Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Snorri Sturluson, Háttatal 74’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1185.
Hafrǫst hristir
hlunnvigg tiggja;
borðgrund bendir
brimdýrs stýri.
Blá veit brjóta
byrskíð víði
bǫðharðr bǫrðum
buðlungr þungan.
Hafrǫst hristir {hlunnvigg} tiggja; {borðgrund} bendir stýri {brimdýrs}. Bǫðharðr buðlungr veit {blá byrskíð} brjóta þungan víði bǫrðum.
The sea-current shakes {the roller-steed} [SHIP] of the ruler; {the ship-board-ground} [SEA] bends the rudder {of the surf-animal} [SHIP]. The battle-hard lord knows that {the dark breeze-skis} [SHIPS] break the heavy sea with their prows.
Mss: R(51v), W(149) (SnE)
Readings: [1] Haf‑: Há W [7] ‑harðr: so W, ‘hiarðr’ R; bǫrðum: so W, hǫrðum R
Editions: Skj AII, 71, Skj BII, 81, Skald II, 45; SnE 1848-87, I, 690-1, III, 130, SnE 1879-81, I, 12, 82, II, 28, SnE 1931, 245, SnE 2007, 31; Konráð Gíslason 1895-7, I, 47.
Context: The metre is stúfhent ‘stump-rhymed’. Each line consists of four syllables (four metrical positions as in fornyrðislag), with the internal rhymes (skothending in odd lines and aðalhending in even lines) on adjacent syllables (the syllable with secondary stress in position 2 and the fully stressed syllable in position 3, the first syllable of the cadence). All lines are Type A2l. The term stúfhent must refer to the monosyllabic rhyming syllables in position 2. The odd lines have two alliterative staves (in positions 1 and 3), and in the even lines the hǫfuðstafr ‘main stave’ falls on the first lift (in metrical position 1).
Notes: [All]: The rubric in R is lxvii. — [All]: This metre is not attested elsewhere in skaldic poetry. — [2] tiggja ‘of the ruler’: See Note to st. 52/4. — [7] bǫrðum ‘with their prows’: So W. The <b> in bǫrðum is ensured by the metre, and ‘havrþvm’ in R has been altered to ‘bavrþvm’ (R*).
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