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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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SnSt Ht 4III

Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Snorri Sturluson, Háttatal 4’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1108.

Snorri SturlusonHáttatal
345

text and translation

Stinn sár þróask stórum;
sterk egg frǫmum seggjum
hvast skerr hlífar traustar;
hár gramr lifir framla.
Hrein sverð litar harða
hverr drengr; gǫfugr þengill
— ítr rǫnd furask undrum —
unir bjartr snǫru hjarta.

Stinn sár þróask stórum; sterk egg skerr hvast traustar hlífar frǫmum seggjum; hár gramr lifir framla. Hverr drengr litar harða hrein sverð; ítr rǫnd furask undrum; gǫfugr þengill unir bjartr snǫru hjarta.
 
‘Severe wounds increase greatly; the strong edge sharply cuts firm shields for outstanding men; the sublime lord lives splendidly. Each warrior powerfully colours polished swords; the precious shield-rim is wonderfully furrowed; the glorious ruler enjoys, cheerful, a bold heart.

notes and context

The stanza illustrates sannkent, that is, the use of ‘affirmatory or intensive attributives or adverbs’ (see SnE 2007, 143: sannkenna).

The headings are given as follows: iiij. sannkenningar ‘four, true descriptions’ (), sannkent ‘true description’ (U(47r)). — As Faulkes points out (SnE 2007, 143: sannkenning), the word kenning is not used to refer to metaphor here, but rather ‘in the formal sense of the use of a description or compound containing two elements, whether metaphorical or not’. — The intensifying adjectives and adverbs are stinn ‘severe’, stórum ‘greatly’ (l. 1), sterk ‘strong’, frǫmum ‘outstanding’ (l. 2), hvast ‘sharply’, traustar ‘firm’ (l. 3), hár ‘sublime’, framla ‘splendidly’ (l. 4), hrein ‘polished’, harða ‘powerfully’ (l. 5), hverr ‘each’, gǫfugr ‘glorious’ (l. 6), ítr ‘precious’, undrum ‘wonderfully’ (l. 7), bjartr ‘cheerful’ and snǫru ‘bold’ (l. 8).

readings

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.

editions and texts

Skj: Snorri Sturluson, 2. Háttatal 4: AII, 53, BII, 61-2, Skald II, 36, NN §2174; SnE 1848-87, I, 602-3, II, 369, 375, III, 112, SnE 1879-81, I, 1, 74, II, 3, SnE 1931, 216, SnE 2007, 6; Konráð Gíslason 1895-7, I, 4.

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