RvHbreiðm Hl 18^III

Gramr framr gerði rimmu;
gekk — fekk vargr at drekka
blóð — þjóð — bragningr háði*
bǫð — glǫð til vígstǫðva.
Sǫng lǫng slíðra tunga;
sleit beit atfleyg peita;
bar þar * buðlungr hæri
bjart snart í styr hjarta.

Framr gramr gerði rimmu; þjóð gekk glǫð til {vígstǫðva}; vargr fekk blóð at drekka; bragningr háði* bǫð. {Lǫng tunga slíðra} sǫng; atfleyg peita sleit, beit; þar * bar hæri buðlungr bjart, snart hjarta í styr.

The outstanding ruler created a conflict; people went happy to {the battle-harbour} [BATTLEFIELD]; the wolf got blood to drink; the lord conducted a battle. {The long tongue of scabbards} [SWORD] sang; the soaring spear tore, bit; there, the more distinguished prince carried a cheerful, brave heart to battle.

Mss: papp25ˣ(41r), R683ˣ(127r)

Readings: [1] rimmu: runnu papp25ˣ, ‘rumno’ R683ˣ    [3] háði*: ‘hadis’ papp25ˣ, óðu by later correction in the hand of Rugman R683ˣ    [4] ‑stǫðva: ‘sloda’ papp25ˣ, R683ˣ    [5] Sǫng: so R683ˣ, corrected from ‘stǫng’ papp25ˣ    [6] atfleyg: ‘at flæg’ papp25ˣ, R683ˣ;    peita: ‘væita’ papp25ˣ, R683ˣ    [7] þar *: þar er papp25ˣ, R683ˣ;    hæri: so R683ˣ, ‘hæ …’ by later correction in the hand of Rugman papp25ˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 515-16, Skj BI, 491, Skald I, 241, NN §1159; Hl 1941, 33, 54-5.

Context: As st. 17 above.

Notes: [1] rimmu ‘a conflict’: The ms. readings (runnu ‘ran’ papp25ˣ; ‘rumno’ R683ˣ) are apparently mistranscriptions of rimmu ‘conflict’. — [3] háði* (3rd pers. sg. pret. indic.) ‘conducted’: The nonsensical ‘hadis’ has been changed to háði ‘conducted, held’ with most earlier eds. — [4] -stǫðva ‘-harbour’: Lit. ‘harbours’. The ms. reading ‘sloda’ (i.e. slóða ‘of tracks’ (?) or vígslóða ‘section on manslaughter’) makes no sense in the context and fails to furnish the aðalhending. Skj B suggests ‑stǫðva ‘harbours,’ ‘landing-places’, which has been adopted by subsequent eds. — [5] tunga slíðra ‘tongue of scabbards [SWORD]’: For singing tongues of scabbards, see Glúmr Gráf 4/5^I. See also st. 74/1 below. — [6]: The reading ‘at flæg væita’ is difficult to restore. Veita is an obvious misreading of peita ‘spear’ (Rugman mistook <p> for insular <v>; see also sts 44/9, 56/1, 67/2). Peita is a spear, and the word is first attested with this meaning in Eþver Lv 1/8^I, dated to 1024. ON Peita is the name for Poitou, which was famous for its spears (Falk 1914b, 75; Þul Spjóts l. 8). Previous eds interpret ‘at flæg’ variously as ørlyg ‘shield’ (Skj B) and at flaug ‘after the flight’ (Skald; NN §1159). SnE 1848, 240 has at flög ‘in the swarm’ (?), which is difficult to make sense of. However, the metre requires the nominal syllable in position 4 to be short if the word in position 3 is a form word (at flug ‘after the flight’ would be possible). Holtsmark (Hl 1941) suggested a cpd adj. atfleyg ‘soaring’ with a heavy dip in position 4. That reading makes the most sense from a palaeographical point of view and has been adopted here. For [ey] rendered as <æ> in papp25ˣ and R683ˣ, see Hl 1941, 105. — [7] þar *; hæri ‘where; the more distinguished’: Both mss read þar er ‘there where’. If that reading is kept, the word in the cadence must be a verb and not an adj. Kock therefore suggests harði (3rd pers. sg. pret. indic. of hara ‘stare’), which makes little sense semantically and seems to have resulted from Finnur Jónsson’s misreading (in Skj A) of ‘hæri’ in R683ˣ as ‘hari’. A verbal form herðisk ‘strengthened himself’ would be possible, but from Rugman’s initial copy it does not appear that this many letters were illegible, and the addition of <ri> could mean that he was able to make out the letters that he had previously been uncertain of. — [8]: For this line, see also Anon Krm 5/10^VIII.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj A = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15a. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. A: Tekst efter håndskrifterne. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1967. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
3. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
4. SnE 1848 = Sveinbjörn Egilsson, ed. 1848. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar, eða Gylfaginning, Skáldskaparmál og Háttatal. Reykjavík: Prentsmiðja landsins.
5. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
6. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
7. Falk, Hjalmar. 1914b. Altnordische Waffenkunde. Videnskapsselskapets skrifter, II. Hist.-filos. kl. 1914, 6. Kristiania (Oslo): Dybwad.
8. Hl 1941 = Jón Helgason and Anne Holtsmark, eds. 1941. Háttalykill enn forni. BA 1. Copenhagen: Munksgaard.
9. Internal references
10. Rory McTurk (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Poems, Krákumál 5’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 726.
11. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2012, ‘Einarr þveræingr Eyjólfsson, Lausavísa 1’ 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. 804.
12. Alison Finlay (ed.) 2012, ‘Glúmr Geirason, Gráfeldardrápa 4’ 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. 252.
13. Elena Gurevich 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Spjóts heiti’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 816. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=3197> (accessed 16 April 2024)