SnSt Ht 60III
Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Snorri Sturluson, Háttatal 60’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1169.
Álm ‘of the elm-bow’
(not checked:)
almr (noun m.; °-s, dat. -i; -ar): bow, elm-bow
kennings
ísa álmdrósar;‘icicles of the elm-bow-woman; ’
= SWORDS
the elm-bow-woman; → VALKYRIE
icicles of the VALKYRIE → SWORDS
Álm ‘of the elm-bow’
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almr (noun m.; °-s, dat. -i; -ar): bow, elm-bow
kennings
ísa álmdrósar;‘icicles of the elm-bow-woman; ’
= SWORDS
the elm-bow-woman; → VALKYRIE
icicles of the VALKYRIE → SWORDS
drósar ‘woman’
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drós (noun f.; °-ar; -ir): lady
kennings
ísa álmdrósar;‘icicles of the elm-bow-woman; ’
= SWORDS
the elm-bow-woman; → VALKYRIE
icicles of the VALKYRIE → SWORDS
drósar ‘woman’
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drós (noun f.; °-ar; -ir): lady
kennings
ísa álmdrósar;‘icicles of the elm-bow-woman; ’
= SWORDS
the elm-bow-woman; → VALKYRIE
icicles of the VALKYRIE → SWORDS
ísa ‘icicles’
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íss (noun m.; °íss; dat. ísi/ís; ísar): ice
kennings
ísa álmdrósar;‘icicles of the elm-bow-woman; ’
= SWORDS
the elm-bow-woman; → VALKYRIE
icicles of the VALKYRIE → SWORDS
ár ‘years’
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2. ár (noun n.; °-s; -): year, year’s abundance
flest ‘Most’
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fleiri (adj. comp.; °superl. flestr): more, most
meginbára ‘a mighty wave’
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meginbára (noun f.): [a mighty wave]
kennings
meginbára sára‘a mighty wave of wounds ’
= BLOOD
a mighty wave of wounds → BLOOD
sára ‘of wounds’
(not checked:)
sárr (adj.; °compar. -ari, superl. -astr): sore, painful; wounded
kennings
meginbára sára‘a mighty wave of wounds ’
= BLOOD
a mighty wave of wounds → BLOOD
kœnn ‘the wise’
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2. kœnn (adj.; °superl. kǿnstr/kǿnastr): wise, skilful
lætr ‘makes’
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láta (verb): let, have sth done
hræs ‘of carrion’
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hræ (noun n.; °; -): corpse, carrion
[3] hræs: so W, ‘hre[…]’ R, hress Tˣ
kennings
hrǫnnum fella hræs.‘waves of the fellers of carrion. ’
= BLOOD
the fellers of carrion. → SWORDS
waves of SWORDS → BLOOD
notes
[3] hræs ‘of carrion’: So W. In R something has been erased after the first three letters (‘hre[…]’) and the word has been altered (R*), but the alteration is difficult to make out (Skj A reads hraustr). Hress ‘healthy, strong, eager’ (Tˣ) makes no sense in the context. In both Skj B and SnE 1931, Finnur Jónsson emended what he considered to be R*’s correction of R’s reading to hvatt ‘quickly’, but that cannot now be corroborated.
hræs ‘of carrion’
(not checked:)
hræ (noun n.; °; -): corpse, carrion
[3] hræs: so W, ‘hre[…]’ R, hress Tˣ
kennings
hrǫnnum fella hræs.‘waves of the fellers of carrion. ’
= BLOOD
the fellers of carrion. → SWORDS
waves of SWORDS → BLOOD
notes
[3] hræs ‘of carrion’: So W. In R something has been erased after the first three letters (‘hre[…]’) and the word has been altered (R*), but the alteration is difficult to make out (Skj A reads hraustr). Hress ‘healthy, strong, eager’ (Tˣ) makes no sense in the context. In both Skj B and SnE 1931, Finnur Jónsson emended what he considered to be R*’s correction of R’s reading to hvatt ‘quickly’, but that cannot now be corroborated.
