RvHbreiðm Hl 31^III

Frilleifs vann ek sagt frá snilli;
siklingr vakði gunni mikla;
rjóða kunni randar váða
rómu valdr í benja ǫldu.
Bíta knátti brynju ótti
— brandar skôru svartar randir —
(Gera spurðik þar gladdan verða)
gunnar sól (með ylgjar brunni).

Ek vann sagt frá snilli Frilleifs; siklingr vakði mikla gunni; {valdr rómu} kunni rjóða {váða randar} í {ǫldu benja}. {Ótti brynju} knátti bíta {sól gunnar}; brandar skôru svartar randir; spurðik Gera verða gladdan þar með {brunni ylgjar}.

I was able to tell about the prowess of Friðleifr; the hero stirred up a great battle; {the ruler of strife} [WARRIOR] knew how to redden {the danger of the shield-rim} [SWORD] in {the wave of wounds} [BLOOD]. {The terror of the byrnie} [SWORD] bit {the sun of battle} [SHIELD]; blades cut black shield-rims; I heard that Geri <wolf> was gladdened there with {the spring of the she-wolf} [BLOOD].

Mss: papp25ˣ(33v), R683ˣ(128v)

Readings: [1] Frilleifs: Friðleifs papp25ˣ, R683ˣ    [4] valdr: ‘vallder’ papp25ˣ, ‘‑valder’ R683ˣ    [7] gladdan: glaðan papp25ˣ, R683ˣ;    verða: vera papp25ˣ, R683ˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 518, Skj BI, 494, Skald I, 243, NN §2073 anm.; Hl 1941, 24, 65.

Context: The metre is hrynhent (‘Rijnhent’) ‘flowing-rhymed’ (cf. SnSt Ht 62-4).

Notes: [All]: For this metre, see Section 4, General Introduction in SkP I. — [All]: Friðleifr Fróðason was a legendary Danish king (see ÍF 26, 48; ÍF 35, 14-16; Saxo 2005, I, 6, 1, 1-4, 14, pp. 362-79). — [1] Frilleifs ‘of Friðleifr’: The internal rhyme shows that -ðl- in Friðleifs had been assimilated to -ll- (see ANG §268.4; Hl 1941, 112-13). — [1] vann (1st pers. sg. pret. indic.) ‘was able to’: Skj B emends to vinn (1st pers. sg. pres. indic.) ‘am able to’, which Finnur Jónsson believed fitted the context better. — [4] valdr ‘the ruler’: Valdir ‘ruler’ has been normalised with all earlier eds to valdr ‘ruler’, because the Norwegian svarabhakti vowel [e] (‘vallder’ papp25ˣ, ‘valder’ R683ˣ) is late and violates the metre (see Hl 1941, 110-11). — [7] Gera ‘Geri <wolf>’: One of Óðinn’s wolves in Old Norse myth. — [7] gladdan ‘gladdened’: Gladdan ‘gladdened’ is preferable to glaðan ‘glad’ both from a contextual and from a metrical point of view, and it looks as though the latter was caused by the verb vera ‘be’ rather than verða ‘become, be’ in positions 7-8. — [7] verða ‘was’: Lit. ‘become’. The mss have vera ‘be’ in positions 7-8, forming aðalhending with Gera. Because the word in the cadence must have a long root syllable, vera has been emended to verða ‘be, become’ (forming skothending with spurðak ‘I heard’). The emendation is in keeping with most earlier eds. — [8] brunni ylgjar ‘the spring of the she-wolf [BLOOD]’: See st. 22/3.

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. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. ANG = Noreen, Adolf. 1923. Altnordische Grammatik I: Altisländische und altnorwegische Grammatik (Laut- und Flexionslehre) unter Berücksichtigung des Urnordischen. 4th edn. Halle: Niemeyer. 1st edn. 1884. 5th unrev. edn. 1970. Tübingen: Niemeyer.
6. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
7. ÍF 35 = Danakonunga sǫgur. Ed. Bjarni Guðnason. 1982.
8. Saxo 2005 = Friis-Jensen, Karsten, ed. 2005. Saxo Grammaticus: Gesta Danorum / Danmarkshistorien. Trans. Peter Zeeberg. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Det danske sprog- og litteraturselskab & Gads forlag.
9. Hl 1941 = Jón Helgason and Anne Holtsmark, eds. 1941. Háttalykill enn forni. BA 1. Copenhagen: Munksgaard.
10. SkP I = Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Ed. Diana Whaley. 2012.
11. Internal references
12. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Snorri Sturluson, Háttatal 62’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1173.