RvHbreiðm Hl 39III
Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Rǫgnvaldr jarl and Hallr Þórarinsson, Háttalykill 39’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1047.
text and translation
Harald frák gunni gerva;
Geri varð, þars lið barðisk,
— môr kom sigrs til sára
svangr — fullr, þars spjǫr gullu,
þvít, grástóði gríða
gnast hlífð, en brá fǫstu,
(hjaldrgǫgl nutu hildar)
hvít* (svǫrt) í dyn rítar.
Frák Harald gerva gunni; Geri varð fullr, þars lið barðisk; {svangr môr sigrs} kom til sára, þars spjǫr gullu, þvít hvít* hlífð gnast, en brá fǫstu {grástóði gríða} í {dyn rítar}; {svǫrt hjaldrgǫgl} nutu hildar.
‘I heard that Haraldr waged war; Geri <wolf> became sated where the troop fought; the hungry seagull of battle [RAVEN/EAGLE] came to wounds where spears resounded, because the white shield cracked, and the fast ended for the grey stud-horses of troll-women [WOLVES] in the din of the shield [BATTLE]; black battle-goslings [RAVENS] benefited from the fight. ’
notes and context
The heading is refrún in minni (‘Redrun hin minnj’) ‘the lesser fox-secret’ and the metre corresponds to that of SnSt Ht 22 (in minnstu refhvǫrf ‘the least fox-turns’). It is a variant of dróttkvætt which is characterised by antithesis, that is, by the juxtaposition at the beginning of ll. 4 and 8 of two words, usually of the same grammatical form, with opposite meanings (cf. Ht 17-23 and sts 55-6, 69-70 below).
In this stanza, the antithesis consists of the words svangr ‘hungry’ : fullr ‘full’ (l. 4) and hvít ‘white’ : svǫrt ‘black’ (l. 8). Aside from the stanzas in Hl and Ht which exemplify such antitheses (Hl 39-40, 55-6, 69-70; Ht 17-23), this particular verse-form is not otherwise attested in Old Norse poetry. Holtsmark (Hl 1941, 124-5) argues that it may have been modelled on Latin school exercises (antithetum, contrapositio; for examples, see Holtsmark loc. cit.). See also de Vries (1938, 717-18, 733). For a discussion of the term refrún, see Note to st. 55 [All]. — Haraldr must be the Danish legendary king Haraldr hilditǫnn ‘War-tooth’ Hrœreksson (Saxo: Hálfdanarson), the nephew of Helgi Hálfdanarson (sts 37-8) and the uncle of Hringr Randvésson (sts 41-2). He was killed at the epic battle of Brávellir, which he fought against his nephew Hringr (see ÍF 35, 49-70 and Saxo 2005, I, 7, 10, 1-11, 1, pp. 492-9, 7, 11, 13-12, 2, pp. 506-9, 8, 1, 1-5, 1, pp. 510-23).
readings
sources
Text is based on reconstruction from the base text and variant apparatus and may contain alternative spellings and other normalisations not visible in the manuscript text. Transcriptions may not have been checked and should not be cited.
-
Holm papp 25 8°x (papp25x) — 34v - 34v
Harald frák gunni gerva;
images
Geri varð, þars lið barðisk,
— môr kom sigrs til sára
svangr — fullr, þars spjǫr gullu,
þvít, grástóði gríða
gnast hlífð, en brá fǫstu,
(hjaldrgǫgl nutu hildar)
hvítt (svǫrt) í dyn rítar. -
UppsUB R 683x (R683x) — 129r - 129r
Harald frák gunni gerva;
images
Geri varð, þars lið barðisk,
— môr kom sigrs til sára
svangr — fullr, þars spjǫr gullu,
þvít, grástóði gríða
gnast hlífð, en brá fǫstu,
(hjaldrgǫgl nutu hildar)
hvítt (svǫrt) í dyn rítar.
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