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Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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RvHbreiðm Hl 29III

Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Rǫgnvaldr jarl and Hallr Þórarinsson, Háttalykill 29’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1038.

Rǫgnvaldr jarl and Hallr ÞórarinssonHáttalykill
282930

Hǫrðu ‘a hard’

(not checked:)
harðr (adj.; °comp. -ari; superl. -astr): hard, harsh

kennings

hǫrðu epli* aldrklifs;
‘a hard apple of the life-cliff; ’
   = HEART

the life-cliff; → BREAST
a hard apple of the BREAST → HEART
Close

réð ‘commanded’

(not checked:)
ráða (verb): advise, rule, interpret, decide

notes

[1] réð ‘commanded’: Cf. st. 30/5.

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Hagbarðr ‘Hagbarðr’

(not checked:)
Hagbarðr (noun m.): Hagbarðr

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leyfa ‘praise’

(not checked:)
leyfa (verb): permit; praise

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menn ‘men’

(not checked:)
maðr (noun m.): man, person

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aldr ‘of the life’

(not checked:)
aldr (noun m.; °aldrs, dat. aldri; aldrar): life, age < aldrklif (noun n.): [life-cliff]

kennings

hǫrðu epli* aldrklifs;
‘a hard apple of the life-cliff; ’
   = HEART

the life-cliff; → BREAST
a hard apple of the BREAST → HEART
Close

aldr ‘of the life’

(not checked:)
aldr (noun m.; °aldrs, dat. aldri; aldrar): life, age < aldrklif (noun n.): [life-cliff]

kennings

hǫrðu epli* aldrklifs;
‘a hard apple of the life-cliff; ’
   = HEART

the life-cliff; → BREAST
a hard apple of the BREAST → HEART
Close

klifs ‘cliff’

(not checked:)
klif (noun n.; °-s; -): cliff < aldrklif (noun n.): [life-cliff]

kennings

hǫrðu epli* aldrklifs;
‘a hard apple of the life-cliff; ’
   = HEART

the life-cliff; → BREAST
a hard apple of the BREAST → HEART
Close

klifs ‘cliff’

(not checked:)
klif (noun n.; °-s; -): cliff < aldrklif (noun n.): [life-cliff]

kennings

hǫrðu epli* aldrklifs;
‘a hard apple of the life-cliff; ’
   = HEART

the life-cliff; → BREAST
a hard apple of the BREAST → HEART
Close

epli* ‘apple’

(not checked:)
epli (noun n.; °-s; -): apple

[3] epli*: eplis papp25ˣ, R683ˣ

kennings

hǫrðu epli* aldrklifs;
‘a hard apple of the life-cliff; ’
   = HEART

the life-cliff; → BREAST
a hard apple of the BREAST → HEART

notes

[3] epli* (n. dat. sg.) ‘apple’: Eplis (n. gen. sg.) ‘apple’ (so both mss) has been emended to the dat. sg. because réð ‘commanded’ takes the dat. The internal rhyme ‑klifs : epli is somewhat problematic. Kock (NN §3117) emends epli to aldin ‘fruit’, which creates an aðalhending rather than a skothending and is grammatically incorrect (the dat. is aldini; see Hl 1941). Jón Helgason (Hl 1941) adds heldr ‘rather’ at the end of the line, but that makes the line unmetrical. It is quite possible that the consonant cluster <fs> could have been pronounced [ps], thus creating an approximate rhyme. See ANG §240.2 and Seip (1955, 51), but note the rhyme jǫfri : aldrklifs in st. 30/1 (dialect variation, or an attempt by the second poet to correct the first poet?).

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ýta ‘of the people’

(not checked:)
ýtr (noun m.): man; launcher

kennings

sá gramr ýta
‘that lord of the people ’
   = RULER

that lord of the people → RULER

notes

[4] ýta (m. gen. pl.) ‘of the people’: Skj B emends to ýtum (m. dat. pl.) ‘to the people’ and takes it with nýtr ‘bountiful’ (‘bountiful to the people’). That emendation is unnecessary (see NN §2073).

