, which forms an inverted warrior-kenning with gunnar, and this is preferred in this edn, as in Skj B and Skald. Goll(s) would not be a standard base-word for a sword-kenning. The closest comparandum would be gim (Meissner 150), and this is not a true parallel since its meaning in sword-kennings is ‘fire’ rather than ‘gem, jewel’.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
3. 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.
4. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. 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.
6. SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
7. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
8. Internal references
9. 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].
10. (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 26 April 2024)
11. Kate Heslop (ed.) 2012, ‘Hallfreðr vandræðaskáld Óttarsson, Erfidrápa Óláfs Tryggvasonar 6’ 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. 409.