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Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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SnSt Ht 75^III

Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Snorri Sturluson, Háttatal 75’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1186.

Snorri Sturluson Háttatal

Hrinda ‘thrust against’

(not checked:)
1. hrinda (verb): launch, propell

lætr ‘makes’

(not checked:)
láta (verb): let, have sth done

hnig ‘the bucking’

(not checked:)
hníga (verb): sink, fall < hniggrund (noun f.): [bucking-ground]

kennings

hniggrund hafbekks
‘the bucking-ground of the sea-bench ’
= SEA
the sea-bench → SHIP
the bucking-ground of the SHIP → SEA

grund ‘ground’

(not checked:)
grund (noun f.): earth, land < hniggrund (noun f.): [bucking-ground]

kennings

hniggrund hafbekks
‘the bucking-ground of the sea-bench ’
= SEA
the sea-bench → SHIP
the bucking-ground of the SHIP → SEA

haf ‘of the sea’

(not checked:)
haf (noun n.; °-s; *-): sea < hafbekkr (noun m.): [sea-bench]

kennings

hniggrund hafbekks
‘the bucking-ground of the sea-bench ’
= SEA
the sea-bench → SHIP
the bucking-ground of the SHIP → SEA

haf ‘of the sea’

(not checked:)
haf (noun n.; °-s; *-): sea < hafbekkr (noun m.): [sea-bench]

kennings

hniggrund hafbekks
‘the bucking-ground of the sea-bench ’
= SEA
the sea-bench → SHIP
the bucking-ground of the SHIP → SEA

bekks ‘bench’

(not checked:)
1. bekkr (noun m.; °-jar/-s, dat. -/-i; -ir): bench < hafbekkr (noun m.): [sea-bench]

kennings

hniggrund hafbekks
‘the bucking-ground of the sea-bench ’
= SEA
the sea-bench → SHIP
the bucking-ground of the SHIP → SEA

bekks ‘bench’

(not checked:)
1. bekkr (noun m.; °-jar/-s, dat. -/-i; -ir): bench < hafbekkr (noun m.): [sea-bench]

kennings

hniggrund hafbekks
‘the bucking-ground of the sea-bench ’
= SEA
the sea-bench → SHIP
the bucking-ground of the SHIP → SEA

snekkjur ‘warships’

(not checked:)
snekkja (noun f.; °-u; -ur): warship

notes

[2] snekkjur (f. acc. pl.) ‘warships’: Altered in R (R*) to snekkjum f. dat. pl., apparently because the scribe mistook hniggrund hafbekks ‘the bucking-ground of the sea-bench [SHIP > SEA]’ (ll. 1-2) for the subject of lætr hrinda ‘makes thrust against’ (l. 1) (hrinda ‘thrust, push, shove’ takes the dat.).

þás ‘when’

(not checked:)
þás (conj.): when

falla ‘are opportune’

(not checked:)
falla (verb): fall

flein ‘spear’

(not checked:)
fleinn (noun m.; °dat. fleini): spear < fleinþollr (noun m.): spear-fir

kennings

Frár fleinþollr
‘The swift spear-fir ’
= WARRIOR
The swift spear-fir → WARRIOR

þollr ‘fir’

(not checked:)
þollr (noun m.): fir-tree < fleinþollr (noun m.): spear-fir

kennings

Frár fleinþollr
‘The swift spear-fir ’
= WARRIOR
The swift spear-fir → WARRIOR

frár ‘The swift’

(not checked:)
frár (adj.; °compar. -ri, superl. -vastr/-str): agile, quick

[4] frár: fjǫr W

kennings

Frár fleinþollr
‘The swift spear-fir ’
= WARRIOR
The swift spear-fir → WARRIOR

mál ‘times’

(not checked:)
1. mál (noun n.; °-s; -): speech, matter

stálum ‘with prows’

(not checked:)
1. stál (noun n.; °-s; -): steel, weapon, prow

Hlummi ‘oar-handles’

