Ótt Óldr 1III
Matthew Townend (ed.) 2017, ‘Óttarr svarti, Óláfsdrápa sœnska 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. 336.
Jǫfurr ‘the prince’
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jǫfurr (noun m.): ruler, prince
notes
[1] heyri jǫfurr upphaf ‘may the prince hear the beginning’: This opening line is echoed in Anon Brúðv 1/1VII (jöfurr giefi upphaf ‘may the prince provide the beginning’), a C13th poem also composed in hálfhnept, which reinforces the conclusion that this is the first stanza of the poem (and may also explain the reading in ms. U).
notes
[1] heyri jǫfurr upphaf ‘may the prince hear the beginning’: This opening line is echoed in Anon Brúðv 1/1VII (jöfurr giefi upphaf ‘may the prince provide the beginning’), a C13th poem also composed in hálfhnept, which reinforces the conclusion that this is the first stanza of the poem (and may also explain the reading in ms. U).
upphaf ‘the beginning’
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upphaf (noun n.): beginning
notes
[1] upphaf ‘the beginning’: Upphaf is a technical term for the first part of a drápa.
ofrask ‘be raised’
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ofra (verb): raise up, exalt
mun ‘will’
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munu (verb): will, must
konungs ‘the king’s’
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konungr (noun m.; °dat. -i, -s; -ar): king
hôttu ‘the forms’
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1. háttr (noun m.; °-ar, dat. hætti; hættir, acc. háttu): behaviour, measure, verse-form
notes
[3] hôttu ‘the forms’: This is the acc. pl. of the noun háttr ‘manner, verse-form, metre’ (as in the title of Háttatal ‘Enumeration of verse-forms’). It seems to be used here as a technical term, self-consciously drawing attention to the poem that will follow – especially, perhaps, in terms of its metrical aspects, as this seems to be the first recorded use of hálfhnept for a royal encomium. Cf. Óttarr’s opening stanza to his Hfl for Óláfr Haraldsson (Ótt Hfl 1/1I).
nemi ‘note’
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1. nema (verb): to take
hann ‘he’
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hann (pron.; °gen. hans, dat. honum; f. hon, gen. hennar, acc. hana): he, she, it, they, them...
rétt ‘correctly’
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3. réttr (adj.; °compar. -ari, superl. -astr): right, straight, direct
hróðrs ‘panegyric’
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hróðr (noun m.): encomium, praise
[4] hróðrs: so U, 744ˣ, hróðr R, Tˣ, C
notes
[4] bragar; hróðrs ‘poem; panegyric’: There is uncertainty here as to which of these gen. nouns belongs with upphaf, and which with hôttu. Skj B prefers upphaf hróðrs ‘the beginning of his panegyric’ and hôttu bragar ‘the forms of the poem’, while Skald (and SnE 1998), following Sveinbjörn Egilsson (SnE 1848-87, III), adopts upphaf bragar ‘the beginning of the poem’ and hôttu hróðrs ‘the forms of the panegyric’ (NN §2485). The latter is preferable in terms of syntax: the stanza thus has the structure of a main clause (ll. 1 and 4b) with two consecutive, separate intercalary clauses which are not interwoven with each other (i.e. l. 2; ll. 3 and 4a).
notes
[4] síns; míns ‘of his; of my’: All mss except C agree that míns ‘my’ qualifies hróðrs ‘panegyric’ and síns ‘his’ qualifies bragar ‘poem’; however, both Skj B and Skald choose to adopt C’s version. The present edn, like SnE 1998 (and Sveinbjörn Egilsson in SnE 1848-87, III), retains the majority reading of the mss.
bragar ‘poem’
(not checked:)
bragr (noun m.; °-ar): poem, poetry
notes
[4] bragar; hróðrs ‘poem; panegyric’: There is uncertainty here as to which of these gen. nouns belongs with upphaf, and which with hôttu. Skj B prefers upphaf hróðrs ‘the beginning of his panegyric’ and hôttu bragar ‘the forms of the poem’, while Skald (and SnE 1998), following Sveinbjörn Egilsson (SnE 1848-87, III), adopts upphaf bragar ‘the beginning of the poem’ and hôttu hróðrs ‘the forms of the panegyric’ (NN §2485). The latter is preferable in terms of syntax: the stanza thus has the structure of a main clause (ll. 1 and 4b) with two consecutive, separate intercalary clauses which are not interwoven with each other (i.e. l. 2; ll. 3 and 4a).
notes
[4] síns; míns ‘of his; of my’: All mss except C agree that míns ‘my’ qualifies hróðrs ‘panegyric’ and síns ‘his’ qualifies bragar ‘poem’; however, both Skj B and Skald choose to adopt C’s version. The present edn, like SnE 1998 (and Sveinbjörn Egilsson in SnE 1848-87, III), retains the majority reading of the mss.
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This stanza is quoted in Skm to illustrate the use of jǫfurr ‘prince’ as one of many heiti for ‘ruler’.
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