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‘that’

(not checked:)
1. sá (pron.; °gen. þess, dat. þeim, acc. þann; f. sú, gen. þeirrar, acc. þá; n. þat, dat. því; pl. m. þeir, f. þǽ---): that (one), those

kennings

sá gramr ýta
‘that lord of the people ’
   = RULER

that lord of the people → RULER
Close

gramr ‘lord’

(not checked:)
1. gramr (noun m.): ruler

kennings

sá gramr ýta
‘that lord of the people ’
   = RULER

that lord of the people → RULER
Close

Mýll ‘The stone’

(not checked:)
mýll (noun m.; °; mýlar): [stone]

kennings

Mýll geðvangs
‘The stone of the mind-meadow ’
   = HEART

the mind-meadow → BREAST
The stone of the BREAST → HEART
Close

gerðit ‘did not’

(not checked:)
1. gera (verb): do, make

[5] gerðit: gerði at papp25ˣ, R683ˣ

notes

[5] gerðit ‘did not’: Both mss read gerði at, which is a rather common rendition (misunderstanding) of a finite verb plus the negative suffix -(a)t. See st. 30/1.

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marg ‘of the deeply’

(not checked:)
2. margr (adj.; °-an): many < margsnjallr (adj.): [very capable]

kennings

margsnills morðalfs
‘of the deeply wise battle-elf ’
   = WARRIOR

the deeply wise battle-elf → WARRIOR

notes

[5] -snills ‘wise’: This form is problematic. We should have expected a form with breaking (-snjalls), but, as Holtsmark (Hl 1941, 109) points out, snills could have been an unbroken form with progressive i-umlaut, attested in Orkney Norn and in Shetland. See also Seip (1955, 128).

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snills ‘wise’

(not checked:)
snjallr (adj.): quick, resourceful, bold < margsnjallr (adj.): [very capable]

[5] ‑snills: ‑snill papp25ˣ, R683ˣ

kennings

margsnills morðalfs
‘of the deeply wise battle-elf ’
   = WARRIOR

the deeply wise battle-elf → WARRIOR

notes

[5] -snills ‘wise’: This form is problematic. We should have expected a form with breaking (-snjalls), but, as Holtsmark (Hl 1941, 109) points out, snills could have been an unbroken form with progressive i-umlaut, attested in Orkney Norn and in Shetland. See also Seip (1955, 128).

Close

morð ‘battle’

(not checked:)
1. morð (noun n.; °-s; -): killing, battle < morðalfr (noun m.)

kennings

margsnills morðalfs
‘of the deeply wise battle-elf ’
   = WARRIOR

the deeply wise battle-elf → WARRIOR
Close

alfs ‘elf’

(not checked:)
alfr (noun m.; °; -ar): elf < morðalfr (noun m.)

[6] ‑alfs: ‑alf papp25ˣ, R683ˣ

kennings

margsnills morðalfs
‘of the deeply wise battle-elf ’
   = WARRIOR

the deeply wise battle-elf → WARRIOR
Close

skjalfa ‘tremble’

(not checked:)
1. skjalfa (verb): shake - intrans.

Close

í ‘in’

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í (prep.): in, into

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geira ‘of spears’

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geirr (noun m.): spear

kennings

strangri glymskúr geira.
‘the strong din-shower of spears. ’
   = BATTLE

the strong din-shower of spears. → BATTLE

notes

[7] glymskúr geira ‘din-shower of spears [BATTLE]’: The kenning is hyper-determined because both glymr geira ‘din of spears’ and skúr geira ‘shower of spears’ are kennings for ‘battle’ (for such kennings, see Introduction to Sturl HrafnII). See also st. 30/7.

