RvHbreiðm Hl 20III
Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Rǫgnvaldr jarl and Hallr Þórarinsson, Háttalykill 20’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1028.
Spurðak hraustan
…
þanns linns legu
lesti festi.
Lét opt jǫfurr
†ar† …
… sveita
saddan gladdan.
Spurðak hraustan … þanns lesti {legu linns} … festi. Jǫfurr lét opt †ar† … sveita gladdan saddan.
I heard that the brave … who injured {the lair of the snake} [GOLD] … fastened. The prince often made … … of blood gladdened, sated.
Mss: papp25ˣ(41r), R683ˣ(127r)
Readings: [3] þanns: þann papp25ˣ, R683ˣ; linns: ‘lidz’ R683ˣ [5] jǫfurr: jǫfur papp25ˣ, R683ˣ
Editions: Skj AI, 516, Skj BI, 492, Skald I, 241, NN §3116; Hl 1941, 33, 56.
Context: As st. 19 above.
Notes: [2]: The line cannot be restored, but it must have contained elements of a warrior-kenning or a word for ‘warrior’. — [3] þanns ‘who’: The mss have þann ‘that’ which has been emended to þanns ‘who’ because the word introduces a rel. clause. — [4] festi ‘fastened’: It is not clear to which of the previous clauses festi ‘fastened, gave away’ (3rd pers. sg. pret. indic. of festa) or ‘fastener’ (m. acc. sg. of festir) belongs. Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) believed it to be the base-word in a warrior-kenning whose determinant was contained in l. 2. Jón Helgason (Hl 1941) concurred and conjectured a kenning festi jalma hjalma ‘the fastener of the helmets’ dins [BATTLE > WARRIOR]’, whereas Kock (NN §3116) took festi as a verb parallel with lesti ‘injured’ (l. 4). — [5] jǫfurr (m. nom. sg.) ‘the prince’: Jǫfur (m. acc. sg.) ‘prince’ has been emended to the nom. to provide the missing subject. The emendation is in keeping with earlier eds. For the possible loss of final ‑r, see Note to st. 5/2. — [6-7]: These lines cannot be reconstructed with any certainty. Skj B makes no attempt to restore a reading. As Kock (NN §3116) points out, the missing word in l. 7 is most likely to be the base-word in a kenning for a bird of battle (m. acc. sg.) that is qualified by gladdan ‘gladdened’ and saddan ‘sated’ in l. 8. Accordingly, he reconstructs ll. 7-8 as svan vann sveita | saddan gladdan ‘he made the gladdened swan of blood sated’. Possible would also be ok svan sveita | saddan gladdan with lét ‘made’ in l. 5 as the verb. Jón Helgason (Hl 1941, 56) reconstructs the second helmingr as follows: opt lét jǫfurr | arna barna | sessa sveita | saddan gladdan ‘often the prince made the gladdened benchmate of the eagles’ children [RAVEN/EAGLE] sated with blood’. That reading is entirely conjectural, however.
References
- Bibliography
- Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
- Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
- NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
- Hl 1941 = Jón Helgason and Anne Holtsmark, eds. 1941. Háttalykill enn forni. BA 1. Copenhagen: Munksgaard.
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