Cookies on our website

We use cookies on this website, mainly to provide a secure browsing experience but also to collect statistics on how the website is used. You can find out more about the cookies we set, the information we store and how we use it on the cookies page.

Continue

skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

Menu Search

SnSt Ht 52III

Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Snorri Sturluson, Háttatal 52’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1161.

Snorri SturlusonHáttatal
515253

text and translation

Sær skjǫldungs niðr skúrum;
skǫpt darraðar lyptask;
hrindr gunnfana grundar
glygg of frœknum tiggja.
Geisa vé fyr vísa;
veðr stǫng at hlym Gungnis;
styrk eru mót und merkjum
málms of ítran hilmi.

{Niðr skjǫldungs} sær skúrum; skǫpt darraðar lyptask; glygg hrindr gunnfana of {frœknum tiggja grundar}. Vé geisa fyr vísa; stǫng veðr at {hlym Gungnis}; {mót málms} eru styrk und merkjum of ítran hilmi.
 
‘The sovereign’s kinsman [= Skúli] sows showers [of missiles]; the shafts of the standard are lifted; the strong wind presses against the battle-banner above the bold lord of the land [RULER]. Pennants rush before the prince; the standard-pole advances towards the crash of Gungnir <spear> [BATTLE]; meetings of metal [BATTLES] are mighty beneath the banners around the glorious leader.

notes and context

The dróttkvætt variant is skothendr háttr ‘the half-rhymed form’, and it is characterised by skothending rather than aðalhending in the even lines.

Ms. R is partly damaged, and is the main ms. The heading in is Nú er skothendr háttr. 44 ‘Now comes the half-rhymed form. 44’. The variant is quite common in informal poetry.

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 52: AII, 66, BII, 75, Skald II, 42, NN §§1205C, 1316, 2181; SnE 1848-87, I, 664-5, II, 394, III, 124, SnE 1879-81, I, 9, 80, II, 21, SnE 1931, 237, SnE 2007, 24; Konráð Gíslason 1895-7, I, 31.

Close

Log in

This service is only available to members of the relevant projects, and to purchasers of the skaldic volumes published by Brepols.
This service uses cookies. By logging in you agree to the use of cookies on your browser.

Close

Stanza/chapter/text segment

Use the buttons at the top of the page to navigate between stanzas in a poem.

Information tab

Interactive tab

The text and translation are given here, with buttons to toggle whether the text is shown in the verse order or prose word order. Clicking on indiviudal words gives dictionary links, variant readings, kennings and notes, where relevant.

Full text tab

This is the text of the edition in a similar format to how the edition appears in the printed volumes.

Chapter/text segment

This view is also used for chapters and other text segments. Not all the headings shown are relevant to such sections.