RvHbreiðm Hl 33^III

Óli fœddi aldinn ara;
allvítt kveðk hans snilli fara;
eigi frák hann armlog spara;
auði gœddi drengi snara.
Víða hygg ek bragna bera
buðlungs nafn, þess’s saddi Gera;
hraustan spurðak vísa vera;
vôpnum kunni benjar skera.

Óli fœddi aldinn ara; kveðk snilli hans fara allvítt; eigi frák hann spara {armlog}; gœddi snara drengi auði. Víða hygg ek bragna bera nafn buðlungs, þess’s saddi Gera; spurðak vísa vera hraustan; kunni skera benjar vôpnum.

Óli fed the ancient eagle; I say that his prowess travels very widely; I did not hear that he spared {the arm-flame} [GOLD]; he enriched valiant warriors with wealth. Far and wide I believe men carry the name of the hero who sated Geri <wolf>; I heard that the ruler was courageous; he knew how to cut wounds with weapons.

Mss: papp25ˣ(33v), R683ˣ(128v)

Readings: [1] aldinn: aldin papp25ˣ, R683ˣ    [2] allvítt: ‘attvitt’ R683ˣ    [4] gœddi: gœddi hann papp25ˣ, R683ˣ;    drengi: so R683ˣ, ‘deinge’ papp25ˣ    [6] þess’s (‘þess er’): er R683ˣ    [7] spurðak (‘spurda ec’): spurði ek R683ˣ    [8] kunni: kunni hann papp25ˣ, R683ˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 518, Skj BI, 495, Skald I, 243; Hl 1941, 25, 65-6.

Context: The heading is rekit (‘Rekit’) ‘extended’, which is used by Snorri in Ht as a term for an extended kenning (with more than two determinants) and not for a metre (see SnE 2007, 5). Metrically the stanza is similar to SnSt Ht 90 (in minni runhenda ‘the lesser end-rhyme’), which is a variant of hrynhent ‘flowing-rhymed’ (see sts 31-2 above) except that positions 7-8 are occupied by two short syllables rather than by a long plus a short syllable, and these syllables form end-rhymes with positions 7-8 in the following lines.

Notes: [All]: This metre is also used in Anon Mhkv, possibly composed by the Orcadian bishop Bjarni Kolbeinsson. — [All]: Óli is most likely Áli inn frœkni ‘the Brave’ Friðleifsson, a son of Friðleifr Fróðason (see sts 31-2 above; ÍF 26, 48-9; ÍF 35, 16-21; Saxo 2005, I, 6, 4, 10-12, pp. 376-9). According to Skjǫldunga saga (ÍF 35, 17-19), Áli was killed by Starkaðr inn gamli ‘the Old’ Stórvirksson at the instigation of his own half-brother, Fróði. Hkr (ÍF 26, 49) also mentions that Áli was killed by Starkaðr. Saxo gives his name as Olauus (Óláfr) and does not mention his death. — [1] Óli: A variant form of Áli (see Hl 1941). The line is peculiar because it has three alliterating staves, but that occurs occasionally in regular hrynhent as well. — [1] aldinn ‘the ancient’: For <n> possibly representing <nn>, see Note to st. 5/4. — [4, 8] gœddi; kunni ‘he enriched; he knew’: In both lines, the pers. pron. hann ‘he’, which makes the lines hypermetrical, has been omitted in keeping with the standard process of normalisation in the present edn. — [6] Gera ‘Geri <wolf>’: See Note to st. 31/7. — [7] vera ‘was’: Lit. ‘be’ (inf.). Note that earlier [s] (vesa) has been rhotacised here ([r] is secured by the rhyme). See Note to st. 13/1 above.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
3. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
4. ÍF 35 = Danakonunga sǫgur. Ed. Bjarni Guðnason. 1982.
5. 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.
6. Hl 1941 = Jón Helgason and Anne Holtsmark, eds. 1941. Háttalykill enn forni. BA 1. Copenhagen: Munksgaard.
7. SnE 2007 = Snorri Sturluson. 2007. Edda: Háttatal. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
8. Internal references
9. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Heimskringla’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=4> (accessed 26 April 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 26 April 2024)
11. Roberta Frank 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Málsháttakvæði’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1213. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1029> (accessed 26 April 2024)
12. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Snorri Sturluson, Háttatal 90’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1200.