RvHbreiðm Hl 80^III

Kœnn hlaut lofðungr linna
láð; segik vísa dáðir;
gramr prýddi sá gumna
gjǫfum; kunni sið jǫfra.
Ógnbeiðis naut auðar
ǫld; leyfum bǫr skjaldar,
þvít ljósan veg vísi
vann; nús mælt it sanna.

Kœnn lofðungr hlaut {láð linna}; segik dáðir vísa; sá gramr prýddi gumna gjǫfum; kunni sið jǫfra. Ǫld naut auðar {ógnbeiðis}; leyfum {bǫr skjaldar}, þvít vísi vann ljósan veg; nús it sanna mælt.

The clever lord obtained {the land of serpents} [GOLD]; I recount the ruler’s deeds; that monarch adorned men with gifts; he knew the custom of princes. People enjoyed the wealth {of the war-craver} [WARRIOR]; we [I] praise {the tree of the shield} [WARRIOR] because the ruler gained glowing glory; now the truth has been told.

Mss: papp25ˣ(39v), R683ˣ(134r)

Readings: [1] Kœnn: so R683ˣ, Kœn papp25ˣ;    hlaut (‘laut’): so R683ˣ, ‘raut’ papp25ˣ;    linna: so R683ˣ, linnar papp25ˣ    [4] kunni: kunni hann papp25ˣ, R683ˣ    [5] Ógnbeiðis: so R683ˣ, ógnbeiðir papp25ˣ    [6] leyfum: so R683ˣ, leyfir papp25ˣ;    bǫr: bur papp25ˣ, R683ˣ    [7] vísi: vísir papp25ˣ, R683ˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 527-8, Skj BI, 508, Skald I, 249, NN §2084; Hl 1941, 31, 97.

Context: As st. 79 above.

Notes: [All]: For Óláfr’s munificence, see Steinn Óldr 13-16^II. — [1] hlaut ‘obtained’: Rugman changes hraut (‘raut’ papp25ˣ) to hlaut ‘obtained’ (‘laut’ R683ˣ). The verb hrjóta ‘fling’ is intransitive and does not fit the context syntactically. Jón Helgason (Hl 1941) suggests the reading naut ‘enjoyed’, but that requires the emendation of láð (n. acc. sg.) ‘land’ to láðs (n. gen. sg.) in the following line since njóta ‘enjoy’ takes the gen. — [4] kunni ‘knew’: The pers. pron. hann ‘he’ (so both mss), makes the line hypermetrical and has been deleted in keeping with the normalisations in the present edn (so also Skald; retained in Skj B). — [6] leyfum (1st pers. pl. pres. indic.) ‘we [I] praise’: Rugman alters leyfir (3rd pers. sg. pres. indic.) ‘praises’ (papp25ˣ) to leyfum in R683ˣ. According to Holtsmark (Hl 1941), leyfir may be a misreading of leyfik (1st pers. sg. pres. indic. with cliticised ek ‘I’) ‘I praise’. — [6] bǫr ‘the tree’: Bur ‘son’ (so both mss) has been emended to bǫr ‘tree’ in keeping with most earlier eds. Sveinbjörn Egilsson (SnE 1848, 248) emends to bur Skjöldar ‘the son of Skjǫldr’, which makes little sense, because Skjǫldr was the legendary ancestor of the Danish Skjǫldung dynasty. — [7] vísi ‘the ruler’: See Note to st. 19/3. — [8] nús it sanna mælt ‘now the truth has been told’: Holtsmark (Hl 1941, 139) suggests that the second skald, whose stanza focuses on Óláfr’s generosity, added this clause as a gentle corrective to the first poet – as Óláfr’s nickname kyrri ‘the Quiet’ shows, he was not known for his bellicose exploits.

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. Hl 1941 = Jón Helgason and Anne Holtsmark, eds. 1941. Háttalykill enn forni. BA 1. Copenhagen: Munksgaard.
7. Internal references
8. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Steinn Herdísarson, Óláfsdrápa 13’ 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, pp. 378-9.