RvHbreiðm Hl 40^III

Benfasti varð bresta
— bitu hjalm svalir malmar —
í háturnum hjarna,
heitr, kaldr, þars dreif sveiti*.
Strǫng vas guðr, áðr gengi
(geirmót) konungs Jóta,
bendr sparn almr til unda,
(óx) þvarr, boga stǫrrum.

{Kaldr benfasti} varð bresta í {háturnum hjarna}, þars heitr sveiti* dreif; svalir malmar bitu hjalm. Guðr vas strǫng, áðr gengi {konungs Jóta} þvarr; {geirmót} óx; bendr almr sparn {stǫrrum boga} til unda.

{The cold wound-flame} [SWORD] had to crack in {high towers of the brain} [HEADS] where hot blood spurted; cool weapons bit the helmet. The battle was strong before the company {of the king of the Jótar} [DANISH KING = Haraldr] diminished; {the spear-meeting} [BATTLE] intensified; the bent elm-bow kicked {sedge-grass of the bow} [ARROWS] towards wounds.

Mss: papp25ˣ(34v), R683ˣ(129r-v)

Readings: [4] heitr: heit papp25ˣ, R683ˣ;    dreif (‘dræif’): so R683ˣ, ‘dræf’ papp25ˣ;    sveiti*: ‘suætir’ papp25ˣ, ‘svæitir’ R683ˣ    [5] áðr: áðr en papp25ˣ, R683ˣ    [6] konungs: konungr corrected from konungi papp25ˣ, konungr R683ˣ    [8] stǫrrum: ‑starran R683ˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 519-20, Skj BI, 496-7, Skald I, 244; Hl 1941, 25-6, 69-70.

Context: As st. 39 above.

Notes: [All]: The antithesis consists of the words heitr ‘hot’ : kaldr ‘cold’ (l. 4) and óx ‘grew’ : þvarr ‘diminished’ (l. 8). — [3] háturnum ‘high towers’: The word turn ‘tower’ (from OS turn < OFr. *torn < Lat. turrem) is late (see AEW: turn), but also attested in SnSt Ht 50/8 (gnapturn ‘jutting towers’). — [4] heitr sveiti* ‘hot blood’: The emendations to heitr (m. nom. sg.) ‘hot’ and sveiti (m. nom. sg.) ‘blood’ (m. nom. sg.) are necessary to furnish the missing subject. For loss of final ‑r, see Note to st. 5/2, and for final, inorganic ‑r, see Note to st. 8/4. — [5, 6]: Skj B and Skald retain the nom. form konungr (m. nom. sg.; so both mss) ‘king’ as the subject of gengi (l. 5) which they construe as 3rd pers. sg. pret. subj. of ganga ‘go’ i.e. ‘die’. As Holtsmark (Hl 1941) points out, ganga is not attested in that meaning, and the word must be the noun gengi (n. nom. sg.) ‘company, support’. — [5] áðr ‘before’: En ‘than’ (added by Rugman above the line in papp25ˣ and retained in R683ˣ) has been deleted since it makes the line hypermetrical. — [7-8]: Skj B and Skald, following R683ˣ, construe these lines as follows: bendr sparn almr til unda, | (óx) þvarr boga starran, translated in Skj B as den spændte bue skød [pilene] til sårene; den stive bue slappedes ‘the drawn bow shot [the arrows] toward the wounds; the stiff bow became slack’. In that reading the object of sparn lit. ‘kicked’ is missing, however, and þverra ‘diminish’ (þvarr 3rd pers. sg. pret. indic.) is not attested in the meaning ‘become slack’. The present edn follows Holtsmark (Hl 1941). — [8] stǫrrum ‘sedge-grass’: This word also occurs in st. 78/4.

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. AEW = Vries, Jan de. 1962. Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 2nd rev. edn. Rpt. 1977. Leiden: Brill.
5. Hl 1941 = Jón Helgason and Anne Holtsmark, eds. 1941. Háttalykill enn forni. BA 1. Copenhagen: Munksgaard.
6. Internal references
7. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Snorri Sturluson, Háttatal 50’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1159.