(not checked:)
hlummr (noun m.; °; -ar): oar-handle

[5] Hlummi: hlumi R, W

notes

[5] hlummi (m. acc. pl.) ‘oar-handles’: This noun has the side-form hlumi (nom. hlumr), and the long form has been chosen because a long first syllable is required by the metre (a short syllable would result in resolution in position 1 and a hypometrical line). See also NN §3147.

lítr ‘sees’

(not checked:)
líta (verb): look, see; appear

[5] lítr: lætr W

her ‘The battle’

(not checked:)
herr (noun m.; °-s/-jar, dat. -; -jar, gen. -ja/herra): army, host < hergramr (noun m.)

kennings

Hergramr rógálfr
‘The battle-grim strife-elf ’
= WARRIOR
The battle-grim strife-elf → WARRIOR

gramr ‘grim’

(not checked:)
2. gramr (adj.): angry < hergramr (noun m.)

[5] ‑gramr: so W, fram R

kennings

Hergramr rógálfr
‘The battle-grim strife-elf ’
= WARRIOR
The battle-grim strife-elf → WARRIOR

hirðmenn ‘retainers’

(not checked:)
hirðmaðr (noun m.): retainer

spenna ‘grasp’

(not checked:)
2. spenna (verb): span, surround

[6] spenna: om. and kenna added in the right margin in a later hand W

en ‘and’

(not checked:)
2. en (conj.): but, and

rœði ‘oars’

(not checked:)
2. rœði (noun n.; °; -): oar

raun ‘very’

(not checked:)
raun (noun f.; °-ar; -ir): ordeal, proof, experience < raungóðr (adj.)

[7] raun‑: so W, rauð R

notes

[7] raungóð ‘very good’: Raun- is taken as an intensifying prefix here (see Konráð Gíslason 1895-7 and Note to Þsvart Lv l. 6^II).

góð ‘good’

(not checked:)
góðr (adj.): good < raungóðr (adj.)

notes

[7] raungóð ‘very good’: Raun- is taken as an intensifying prefix here (see Konráð Gíslason 1895-7 and Note to Þsvart Lv l. 6^II).

róg ‘strife’

(not checked:)
róg (noun n.; °-s): strife, slander < rógalfr (noun m.)

kennings

Hergramr rógálfr
‘The battle-grim strife-elf ’
= WARRIOR
The battle-grim strife-elf → WARRIOR

álfr ‘elf’

(not checked:)
alfr (noun m.; °; -ar): elf < rógalfr (noun m.)

[8] ‑álfr: álfs W

kennings

Hergramr rógálfr
‘The battle-grim strife-elf ’
= WARRIOR
The battle-grim strife-elf → WARRIOR

skjálfa ‘tremble’

(not checked:)
1. skjalfa (verb): shake - intrans.

Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses

The metre is náhent ‘close-rhymed’. The even lines are structured similarly to the even lines in stúfhent ‘stump-rhymed’ (st. 74), and the odd lines are catalectic variants of málaháttr with internal rhyme (skothending, the second of which falls in line-final position) and two alliterating staves.

The rubric in R is lxviii. — For this metre, see also RvHbreiðm Hl 29-30. It is not attested elsewhere. As far as the odd lines are concerned, ll. 1 and 5 are structured as hálfhnept ‘half-curtailed’ even lines (see st. 77). For metrically similar (non-catalectic) lines in málaháttr, see, e.g. Þhorn Harkv 6/1^I Úti vill jól drekka lit. ‘Out at sea wants Yuletide to toast’ (= ll. 1, 5) and Am 64/3 (NK 257) at árna ánauðgom lit. ‘to plea for the oppressed one’ (= ll. 3, 7). — [4]: This tripartite line is awkward. The vowel in frár ‘swift’ is difficult to read in R (Finnur Jónsson (Skj A) reads ‘fror’), and the W variant fjǫr ‘life’ cannot be construed to make any sense in the context. Kock (NN §2185) emends to fœr ‘passable’ which he takes with mál (n. nom. pl.) ‘times’. As Faulkes (SnE 2007, 69) points out, fœr as an adj. qualifying mál makes little sense. The other even lines contain a disyllabic cpd in positions 1-2, and a noun farmál ‘opportune time to travel’ would be possible, but is not warranted by the ms. witnesses.

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