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glym ‘din’

(not checked:)
glymja (verb): resound < glymskúr (noun f.): [din-shower]

kennings

strangri glymskúr geira.
‘the strong din-shower of spears. ’
   = BATTLE

the strong din-shower of spears. → BATTLE

notes

[7] glymskúr geira ‘din-shower of spears [BATTLE]’: The kenning is hyper-determined because both glymr geira ‘din of spears’ and skúr geira ‘shower of spears’ are kennings for ‘battle’ (for such kennings, see Introduction to Sturl HrafnII). See also st. 30/7.

Close

skúr ‘shower’

(not checked:)
1. skúr (noun f.; °; -ir): shower < glymskúr (noun f.): [din-shower]

kennings

strangri glymskúr geira.
‘the strong din-shower of spears. ’
   = BATTLE

the strong din-shower of spears. → BATTLE

notes

[7] glymskúr geira ‘din-shower of spears [BATTLE]’: The kenning is hyper-determined because both glymr geira ‘din of spears’ and skúr geira ‘shower of spears’ are kennings for ‘battle’ (for such kennings, see Introduction to Sturl HrafnII). See also st. 30/7.

Close

geð ‘of the mind’

(not checked:)
geð (noun n.): mind < geðvangr (noun m.): [mind-meadow]

kennings

Mýll geðvangs
‘The stone of the mind-meadow ’
   = HEART

the mind-meadow → BREAST
The stone of the BREAST → HEART
Close

geð ‘of the mind’

(not checked:)
geð (noun n.): mind < geðvangr (noun m.): [mind-meadow]

kennings

Mýll geðvangs
‘The stone of the mind-meadow ’
   = HEART

the mind-meadow → BREAST
The stone of the BREAST → HEART
Close

vangs ‘meadow’

(not checked:)
1. vangr (noun m.): field, plain < geðvangr (noun m.): [mind-meadow]

kennings

Mýll geðvangs
‘The stone of the mind-meadow ’
   = HEART

the mind-meadow → BREAST
The stone of the BREAST → HEART
Close

vangs ‘meadow’

(not checked:)
1. vangr (noun m.): field, plain < geðvangr (noun m.): [mind-meadow]

kennings

Mýll geðvangs
‘The stone of the mind-meadow ’
   = HEART

the mind-meadow → BREAST
The stone of the BREAST → HEART
Close

strangri ‘the strong’

(not checked:)
strangr (adj.): strong

kennings

strangri glymskúr geira.
‘the strong din-shower of spears. ’
   = BATTLE

the strong din-shower of spears. → BATTLE
Close

Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses

The heading is háhent (‘Ha̋ hent’) ‘high-rhymed’, which must be a misreading of náhent ‘close-rhymed’ (SnSt Ht 75). The metre resembles that of sts 23-4 above. In Snorri’s more regularised variant, the odd lines consist of 4-5 syllables, have skothending and end in a long monosyllable carrying internal rhyme. The even lines have 4 syllables (two long syllables followed by a long plus a short syllable) and aðalhending in positions 2 and 3. In the present stanza, ll. 1 and 5 correspond to Snorri’s náhent or hálfhnept ‘half-curtailed’ (Ht 77), ll. 6 and 8 are náhent or stúfhent ‘stump-rhymed’ (Ht 74), l. 3 is stúfhent and structered similarly to even náhent lines, while ll. 2, 4 and 7 are hálfhnept.

For the concept of a ‘hard’ heroic heart, which permeates this stanza and the next, see Note to Anon Mhkv 7/1. See also st. 37/3 below. — Hagbarðr was a legendary Danish king and the brother of Haki (see sts 27-8 above). He is famous as the lover of Signý, the daughter of King Sigarr, who hanged Hagbarðr on account of that relationship (see Saxo 2005, I, 7, 7, 3-17, pp. 464-77). — [5-6]: Following most earlier eds, margsnill ‘deeply wise’ (f. nom. sg. or n. nom./acc. pl.) and morðalf ‘battle-elf’ (m. acc. sg.) have been emended to margsnills morðalfs (gen. sg.) as a gen. attribute to mýll geðvangs ‘stone of the mind-meadow’ (ll. 5, 8).

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