RvHbreiðm Hl 76^III

Skjǫldr brast skreyttr í hjaldri;
skôrusk randir * brandi;
rít hykk malmar meittu;
mǫrg vôpn … tǫrgur.
Hlífð frák karlmenn kljúfa;
kyn jǫfra skar brynjur;
sungu slǫg við hringa;
sundr brast hjalmr fyr malmi.

Skreyttr skjǫldr brast í hjaldri; randir skôrusk * brandi; hykk malmar meittu rít; mǫrg vôpn … tǫrgur. Frák karlmenn kljúfa hlífð; {kyn jǫfra} skar brynjur; slǫg sungu við hringa; hjalmr brast sundr fyr malmi.

The adorned shield burst in the battle; shield-rims were cut by the blade; I believe swords sliced the shield; many weapons … targes. I heard that men split the shield; {the kinsman of princes} [RULER = Magnús] cut byrnies; weapons sang against byrnie-rings; the helmet burst asunder before the sword.

Mss: papp25ˣ(39r), R683ˣ(133v)

Readings: [1] skreyttr: so R683ˣ, ‘scræijter’ papp25ˣ    [2] randir *: randir fyr papp25ˣ, R683ˣ    [3] meittu: mœttu R683ˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 527, Skj BI, 506-7, Skald I, 248, NN §§2082, 2807C; Hl 1941, 31, 93-4.

Context: As st. 75 above.

Notes: [2] * brandi ‘by the blade’: Brandi is taken as an instr. dat. here. As it stands in the mss, the line is unmetrical, being heptasyllabic with no possibility of elision in metrical position 4. The inclusion of the prep. fyr could have been caused by fyr malmi ‘before the sword’ in l. 8, but the prep. must have been present in Rugman’s exemplar. For skera ‘cut’ with instr. dat., see sts 72/5 and 77/1, 4. — [3] malmar (m. nom. pl.) ‘swords’: Konráð Gíslason (1895-7, II, 140 n. 1) emended to malma acc. pl. ‘swords’ to obtain an acc. with inf. construction (with the past inf. mœttu ‘met’), which was adopted in Skj B. Kock (NN §§2082, 2807C) argues for the form malmar (with mœttu ‘met’ as 3rd pers. pl. pret. indic.). In papp25ˣ, Rugman first wrote malma and later added the final ‑r. The correct construction cannot be determined with certainty. — [3] meittu ‘sliced’: Ms. R683ˣ reads mœttu ‘met’ which is retained in Skj B and Skald. — [4]: The missing word must be the pret. tense (pl.) of a strong verb (class 1 or 2, disyllabic with a short stem). Jón Sigurðsson supplied klufu ‘split’, Sveinbjörn Egilsson (SnE 1848, 247) suggested bitu ‘bit’ and Skj B and Skald have slitu ‘tore’. Jón Helgason (Hl 1941) offers sniðu ‘sliced’.

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. Konráð Gíslason. 1895-7. Efterladte skrifter. 2 vols. I: Forelæsninger over oldnordiske skjaldekvad. II: Forelæsninger og videnskablige afhandlinger. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
7. Hl 1941 = Jón Helgason and Anne Holtsmark, eds. 1941. Háttalykill enn forni. BA 1. Copenhagen: Munksgaard.