Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Snorri Sturluson, Háttatal 45’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1154.
Lætr undin brot brotna
bragningr fyr sér hringa;
sá tekr fyr men menja
mætt orð of sik fættir.
Armr kná við blik blikna
brimlands viðum randa,
þars hǫnd at lið liðnar
lýslóðar berr glóðir.
Bragningr lætr {undin brot hringa} brotna fyr sér; {sá fættir menja} tekr mætt orð of sik fyr men. Armr {viðum randa} kná blikna við {blik {brimlands}}, þars hǫnd berr {glóðir {lýslóðar}} liðnar at lið.
‘The ruler lets twisted fragments of rings [GOLD] be fragmented before him; that diminisher of necklaces [GENEROUS MAN] gains a worthy reputation for himself on account of the necklaces. The arms of the trees of shields [WARRIORS] gleam against the gleam of the surf-land [SEA > GOLD] where the hand wears embers of the pollack-track [SEA > GOLD], slid onto the wrist. ’
The dróttkvætt variant is stamhendr háttr ‘the stuttering-rhymed form’. In the odd lines, alliteration and internal rhyme (aðalhending) fall on the syllables in metrical positions 4 and 5, creating a stuttering effect. The rhyming words usually involve words with the same etymological root (see also sts 46-8 below).
The heading in Tˣ is 37. For this metrical variant, see Kuhn (1969c, 226-7; 1983, 289) and Gade (1995a, 86, 99, 215, 226, 249 n. 21).
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.
Lætr undin brot brotna
bragningr fyr sér hringa;
sá tekr fyr men menja
mætt orð of sik fættir.
Armr kná við brim blikna
brimlands viðum randa,
þars hǫnd at lið liðnar
lýslóðar berr glóðir.
Lætr undin brot brotna
bragningr fyr sér hringa;
sá tekr fyr men menja
met orð of sik †fetir†.
orm kná við blik blikna
brimlands viðum randa,
þars hǫnd at lið liðnar
lýslóðar berr glóðir.
Lætr undin brot brotna
bragningr fyr sér hringa;
sá tekr fyr men menja
mæt orð of sik †fætir†.
Armr kná við blik blikna
brimlands viðum randa,
þvít hǫnd við lið liðna
lýslóðar berr glóðir.
Lætr undin brot brotna
bragningr fyr sér hringa;
sá tekr fyr men meina
met orð of sik †fetir†.
Armr kná við blik blikna
brimlands viðum randa,
þars hǫnd at lið liðnar
lýslóðar berr glóðir.
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