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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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SnSt Ht 44III

Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Snorri Sturluson, Háttatal 44’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1153.

Snorri SturlusonHáttatal
434445

text and translation

Frama skotnar gram; gotnum
— gjǫf sannask — rǫf spannar
(menstiklir) vensk mikla;
(manndýrðir vann skýrðar).
Herfjǫlð (bera hǫlðar)
hagbáls lagar stála
friðask sjaldan við valdi
(vallands svala branda).

Skotnar gram frama; gjǫf sannask; {rǫf spannar} vensk mikla gotnum; {menstiklir} vann skýrðar manndýrðir. {Valdi stála} friðask sjaldan við herfjǫlð {hagbáls lagar}; hǫlðar bera {svala branda {vallands}}.
 
‘The lord is allotted honour; the gift is made good; the amber of the grip [GOLD] accustoms itself greatly to men; the necklace-distributor [GENEROUS MAN] caused manly virtues to be displayed. The ruler of swords [WARRIOR] seldom makes peace with the great quantity of the elaborate pyre of the ocean [GOLD]; freeholders wear cool fires of the falcon-land [ARM > GOLD].

notes and context

As st. 43 above, except that there are two pairs of aðalhendingar in the odd lines. The variant is called alhent ‘completely rhymed’.

This rhyme scheme is very rare, but attested in Klœ Lv, which Snorri uses to illustrate alhent (given in Ht after the present stanza; see also Refr Giz 3). According to Sturlunga saga (Stu 1878, I, 244), Snorri also composed his two earlier praise poems to Skúli in this metre, and ll. 2-3 of the stef of one of these poems (SnSt SkúldrIV), transmitted in Stu, are in alhent. — The heading in is 36.

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 44: AII, 64, BII, 73, Skald II, 41, NN §3146; SnE 1848-87, I, 656-7, II, 391, III, 122, SnE 1879-81, I, 8, 79, II, 18, SnE 1931, 234, SnE 2007, 21; Konráð Gíslason 1895-7, I, 27.

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