RvHbreiðm Hl 15^III

… an vægði
sóknfúss inn beinlausi
…
… í bǫð færi,
því …
… meginvíða
réð aldrlagi Ellu
…

… an vægði sóknfúss inn beinlausi … í bǫð færi, því … meginvíða … réð aldrlagi Ellu …

… than submitted, battle-eager, the boneless … in battle fewer, therefore … very widely … caused the death of Ælla …

Mss: papp25ˣ(42v), R683ˣ(126v)

Readings: [2] sóknfúss: ‘soc suss’ or ‘soc susz’ papp25ˣ, ‘soc fuss’ R683ˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 515, Skj BI, 490-1, Skald I, 240, NN §3115; Hl 1941, 35, 51-2.

Context: The metre is munnvǫrp (‘Munnvorpor’) ‘mouth-throwings’ (i.e. ‘improvisations’; cf. SnSt Ht 66). Munnvǫrp is structured similarly to dróttkvætt but the odd lines lack internal rhyme and the even lines have skothending rather than aðalhending.

Notes: [All]: This metrical variant is quite common in less formal skaldic verse, and it is used consistently in Bjbp Jóms^I. — [All]: The hero commemorated is Ívarr inn beinlausi ‘the Boneless’, a son of Ragnarr loðbrók and the slayer of King Ælla (see sts 13-14). For Ragnarr’s sons, see Ragnars saga loðbrókar (Ragn), Ragnarssona saga (RagnSon), ÍF 35, 76-7 n. 11, 78-90, Saxo 2005, I, 9, 4, 8-5, 8, pp. 590-613, as well as sts 17-22 below. — [All]: Based on the structure (rhyme, alliteration, syntactic fillers) the lines can be divided as above (see Hl 1941). Finnur Jónsson and Kock did not realise that l. 3 was missing, and they accordingly construe l. 4 as an odd rather than as an even line. However, í bǫð færi ‘in battle fewer’ cannot occupy positions 3-6 in an odd line (bǫð ‘battle’ and færi ‘fewer’ would need to alliterate). Skj B and Skald also place því ‘therefore’ (l. 5) and meginvíða ‘very widely’ (l. 6) in the same line (their l. 4) and take our l. 7 as l. 5. — [2] sóknfúss ‘battle-eager’: The ms. readings make no sense, and the emendation is in keeping with earlier eds. — [7] Ellu ‘of Ælla’: Previous eds add the name Ellu (gen. sg. of Ella) to complete the line. Because Ívarr killed Ælla, that reconstruction is likely to be correct and has been adopted here. See also Anon Krm 24/5-6^VIII. — [8]: Papp25ˣ has a stop after aldrlagi ‘death’ in l. 7, but R683ˣ indicates that more words are missing. Attempts by earlier eds to reconstruct the stanza (NN §3115; Hl 1941) are completely conjectural and will not be discussed here.

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. ÍF 35 = Danakonunga sǫgur. Ed. Bjarni Guðnason. 1982.
6. 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.
7. Hl 1941 = Jón Helgason and Anne Holtsmark, eds. 1941. Háttalykill enn forni. BA 1. Copenhagen: Munksgaard.
8. Internal references
9. 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Ragnars saga loðbrókar’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 616. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=81> (accessed 23 April 2024)
10. 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Ragnars sona þáttr’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 777. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=85> (accessed 23 April 2024)
11. Rory McTurk (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Poems, Krákumál 24’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 765.
12. Not published: do not cite (Rloð^VIII)
13. Emily Lethbridge 2012, ‘ Bjarni byskup Kolbeinsson, Jómsvíkingadrápa’ 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. 954. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1122> (accessed 23 April 2024)
14. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Snorri Sturluson, Háttatal 66’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1178.