á ‘in’
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3. á (prep.): on, at
hrǫnnum ‘waves’
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hrǫnn (noun f.; °; dat. -um): wave
kennings
hrǫnnum fella hræs.‘waves of the fellers of carrion. ’
= BLOOD
the fellers of carrion. → SWORDS
waves of SWORDS → BLOOD
hjálm ‘the helmet’s’
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1. hjalmr (noun m.; °-s, dat. -i; -ar): helmet < hjalmsvell (noun n.): [helmet ice-sheet]
kennings
hjálmsvell‘the helmet’s ice-sheet ’
= SWORD
the helmet’s ice-sheet → SWORD
svell ‘ice-sheet’
(not checked:)
svell (noun n.; °; -): ice < hjalmsvell (noun n.): [helmet ice-sheet]
kennings
hjálmsvell‘the helmet’s ice-sheet ’
= SWORD
the helmet’s ice-sheet → SWORD
jǫfurr ‘prince’
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jǫfurr (noun m.): ruler, prince
gella ‘scream’
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1. gella (verb): [scream]
fella ‘of the fellers’
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fellir (noun m.; °-s, dat. -i): slayer, feller
kennings
hrǫnnum fella hræs.‘waves of the fellers of carrion. ’
= BLOOD
the fellers of carrion. → SWORDS
waves of SWORDS → BLOOD
notes
[4] fella (m. gen. pl.) ‘of the fellers’: Following Sveinbjörn Egilsson (SnE 1848-87, III), Möbius (SnE 1879-81) and Konráð Gíslason (1895-7) construe this as an unattested adv. (= ferliga ‘terribly’), and Kock (NN §2184) takes it as a verb, as part of an asyndetic construction gella, fella translated as skrälla, fälla ‘crash, fell’, but the transitive verb fella makes little sense here (we would expect the intransitive falla ‘fall’; see SnE 2007, 64). Fellir m. ‘feller’ is an agent noun from the weak verb fella ‘fell, kill’ and the word is not uncommon as a base-word in kennings (LP: fellir).
fella ‘of the fellers’
(not checked:)
fellir (noun m.; °-s, dat. -i): slayer, feller
kennings
hrǫnnum fella hræs.‘waves of the fellers of carrion. ’
= BLOOD
the fellers of carrion. → SWORDS
waves of SWORDS → BLOOD
notes
[4] fella (m. gen. pl.) ‘of the fellers’: Following Sveinbjörn Egilsson (SnE 1848-87, III), Möbius (SnE 1879-81) and Konráð Gíslason (1895-7) construe this as an unattested adv. (= ferliga ‘terribly’), and Kock (NN §2184) takes it as a verb, as part of an asyndetic construction gella, fella translated as skrälla, fälla ‘crash, fell’, but the transitive verb fella makes little sense here (we would expect the intransitive falla ‘fall’; see SnE 2007, 64). Fellir m. ‘feller’ is an agent noun from the weak verb fella ‘fell, kill’ and the word is not uncommon as a base-word in kennings (LP: fellir).
Styr ‘battle’
(not checked:)
styrr (noun m.; °dat. -): battle < styrjǫkull (noun m.): [battle-glaciers]
kennings
styrjǫkla‘battle-glaciers ’
= SWORDS
battle-glaciers → SWORDS
jǫkla ‘glaciers’
(not checked:)
jǫkull (noun m.; °-s, dat. jǫkli; jǫklar): glacier < styrjǫkull (noun m.): [battle-glaciers]
kennings
styrjǫkla‘battle-glaciers ’
= SWORDS
battle-glaciers → SWORDS
kná ‘’
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knega (verb): to know, understand, be able to
kennings
Stiklir stinnmens‘The dispenser of the stiff necklace ’
= GENEROUS MAN
The dispenser of the stiff necklace → GENEROUS MAN
stinnmens ‘of the stiff necklace’
(not checked:)
stinnmen (noun n.): [stiff necklace]
kennings
Stiklir stinnmens‘The dispenser of the stiff necklace ’
= GENEROUS MAN
The dispenser of the stiff necklace → GENEROUS MAN
notes
[6] stinnmens (m. gen. sg.) ‘of the stiff necklace’: Most earlier eds emend to stinnr (m. nom. sg.) ‘stiff’ and take it as an adj. qualifying stiklir mens ‘dispenser of the necklace’, hence stinnr stiklir mens ‘the unbending/unyielding dispenser of the necklace’. However, stinnr is never used as an adj. to qualify a person, but it can be used in connection with objects of metal (see NN §2184; LP: stinnr). Faulkes (SnE 2007) retains the ms. form stinn, which he construes with fólk (n. acc. pl.) taken in the meaning ‘warriors’, although he does not dismiss the possibility that the adj. could qualify stiklir mens (SnE 2007, 151).
