SnSt Ht 21^III

Lung frák lýða þengils
— lá reis of skut — geisa,
en svǫrð of her herða;
hljóp stóð und gram Róða.
Þjóð fær þungra skeiða
þrǫng rúm skipat lǫngum;
stál lætr styrjar deilir
stinn kløkk í mar søkkva.

Frák lung lýða þengils geisa en svǫrð herða of her; lá reis of skut; {stóð Róða} hljóp und gram. Þjóð fær lǫngum skipat þrǫng rúm þungra skeiða; {deilir styrjar} lætr stinn stál søkkva kløkk í mar.

I heard that the ship of the ruler’s men rushed along and that the rope tightened above the army; the sea rose around the stern; {the stud-horses of Róði <sea-king>} [SHIPS] ran beneath the prince. People will for a long time man the narrow rowing-stations of the heavy warships; {the controller of strife} [WARRIOR] lets stiff prows sink yielding into the sea.

Mss: R(47v), Tˣ(49v), W(142), U(47r) (l. 1), U(51v) (SnE)

Readings: [1] Lung: Lyng W;    frák (‘fra ec’): ‘frá[…]’ U(51v);    lýða: lýsa W    [2] skut: so all others, skot R    [3] svǫrð: sverð U(51v);    her herða: ‘[…]arða’ W    [4] hljóp: hljóð W;    und: um U(51v);    Róða: so Tˣ, W, rjóða R, bjóða U(51v)    [5] Þjóð: þik U(51v)    [6] þrǫng: ‘þ[…]g’ W, þrǫngt U(51v)

Editions: Skj AII, 58, Skj BII, 66, Skald II, 38; SnE 1848-87, I, 630-1, II, 370, 384, III, 116, SnE 1879-81, I, 4, 76, II, 12; SnE 1931, 226, SnE 2007, 14; Konráð Gíslason 1895-7, I, 14.

Context: As st. 20 above. Refhvǫrf occurs in the first two words of the even lines in this stanza.

Notes: [All]: The headings are xiiij. háttr ‘the fourteenth verse-form’ (Tˣ) and ǫnnur in minni ‘the second lesser’ (U(47r)). — [All]: The following antitheses constitute the refhvǫrf: lá ‘lay’ (taken as 3rd pers. sg. pret. indic. of liggja ‘lie’ rather than as the noun lá ‘sea’) : reis ‘rose’ (l. 2); hljóp ‘ran’ : stóð ‘stood’ (taken as 3rd pers. sg. pret. indic. of standa ‘stand’ rather than as the noun stóð ‘stud-horses’) (l. 4); þrǫng ‘narrow’ : rúm ‘wide’ (taken as an adj. rather than as the noun rúm n. pl. ‘rowing-stations’) (l. 6); stinn ‘stiff’ : kløkk ‘yielding’ (l. 8). — [1] lung ‘the ship’: See Note to Þul Skipa 2/7. — [3] svǫrð ‘the rope’: Walrus skins (svǫrð) were cut up and used for ropes. — [4] stóð ‘the stud-horses’: Stóð (n. nom. sg.) is a collective  referring to a group of stud-horses (mares and a stallion). — [4] Róða ‘of Róði <sea-king>’: Rjóða (‘rioþa’) ‘redden’ has been altered in R to Róða (‘roþa’ R*). For the sea-king Róði, see Note to Þul Sea-kings l. 5 (see also Þul Sækonunga 3/7). — [5] skeiða ‘warships’: This type of ship appears to have been larger than a snekkja ‘warship’ (see Note to st. 20/6 above and Jesch 2001a, 126-7).

References

1. Bibliography
2. SnE 1848-87 = Snorri Sturluson. 1848-87. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar: Edda Snorronis Sturlaei. Ed. Jón Sigurðsson et al. 3 vols. Copenhagen: Legatum Arnamagnaeanum. Rpt. Osnabrück: Zeller, 1966.
3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. Jesch, Judith. 2001a. Ships and Men in the Late Viking Age: The Vocabulary of Runic Inscriptions and Skaldic Verse. Woodbridge: Boydell.
5. SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
6. Konráð Gíslason. 1895-7. Efterladte skrifter. 2 vols. I: Forelæsninger over oldnordiske skjaldekvad. II: Forelæsninger og videnskablige afhandlinger. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
7. SnE 2007 = Snorri Sturluson. 2007. Edda: Háttatal. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
8. SnE 1879-81 = Möbius, Theodor, ed. 1879-81. Hattatal Snorra Sturlusonar. 2 vols. Halle an de Saale: Verlag der Buchhandlung des Waisenhauses.
9. Internal references
10. Elena Gurevich 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Heiti for sea-kings’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 987. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1045> (accessed 30 April 2024)
11. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Sækonunga heiti 3’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 681.
12. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Skipa heiti 2’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 863.