Ótt Óldr 1^III

Jǫfurr heyri upphaf
— ofrask mun konungs lof —
— hôttu nemi hann rétt
hróðrs míns — bragar síns.

Heyri jǫfurr upphaf bragar síns; lof konungs mun ofrask; nemi hann rétt hôttu hróðrs míns.

May the prince hear the beginning of his poem; the king’s praise will be raised; may he note correctly the forms of my panegyric.

Mss: R(39v), Tˣ(41r), U(37r), 744ˣ(41r), C(9r) (SnE)

Readings: [1] heyri: gefi U    [2] lof: ‘lof’ 744ˣ    [4] hróðrs: so U, 744ˣ, hróðr R, Tˣ, C;    míns: síns C;    síns: míns C

Editions: Skj AI, 289, Skj BI, 267, Skald I, 137, NN §§620, 716, 2485; SnE 1848-87, I, 520-1, II, 342, 540, 606, III, 109, SnE 1931, 182, SnE 1998, I, 102.

Context: This stanza is quoted in Skm to illustrate the use of jǫfurr ‘prince’ as one of many heiti for ‘ruler’.

Notes: [1] heyri jǫfurr upphaf ‘may the prince hear the beginning’: This opening line is echoed in Anon Brúðv 1/1^VII (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).  — [1] upphaf ‘the beginning’: Upphaf is a technical term for the first part of a drápa. — [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 1/1^I). — [3] rétt ‘correctly’: From the point of view of word order, it seems preferable to take this adv. as modifying nemi ‘may note’ (l. 3) (so NN §620) rather than mun ofrask ‘will be raised’ (l. 2) (so Skj B). — [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). — [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.

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. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
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. (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 1 May 2024)
10. (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 1 May 2024)
11. Matthew Townend (ed.) 2012, ‘Óttarr svarti, Hǫfuðlausn 1’ 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. 741.
12. Valgerður Erna Þorvaldsdóttir (ed.) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Brúðkaupsvísur 1’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 529-30.