SnSt Ht 34^III

Flaust bjó fólka treystir
fagrskjǫlduðustum ǫldum;
leið skar bragnings bróðir
bjartveggjuðustu reggi.
Hest rak hilmir rasta
harðsveipaðastan reipum;
sær hlaut við þrǫm þjóta
þunghúfuðustu lungi.

{Treystir fólka} bjó flaust fagrskjǫlduðustum ǫldum; {bróðir bragnings} skar leið bjartveggjuðustu reggi. Hilmir rak {hest rasta} harðsveipaðastan reipum; sær hlaut þjóta við þrǫm þunghúfuðustu lungi.

{The encourager of troops} [WARRIOR] readied a ship with men with the fairest shields; {the ruler’s brother} [= Skúli] cut the sea with a vessel with the brightest sails. The lord urged on {the horse of currents} [SHIP], most strongly wrapped with rigging; the sea resounded against the side of the craft with the heaviest hull.

Mss: R(48v), Tˣ(50v), W(144), U(47r) (ll. 1-2), U(52v) (SnE)

Readings: [1] treystir: ‘treyst[…]’ U(47r)    [2] ‑skjǫlduðustum: ‘skiolldvzvztvm’ U(47r), ‘skiolldvzvstvm’ U(52v);    ǫldum: eldum U(47r), U(52v)    [4] ‑veggjuðustu: ‘veggivzvstv’ U(52v);    reggi: hreggi W, U(52v)    [6] harð‑: ‘har‑’ Tˣ    [7] þjóta: þrjóta Tˣ    [8] þung‑: þingi Tˣ;    ‑húfuðustu: ‘‑hvfvztv’ U(52v)

Editions: Skj AII, 61, Skj BII, 70, Skald II, 40; SnE 1848-87, I, 644-7, II, 371, 388, III, 119, SnE 1879-81, I, 5, 78, II, 16, SnE 1931, 231, SnE 2007, 18; Konráð Gíslason 1895-7, I, 22.

Context: Snorri calls this variant of dróttkvætt flagðaháttr ‘ogresses’ form’. All even lines are heptasyllabic, and positions 1-5 are occupied by pentasyllabic adjectives in the superlative.

Notes: [All]: The headings are 27 (Tˣ) and flagða lag ‘ogresses’ metre’ (U(47r)). See RvHbreiðm Hl 63-4. Holtsmark (Hl 1941, 131 n. 1) proposes that the name of the metre could have come from the hissing sounds produced by the extra syllables with the consonant cluster [st]. Sievers (1893, 109-10) suggested resolution on the syllables in metrical positions 3-4, which is unlikely because the first syllable carries secondary and not primary stress. Other than in Hl and Ht, this variant is attested in VíglÞ Lv 7/2^V (Vígl 10). — [All]: This stanza and the following three stanzas describe events that took place in 1214 during the so-called Vágsbrúarsumar ‘Vágsbrú summer’, when Ingi Bárðarson and Skúli gathered an army and sailed from Bergen to Trøndelag to force the farmers to pledge allegiance at a legal assembly (see Hák, E 1916, 480 and Bǫgl 1988, II, 127). — [1] treystir ‘the encourager’: An agent noun derived from the weak verb treysta ‘encourage, embolden, trust, venture’, and it is not clear which of these meanings is implied here. Faulkes (SnE 2007, 156) tentatively suggests ‘tester (truster? encourager?)’. — [2] fagrskjǫlduðustum ‘with the fairest shields’: Lit. ‘the most fair-shielded’. Hap. leg. A sup. adj., p. p. of the weak verb skjalda ‘equip with shields’ with the first element fagr- ‘fair’. — [3] leið ‘the sea’: Given as a heiti for ‘sea’ in Skm (SnE 1998, I, 93), but otherwise attested only once with that meaning (see Note to Anon (SnE) 12/1). — [3] bróðir bragnings ‘the ruler’s brother [= Skúli]’: See Note to st. 33/5 above. — [4] bjartveggjuðustu ‘with the brightest sails’: Lit. ‘the most bright-sailed’. Hap. leg. and p. p. of an unattested weak verb *veggja ‘equip with sails’ (from veggr ‘sail’), used as a sup. adj. with the first element bjart- ‘bright’. — [4] reggi ‘with a vessel’: For this term for ‘ship’, see Note to Þul Skipa 2/5. — [5] rasta ‘of maelstroms’: Altered in R to rastar ‘of the maelstrom’ (R*). — [6] harðsveipaðastan ‘most strongly wrapped’: Hap. leg. Altered in R to harðgreipaðastan ‘most strongly gripped, most strongly spanned’ (R*). This is the p. p. of the weak verb sveipa in the meaning ‘wrap, swaddle’, sup., with the first element harð- ‘strong, hard’. — [8] þunghúfuðustu ‘with the heaviest hull’: Lit. ‘the most heavy-hulled’. Hap. leg. and p. p. of an unattested weak verb *húfa ‘equip with a hull’ (derived from húfr ‘hull’), in the sup., with the first element þung- ‘heavy’. — [8] lungi ‘of the craft’: See Note to st. 21/1.

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. Sievers, Eduard. 1893. Altgermanische Metrik. Sammlung kurzer Grammatiken germanischer Dialekte. Ergänzungsreihe 2, ed. Wilhelm Braune. Halle: Niemeyer.
5. Bǫgl 1988 = Magerøy, Hallvard, ed. 1988. Soga om Birkibeinar og Baglar: Boglunga sǫgur. Norsk historisk kjeldeskrift-institutt norrøne tekster 5. Oslo: Solum forlag and Kjeldeskriftfondet.
6. SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
7. E 1916 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1916. Eirspennill: AM 47 fol. Nóregs konunga sǫgur: Magnús góði – Hákon gamli. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske historiske kildeskriftskommission.
8. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
9. Konráð Gíslason. 1895-7. Efterladte skrifter. 2 vols. I: Forelæsninger over oldnordiske skjaldekvad. II: Forelæsninger og videnskablige afhandlinger. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
10. Hl 1941 = Jón Helgason and Anne Holtsmark, eds. 1941. Háttalykill enn forni. BA 1. Copenhagen: Munksgaard.
11. SnE 2007 = Snorri Sturluson. 2007. Edda: Háttatal. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
12. SnE 1879-81 = Möbius, Theodor, ed. 1879-81. Hattatal Snorra Sturlusonar. 2 vols. Halle an de Saale: Verlag der Buchhandlung des Waisenhauses.
13. Internal references
14. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Hákonar saga Hákonarsonar’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=33> (accessed 23 April 2024)
15. (forthcoming), ‘ Snorri Sturluson, Skáldskaparmál’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=112> (accessed 23 April 2024)
16. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Háttatal’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=165> (accessed 23 April 2024)
17. 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.
18. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Lausavísur, Stanzas from Snorra Edda 12’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 524.
19. Kari Ellen Gade 2017, ‘ Rǫgnvaldr jarl and Hallr Þórarinsson, Háttalykill’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1001. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1347> (accessed 23 April 2024)
20. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Rǫgnvaldr jarl and Hallr Þórarinsson, Háttalykill 63’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1071.
21. Klaus Johan Myrvoll (ed.) 2022, ‘Víglundar saga 10 (Víglundr Þorgrímsson, Lausavísur 7)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross, Kari Ellen Gade and Tarrin Wills (eds), Poetry in Sagas of Icelanders. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 5. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1426.