RvHbreiðm Hl 16^III

Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Rǫgnvaldr jarl and Hallr Þórarinsson, Háttalykill 16’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1023.

text and translation

notes and context

As st. 15 above.

[1]: The line is one syllable too short, but Rugman does not indicate that anything is missing. Kock (NN §3115) inserts the verb vann ‘gained’ in position 2, which is plausible from a metrical and syntactic point of view, and has been adopted in the present edn. It remains conjectural. Jón Helgason suggests that an initial syllable was omitted, and he conjectures a cpd sóknharðr or ógnharðr ‘battle-hard’ (Hl 1941). That suggestion must be rejected for metrical reasons (a disyllabic cpd cannot occur before the first alliterating stave). — [1-4]: The first helmingr is distorted beyond reconstruction in Rugman’s transcriptions. — [3]: The clause is missing a verb, and Skj B and Skald supply fekk ‘got’ in position 1. Jón Helgason (Hl 1941) maintains that fá gagn af gunni ‘get victory from the battle’ is rather awkward, but that construction occurs elsewhere in poetry (see Glúmr Gráf 2/3^I hann fekk gagn af gunni). — [4]: The line contains only two words, gnóg (f. nom. sg. or n. nom./acc. pl.) ‘abundant’ and dag (m. acc. sg.) ‘day’ and it cannot be reconstructed. It is possible that gnóg could have been connected with gagn (l. 3): gnóg gagn ‘abundant victories’. Kock’s suggestions (NN §§3115, 3237) are conjectural and must be dismissed. — [5]: Earlier eds (Kock, Jón Helgason) supply the pron. þann (m. acc. sg.) ‘that’ in position 1 as a qualifier to vellbrota ‘gold-breaker’. However, Type C-lines with an adjectival pron. in anacrusis are extremely rare (see Gade 1995a, 123-8), and it would also violate the word order in an independent clause. It is more likely that the word missing in anacrusis was a connective (ok, en ‘and, but’). — [7]: The missing word in position 1 (or positions 1-2 if disyllabic) must carry alliteration and have a vocalic onset. Jón Helgason (Hl 1941) suggests an adj. qualifying bróður Agnars ‘Agnarr’s brother’ (æra ‘younger’ or ítran ‘splendid’). While it is likely that the word could have been an adj., the word itself cannot be reconstructed.

readings

• [1] Harðr vann: Harðr papp25ˣ, R683ˣ
• [2] réð (‘red’): so R683ˣ, reið papp25ˣ
• [5] vellbrota: vellbrjóta R683ˣ
• [6] flestir: ‘fle …’ papp25ˣ, R683ˣ
• [8] án (‘a\o/n’): einn R683ˣ

sources

Text is based on reconstruction from the base text and variant apparatus and may contain alternative spellings and other normalisations not visible in the manuscript text. Transcriptions may not have been checked and should not be cited.

• Holm papp 25 8°x (papp25x) — 42v - 42v

  Harðr ráð ok ríki;
  reið hans enginn líki;
  … hann gagn af gunni
  gnóg dag …
  … vellbrota vissu
  víst skjǫldungar †fle …†
  … Agnars bróður
  án gǫrvallra beina.

  images
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• UppsUB R 683x (R683x) — 126v - 126v

  Harðr ráð ok ríki;
  réð hans enginn líki;
  … hann gagn af gunni
  gnóg dag …
  … vellbrjóta vissu
  víst skjǫldungar †fle …†
  … Agnars bróður
  einn gǫrvallra beina.

  images
Close

editions and texts