RvHbreiðm Hl 17^III

Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Rǫgnvaldr jarl and Hallr Þórarinsson, Háttalykill 17’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1024.

text and translation

notes and context

The metre is called inn dýri háttr (‘hinn Dijri hattʀ’) ‘the ornate form’ (cf. SnSt Ht 37). It is a variant of dróttkvætt, not attested outside the two claves metricae, in which all lines have three internal rhymes in positions 1, 2 and 5. The even lines have three aðalhendingar, and the odd lines two aðalhendingar in positions 1 and 3, which can form either aðalhending or skothending with the syllable in position 5 (see Hl 1941, 129). In Ht 37, all internal rhymes are aðalhendingar.

Rugman’s later corrections in R683ˣ represent attempts to create aðalhendingar and must be disregarded. — The hero commemorated is Bjǫrn járnsíða ‘Ironside’, another of Ragnarr loðbrók’s sons (see sts 11-16). — [3-4]: (a) In the present edn, which follows Hl 1941, váði ‘danger’ (l. 3) is taken as the base-word in a kenning for ‘sword’ (váði brynju ‘danger of the byrnie’), which functions as the subject in a passive construction with rauðsk ‘was reddened’ (l. 3). Bauðsk ‘was offered’ is taken as the verb in a passive construction with mǫrg bjǫrg (f. nom. sg.) ‘much nourishment’ as the subject. (b) The texts in Skj B and Skald are based on Rugman’s later corrections in R683ˣ and they provide the following reading: brátt, þrátt, brynju neytir | barg margfrekum vargi. Skj B places the adv. þrátt ‘often, persistently’ (l. 3) in the first clause of the helmingr (bræddi þrátt ‘fed often’) and the second adv. brátt ‘quickly’ (l. 3) in the second clause (beit brátt ‘bit quickly’. Kock (NN §1159) objected to that tortuous syntax and construed brátt, þrátt, brynju neytir barg margfrekum vargi, translated as snabbt, beständigt brynjebärarn räddade den glupske varj ‘quickly, stubbornly, the byrnie’s wearer (i.e. warrior) saved the greedy wolf’.

readings

• [1] fjǫrnis: fjǫrni papp25ˣ, R683ˣ
• [2] firum: ‘firo’ papp25ˣ, R683ˣ
• [3] bauðsk: baugs papp25ˣ, braut by later correction in the hand of Rugman R683ˣ
• [3] rauðsk: rautt papp25ˣ, þaut by later correction in the hand of Rugman R683ˣ
• [3] váði: ‘…’ papp25ˣ, ‘nautur’ or ‘nauti’ by later correction in the hand of Rugman R683ˣ
• [4] bjǫrg mǫrg: bjarg marg by later correction in the hand of Rugman R683ˣ
• [5] Ypt: opt papp25ˣ, R683ˣ
• [5] lypt: ‘lijst’ papp25ˣ, ‘list’ R683ˣ
• [7] slíta: slátra by later correction in the hand of Rugman 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) — 41r - 41r

  Bjǫrn ǫrn bræddi; fjǫrni
  beit reit †firo† hneitir;
  baugs — rautt brynju †…† —
  bjǫrg mǫrg frekum vargi.
  opt †lijst† átti at skipta
  egg legg í tvau seggja;
  hrátt brátt hafði at slíta
  hrafn tafn af því jafnan.

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• UppsUB R 683x (R683x) — 126v - 127r

  Bjǫrn ǫrn bræddi; fjǫrni
  beit reit †firo† hneitir;
  braut — þaut brynju †nautur† —
  bjarg marg frekum vargi.
  opt †list† átti at skipta
  egg legg í tvau seggja;
  hrátt brátt hafði at slátra
  hrafn tafn af því jafnan.

  images
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