RvHbreiðm Hl 39^III

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.

Mss: papp25ˣ(34v), R683ˣ(129r)

Readings: [8] hvít*: hvítt papp25ˣ, R683ˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 519, Skj BI, 496, Skald I, 244, NN §§1160, 3197C; Hl 1941, 25, 68-9.

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).

Notes: [All]: 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]. — [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). — [2] Geri ‘Geri <wolf>’: See Note to st. 31/7. — [3] sigrs (m. gen. sg.) ‘of battle’: Lit. ‘of victory’. Skj B and Skald emend sigrs to sigs (n. gen. sg.) ‘of battle’. Sigr (m.) usually means ‘victory’, but it is also attested frequently (in compounds) in the meaning ‘battle’ (see Hl 1941 and examples in LP: sigr-). — [5] þvít ‘because’: Skj B and Skald emend to þegn ‘warrior’ as the subject of brá ‘ended’ in l. 6. However, a noun cannot occur in anacrusis before the first alliterative stave in Type C-lines. — [5] gríða (f. gen. pl.) ‘of troll-women’: With Sveinbjörn Egilsson (SnE 1848, 242), Skj B and Skald read gríðar (f. gen. sg.) ‘of the troll-woman’, but the emendation is unnecessary (see Hl 1941). Gríðr is the name of a giantess and a heiti for ‘troll-woman’ (Þul Trollkvenna 1/3) and it could be used in the pl. as well as in the sg. — [6] hlífð (f. nom. sg.) ‘shield’: The form is peculiar, and Holtsmark (Hl 1941, 135) suggests that hlífð (rather than the expected hlíf) might be a Norwegian variant. The word also occurs in sts 42/6, 69/2, 74/2 and 76/5. — [6] en ‘and’: Kock (NN §1160) takes this as the adv. enn ‘again,’ but an adv. cannot occupy that position preceding a verb in Type D4-lines. Holtsmark (Hl 1941) regards en as a weakened form of hann ‘he’ as the subject of brá ‘ended’ (inf. bregða). However, bregða often occurs in impersonal constructions, and no subject is needed in this clause. — [6] brá fǫstu ‘the fast ended’: Bregða ‘end’ (brá 3rd pers. sg. pret. indic.) is used impersonally with fǫstu ‘fast’ as the dat. object. This construction usually requires a gen. (‘of someone’) and Jón Helgason (Hl 1941) tentatively suggests an emendation of grástóði (n. dat. sg.) ‘for the grey stud-horses’ to grástóða (n. gen. pl.) ‘of grey stud-horses’. In the present edn grástóði is taken as an ethical dat. (collective, sg.). — [8] hvít* (f. nom. sg.) ‘white’: The emendation from hvítt (n. nom. sg.) is necessary because the adj. qualifies hlífð (f. nom. sg.) ‘shield’ (l. 6). It could also be that this is an instance where <tt> stands for <t> (see Note to st. 38/5 and Hl 1941, 106), but in this case, in word-final position, that cannot be ascertained.

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. SnE 1848 = Sveinbjörn Egilsson, ed. 1848. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar, eða Gylfaginning, Skáldskaparmál og Háttatal. Reykjavík: Prentsmiðja landsins.
4. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
6. LP = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1931. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis: Ordbog over det norsk-islandske skjaldesprog oprindelig forfattet af Sveinbjörn Egilsson. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Møller.
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. Vries, Jan de. 1938. Een skald onder de troubadours. Ledeburg, Gent: N. V. Drukkerij Erasmus.
11. Internal references
12. (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)
13. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Trollkvenna heiti 1’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 724.
14. Kari Ellen Gade 2017, ‘ Rǫgnvaldr jarl and Hallr Þórarinsson, Háttalykill’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1001. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1347> (accessed 26 April 2024)
15. 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.
16. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Snorri Sturluson, Háttatal 15’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1119.
17. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Snorri Sturluson, Háttatal 22’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1128.