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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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SnSt Ht 43III

Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Snorri Sturluson, Háttatal 43’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1152.

Snorri SturlusonHáttatal
424344

text and translation

Samþykkjar fremr søkkum
snar-Baldr hjarar aldir;
gunnhættir kann Grotta
glaðdript hraða skipta.
Féstríðir kná Fróða
friðbygg liði tryggva;
fjǫlvinjat hylr Fenju
falr meldr alinveldi.

{Snar-Baldr hjarar} fremr aldir søkkum samþykkjar; {gunnhættir} kann skipta {glaðdript Grotta} hraða. {Féstríðir} kná tryggva liði {friðbygg Fróða}; {falr meldr Fenju} hylr {fjǫlvinjat alinveldi}.
 
‘The bold Baldr <god> of the sword [WARRIOR] promotes people with treasures of accord; the battle-darer [WARRIOR] distributes the cheerful snowdrift of Grotti <hand-mill> [GOLD] quickly. The money-fighter [GENEROUS MAN] secures the peace-barley of Fróði <legendary king> [GOLD] for the troop; the marketable flour of Fenja <giantess> [GOLD] covers the many-meadowed elbow-realm [HAND].

notes and context

The dróttkvætt variant is called in minni alhenda ‘the lesser completely-rhymed’. Each line contains two pairs of hendingar (skothending in the odd lines and aðalhending in the even lines).

Occasional double rhymes are also attested elsewhere in dróttkvætt poetry. See the examples given in SnE 2007, 82. — The heading in is minni aðalhenda. 35. ‘the lesser full rhyme. 35’, and that term also occurs in the prose that precedes the stanza in R. — In W, sts 43 and 44 are given in the reverse order. — The legendary frame of reference for the gold-kennings in this stanza is Grottasǫngr, the tale of the Danish king Fróði Friðleifsson’s two servant women, the giantesses Fenja and Menja, who grind gold on the hand-mill Grotti (Grott, SnE 1998, I, 51-8). See also ESk Øxfl 3, 6, Note to Anon Bjark 4/3 and Note to ll. 5-6 below.

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 43: AII, 64, BII, 73, Skald II, 41, NN §§1315, 2179; SnE 1848-87, I, 654-5, II, 391, III, 119, SnE 1879-81, I, 8, 79, II, 18, SnE 1931, 235, SnE 2007, 21; Konráð Gíslason 1895-7, I, 26.

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