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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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SnSt Ht 6III

Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Snorri Sturluson, Háttatal 6’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1110.

Snorri SturlusonHáttatal
567

text and translation

Sviðr lætr sóknar naðra
slíðrbraut jǫfurr skríða;
ótt ferr rógs ór réttum
ramsnákr fetilhamsi.
Linnr kná sverða sennu
sveita bekks at leita;
ormr þyrr vals at varmri
víg-Gjǫll sefa stígu.

Sviðr jǫfurr lætr {naðra sóknar} skríða {slíðrbraut}; {ramsnákr rógs} ferr ótt ór {réttum fetilhamsi}. {Linnr {sennu sverða}} kná at leita bekks sveita; {ormr vals} þyrr {stígu sefa} at {varmri víg-Gjǫll}.
 
‘The wise prince makes adders of battle [SWORDS] slide along the scabbard-road [SHEATH]; the strong snake of strife [SWORD] goes briskly out of the straight baldric-slough [SHEATH]. The serpent of the flyting of swords [BATTLE > SWORD] seeks the brook of blood; the reptile of corpses [SWORD] rushes along paths of the mind [CHESTS] to the warm battle-Gjǫll <river> [BLOOD].

notes and context

The stanza is given as an example of nýgjǫrvingar, that is, extended metaphors (see SnE 2007, 49, 136).

The headings read as follows: ‘nygiøʀningaʀ uj.’ ‘extended metaphors, six’ () and nygervingar (U(47r)) (no longer legible in R). — The extended metaphors are contained in the snake-imagery here, by which a sword is likened to a serpent sliding out of the scabbard seeking water (blood). In Skm, the term nýgjǫrvingar ‘new creations’ is used in a slightly different sense (see SnE 2007, 49 and Marold 1993b). All of the terms for ‘reptile’ that are used as base-words in the sword-kennings in this stanza also occur as base-words of sword-kennings in RvHbreiðm Hl 32.

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 6: AII, 53-4, BII, 62, Skald II, 36; SnE 1848-87, I, 606-7, II, 370, 376, III, 112, SnE 1879-81, I, 1, 74, II, 4, SnE 1931, 217, SnE 2007, 6-7; Konráð Gíslason 1895-7, I, 5-6.

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