RvHbreiðm Hl 47^III

Hrólfs spurðak hag;
hafs veitti dag;
fló Faðmis setr;
fáir * kunnu betr.
Hann veitti her
haukslóðar sker;
brast linna láð
við lofðungs ráð.

Spurðak hag Hrólfs; veitti {dag hafs}; {setr Faðmis} fló; fáir * kunnu betr. Hann veitti her {sker {haukslóðar}}; {láð linna} brast við ráð lofðungs.

I heard about Hrólfr’s behaviour; he gave {daylight of the sea} [GOLD]; {the seat of Faðmir <serpent>} [GOLD] flew; few could do better. He gave {skerries {of the hawk-track}} [ARM > GOLD] to the army; {the land of snakes} [GOLD] burst at the counsel of the hero.

Mss: papp25ˣ(35v), R683ˣ(130r)

Readings: [1] Hrólfs: ‘Rorlf’ papp25ˣ, Rolf R683ˣ    [2] hafs: ‘hadz’ papp25ˣ, R683ˣ;    veitti: veitti hann papp25ˣ, R683ˣ    [3] setr: ‘setus’ R683ˣ    [4] fáir *: fáir þóttu papp25ˣ, R683ˣ    [5] her: herr R683ˣ    [7] láð: so R683ˣ, ‘laud’ papp25ˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 521, Skj BI, 498-9, Skald I, 245, NN §2076; Hl 1941, 27, 73.

Context: The heading is runhent (‘Run hænt’) ‘end-rhymed,’ and this variant is similar to fornyrðislag (Types E, D4 and B) with end-rhyme. It corresponds to SnSt Ht 87, except that Snorri extends the end-rhyme throughout the helmingr (and not to the couplets only). The distribution of rhymes is similar in Snorri’s in minnsta runhenda ‘the least end-rhyme’.

Notes: [All]: For a discussion of this metre, see Section 4, General Introduction in SkP I. — [All]: The hero is the legendary Danish king Hrólfr kraki ‘Pole-ladder’. Once, when pursued by his enemy, the Swedish King Aðils of Uppsala, Hrólfr scattered gold on the ground to delay Aðils and his men; they stopped to pick it up. See Hrólfs saga kraka (Hrólf), SnE 1998, I, 58-9, SnSt Ht 94/2 and Note to Þstf Stuttdr 1/8^II. See also Anon Bjark, Note to Eyv Lv 8/3-4^I, ÍF 35, 25, 37, 42, 43-5 and Saxo 2005, I, 2, 5, 4-8, 5, pp. 160-89. — [1] Hrólfs (m. gen. sg.) ‘Hrólfr’s’: This emendation (following previous eds) is necessary because the acc. (Hrólf) is syntactically incorrect. The loss of final -s could have been caused by the onset of the next syllable (s-; see Hl 1941, 111). — [2] hafs (n. gen. sg.) ‘of the sea’: Finnur Jónssons’s emendation (Skj B). The word is clearly part of a gold-kenning, and Holtsmark’s attempt to retain the ms. reading (dag hadds ‘the daylight of the hair [GOLD]’, Hl 1941) is not persuasive. — [3] Faðmis ‘of Faðmir <serpent>’: For the form Faðmir for Fáfnir, see Note to st. 7/3. — [4] fáir * ‘few’: Þóttu ‘they thought’ (so both mss) has been omitted because it makes the line hypermetrical: see NN §2076 and Hl 1941). Skj B omits kunnu ‘could do’ and reads fáir þóttu betr ‘few were thought to be better’, which is also possible. — [6] sker haukslóðar ‘skerries of the hawk-track [ARM > GOLD]’: Sker ‘skerries’ is not a usual base-word in gold-kennings, but here it must stand for ‘stone’, which is frequently used in such kennings (cf. Meissner 224).

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. Meissner = Meissner, Rudolf. 1921. Die Kenningar der Skalden: Ein Beitrag zur skaldischen Poetik. Rheinische Beiträge und Hülfsbücher zur germanischen Philologie und Volkskunde 1. Bonn and Leipzig: Schroeder. Rpt. 1984. Hildesheim etc.: Olms.
6. ÍF 35 = Danakonunga sǫgur. Ed. Bjarni Guðnason. 1982.
7. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
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. 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Hrólfs saga kraka’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 539. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=73> (accessed 30 April 2024)
13. Margaret Clunies Ross 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Bjarkamál in fornu’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 495. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1006> (accessed 30 April 2024)
14. Russell Poole (ed.) 2012, ‘Eyvindr skáldaspillir Finnsson, Lausavísur 8’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 226.
15. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Snorri Sturluson, Háttatal 87’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1197.
16. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Snorri Sturluson, Háttatal 94’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1203.
17. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Þórarinn stuttfeldr, Stuttfeldardrápa 1’ 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. 474.