kennings
legi benja;‘to the ocean of wounds; ’
= BLOOD
to the ocean of wounds; → BLOOD
venja ‘accustoms’
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2. venja (verb): accustom, train
benja ‘of wounds’
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1. ben (noun f.; °-jar, dat. -; -jar , gen. -a(var. EiðKrC 402¹³: AM 77 4° D)): wound
kennings
legi benja;‘to the ocean of wounds; ’
= BLOOD
to the ocean of wounds; → BLOOD
lætr ‘makes’
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láta (verb): let, have sth done
stillir ‘the leader’
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stillir (noun m.): ruler
kennings
frør unda‘the frost of wounds ’
= SWORD
the frost of wounds → SWORD
notes
[7] frør (n. acc. sg.) ‘the frost’: Ms. R reads ‘frꜹr’ (with dots above and below the last part of the ligature (R*)), and Tˣ has ‘fro᷎r’. Both of these readings can be normalised as frør ‘frost’ (‘frǫr’ is not an Old Norse word), and a short-stemmed word is required by the metre. For the spelling <ꜹ> for [ø] in R, see SnE 1848-87, III, xvii. All previous eds adopt the R* alteration frár (m. nom. sg.) ‘swift, keen’ as an adj. qualifying stillir ‘leader’ (l. 7). Frár is unmetrical, however, because in a nominal phrase (here: stillir frár) the alliteration cannot fall on the second word if the first does not also alliterate (lætr frár stillir fylla would be the acceptable order). (a) In keeping with the imagery of the previous six lines, the original ms. reading in R (supported by the reading of Tˣ) has been retained here, and frør ‘frost’ is taken as the base-word in a kenning for ‘sword’ (frør unda ‘the frost of wounds’, ll. 7, 8). This is the only attestation of frør used as a base-word in a sword-kenning (though see comparable kennings in st. 61 below), but Snorri must have exhausted most of the conventional base-words denoting ‘sth. cold, shiny’ in the previous lines (íss ‘ice’ (l. 1); svell ‘ice-sheet’ (l. 4); jǫkull ‘glacier’ (l. 5); see Meissner 151-2). The emended form frár ‘swift, keen’ has caused problems for the interpretation of the last couplet (see the discussion in SnE 2007, 65). (b) Skj B reads frár stillir lætr unda sund hjarar lunda fylla folk translated as den raske fyrste lader krigernes blod fylde sværdene ‘the swift lord makes the warriors’ blood fill the swords’ (a similar word order is provided by Sveinbjörn Egilsson in SnE 1847-87, III, and by Konráð Gíslason 1895-7). The meaning fólk ‘sword’ is highly dubious, however, and there is only one possible attestation in Old Norse poetry (Þul Sverða 10/8, see Note there). (c) Kock (NN §2184) suggests folksund ‘mighty ocean’ where the first element acts as an intensifier: frár stillir lætr fylla folksund unda hjarar lunda translated as käcke fursten låter fylla krigarsårens stora hav ‘the swift lord makes the mighty ocean of the warriors’ wounds be filled’. (d) While listing the interpretations of Skj B and Skald, Faulkes (SnE 2007, 65) tentatively suggests (frár stillir) lætr stinn fólk fylla sund unda ‘(the swift ruler) lets unyielding warriors fill a sea of wounds’. According to that interpretation, lunda hjarar ‘of trees of the sword [WARRIORS]’ can go with sund ‘ocean’ or with unda ‘wounds’ or with fólk ‘people, warriors’ (SnE 2007, 131: lundr).
fylla ‘replenish’
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fylla (verb): fill
fólk ‘the battle’
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folk (noun n.): people < folksund (noun n.): [battle-sea]
kennings
fólksund‘the battle-sea ’
= BLOOD
the battle-sea → BLOOD
sund ‘sea’
(not checked:)
sund (noun n.; °-s; -): sound, strait; swimming < folksund (noun n.): [battle-sea]
kennings
fólksund‘the battle-sea ’
= BLOOD
the battle-sea → BLOOD
hjarar ‘of the sword’
(not checked:)
hjǫrr (noun m.): sword
kennings
lunda hjarar.‘of the trees of the sword. ’
= WARRIORS
the trees of the sword. → WARRIORS
lunda ‘of the trees’
(not checked:)
1. lundr (noun m.; °-ar, dat. -i/-; -ar): grove, tree
kennings
lunda hjarar.‘of the trees of the sword. ’
= WARRIORS
the trees of the sword. → WARRIORS
unda ‘of wounds’
(not checked:)
1. und (noun f.; °; -ir): wound
kennings
frør unda‘the frost of wounds ’
= SWORD
the frost of wounds → SWORD
Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses
Most years a mighty wave of wounds [BLOOD] rinses icicles of the elm-bow-woman [VALKYRIE > SWORDS]; the wise prince makes the helmet’s ice-sheet [SWORD] scream in waves of the fellers of carrion [SWORDS > BLOOD]. The dispenser of the stiff necklace [GENEROUS MAN] accustoms battle-glaciers [SWORDS] to the ocean of wounds [BLOOD]; the leader makes the frost of wounds [SWORD] replenish the battle-sea [BLOOD] of the trees of the sword [WARRIORS].
As st. 59 above, but kimblaband ‘bundle-bond’ occurs in all even lines (it meira kimblaband ‘the greater bundle-bond’).
The heading in Tˣ is 52. — [5-8]: The interpretation of the second helmingr is difficult. Throughout the entire stanza Snorri employs an imagery of swords, in which the base-word is something cold (ice, ice-sheet, glacier), and blood, which is depicted as waves or a sea of wounds. The present edn attempts to preserve that imagery and also to avoid emendation.
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