RvHbreiðm Hl 60^III

Haraldr kunni gný gerva
— glaðr vas hrafn fyr Jaðri —
— þars svát víg á vági
vargs gráðtapaðr háði,
þvít við hodda hneiti
hvatráðan burr Kjǫtva
barðisk Bokks í firði —
bendags inn hárfagri.

Haraldr inn hárfagri kunni gerva {gný {bendags}}; hrafn vas glaðr fyr Jaðri, þars svát {{gráðtapaðr} vargs} háði víg á vági, þvít {burr Kjǫtva} barðisk í Bokksfirði við {hvatráðan hneiti hodda}.

Haraldr inn hárfagri (‘the Fair-haired’) could create {clamour {of the wound-daylight}} [SWORD > BATTLE]; the raven was cheerful off Jæren, there where {{the greed-terminator} [FEEDER] of the wolf} [WARRIOR] held a battle in the bay, because {the son of Kjǫtvi} [= Þórir] fought in the Billy-goat’s fjord against {the quick-witted cutter of treasures} [GENEROUS MAN].

Mss: papp25ˣ(37v), R683ˣ(131v)

Readings: [3] víg: so R683ˣ, viggs papp25ˣ    [4] ‑tapaðr: tapað papp25ˣ, R683ˣ    [5] hneiti: hneitir R683ˣ    [6] hvatráðan: ‘hijrradan’ papp25ˣ, hiarradan R683ˣ;    burr: bur papp25ˣ, R683ˣ;    Kjǫtva: ‘krattva’ papp25ˣ, R683ˣ    [7] Bokks (‘Bocx’): so R683ˣ, ‘boex’ papp25ˣ    [8] ‑fagri: ‑fagra R683ˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 523-4, Skj BI, 502, Skald I, 246, NN §1161C; Hl 1941, 29, 82-3.

Context: As st. 59 above.

Notes: [1, 8]: See st. 59/1, 8 above. — [2] fyr Jaðri ‘off Jæren’: Jæren is located in Rogaland, on the south-western coast of Norway. The line recalls Ólhelg Lv 6/4^I. — [3]: The line recalls Eskál Vell 19/3^I. — [3] þars svát ‘there where’: For this construction, see NN §1161C. — [4] -tapaðr (m. nom. sg.) ‘-terminator’: Skj B and Skald emend to -tǫpuðr ‘-terminator’, but both forms of this nomen agentis are possible (see Hl 1941). Both mss read -tapað (m. acc. sg.), but the nom. is required by the syntax. For the possible loss of final -r, see Note to st. 5/2. — [5] hneiti ‘cutter’: Jón Helgason (Hl 1941) suggests an emendation to hreyti ‘scatterer’. Hneitir does, however, occur as the base-word in man-kennings (LP: hneitir 2), and there is no reason why the ms. reading should not be retained. — [6] burr (m. nom. sg.) ‘son’: Bur (m. acc. sg.) ‘son’ has been emended to the nom. sg. If the acc. form is kept (so SnE 1848, 245; Hl 1941), the subject (Haraldr) must be inferred from the previous helmingr, and bur Kjǫtva ‘the son of Kjǫtvi’ must be taken as an apposition to the prepositional phrase in l. 5. That reading is less preferable from a syntactic point of view, and there are numerous examples of loss of final ‑r in Rugman’s transcriptions (see Note to st. 5/2). The acc. case could also have been caused by the adj. hvatráðan m. acc. sg. ‘quick-witted’ (l. 6) which precedes the noun. The son of Kjǫtvi inn auðgi ‘the Wealthy’ was Þórir haklangr, probably ‘Long-chin’, or ‘one having a long chin’ (see ÍF 26, 114-15 and Notes to Þhorn Harkv 7/4^I, 9/8^I). For the spelling <tt> for <t> (‘krattva’ both mss), see Note to st. 38/5. — [7] í Bokksfirði ‘in the Billy-goat’s fjord’: This is an onomastic pun on Hafrsfjǫrðr ‘Hafrsfjorden’ (bokkr ‘billy-goat’ = hafr ‘billy-goat’) in Norway, the location of Haraldr’s epic battle (see Note to Þhorn Harkv 7/1^I). Hafrsfjorden is located northwest of Stavanger, Rogaland, on the south-western coast of Norway.

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 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
8. Hl 1941 = Jón Helgason and Anne Holtsmark, eds. 1941. Háttalykill enn forni. BA 1. Copenhagen: Munksgaard.
9. Internal references
10. Edith Marold (ed.) 2012, ‘Einarr skálaglamm Helgason, Vellekla 19’ 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. 306.
11. R. D. Fulk (ed.) 2012, ‘Þorbjǫrn hornklofi, Haraldskvæði (Hrafnsmál) 7’ 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. 100.
12. Russell Poole (ed.) 2012, ‘Óláfr inn helgi Haraldsson, Lausavísur 6’ 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. 524.