SnSt Ht 78^III

Hrǫnn skerr (hvatt ferr)
húfr kaldr (allvaldr);
lá brýtr (lǫg skýtr)
lim-Garmr (rangbarmr).
Brátt skekr (byrr rekr)
blán vegg (ráskegg);
jarl lætr almætr
ósvipt húnskript.

Kaldr húfr skerr hrǫnn; allvaldr ferr hvatt; {lim-Garmr} brýtr lá; rangbarmr skýtr lǫg. Skekr blán vegg brátt; byrr rekr {ráskegg}; almætr jarl lætr {húnskript} ósvipt.

The cold hull cuts the wave; the mighty ruler travels fast; {the branch-Garmr <dog>} [STORM] breaks the surf; the curved side of the ship thrusts aside the sea. The dark sail suddenly shakes; the breeze unfolds {the sailyard-beard} [SAIL]; the thoroughly glorious jarl leaves {the decorated cloth of the mast-top} [SAIL] unreefed.

Mss: R(52r), W(150) (SnE)

Readings: [6] blán: blá‑ W

Editions: Skj AII, 72, Skj BII, 82, Skald II, 45; SnE 1848-87, I, 694-7, III, 130-1, SnE 1879-81, I, 13, 83, II, 29, SnE 1931, 247, SnE 2007, 32-3; Konráð Gíslason 1895-7, I, 49-50.

Context: The name of the metre is alhnept ‘completely curtailed’. All lines are tetrasyllabic and have internal rhymes (aðalhendingar) on secondarily stressed syllables in positions 2 and 4. The internal rhymes are monosyllabic (hnept, see st. 77 above) and comprise the entire rhyming syllable (SnE 2007, 33: <ok lúkask> báðar í einn staf ‘and both [syllables] end with the same letter’). In the odd lines alliteration falls in positions 1 and 3. All lines are Type A2ab.

Notes: [All]: For this metre, see also RvHbreiðm Hl 49-50, 69-70 and 77-8. It is also attested in Ótt Óldr 1/4, 2/2, 5/2, 4 and 6/4. — [4] lim-Garmr ‘the branch-Garmr <dog> [STORM]’: Garmr was the dog whose barking presaged the end of the world in Old Norse myth (see Vsp 44/1, 49/1, 58/1). The sense of this kenning is ‘destroyer of branches’, i.e. ‘storm’, though kennings of this type usually refer to ‘fire’ (e.g. ESk Run 7/8^II). — [4] rangbarmr ‘the curved side of the ship’: Lit. ‘the frame-rim’. — [5] skekr ‘shakes’: Used impersonally with blán vegg ‘the dark sail’ (l. 6) as the acc. object. — [8] húnskript ‘the decorated cloth of the mast-top [SAIL]’: A sail decorated with pictures (see Sturl Hákkv 11/5^II and Note to ÞjóðA Magnfl 2/8^II).

References

1. Bibliography
2. SnE 1848-87 = Snorri Sturluson. 1848-87. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar: Edda Snorronis Sturlaei. Ed. Jón Sigurðsson et al. 3 vols. Copenhagen: Legatum Arnamagnaeanum. Rpt. Osnabrück: Zeller, 1966.
3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
5. Konráð Gíslason. 1895-7. Efterladte skrifter. 2 vols. I: Forelæsninger over oldnordiske skjaldekvad. II: Forelæsninger og videnskablige afhandlinger. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
6. SnE 2007 = Snorri Sturluson. 2007. Edda: Háttatal. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
7. SnE 1879-81 = Möbius, Theodor, ed. 1879-81. Hattatal Snorra Sturlusonar. 2 vols. Halle an de Saale: Verlag der Buchhandlung des Waisenhauses.
8. Internal references
9. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Einarr Skúlason, Runhenda 7’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 556.
10. Not published: do not cite ()
11. Matthew Townend (ed.) 2017, ‘Óttarr svarti, Óláfsdrápa sœnska 1’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 336.
12. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Rǫgnvaldr jarl and Hallr Þórarinsson, Háttalykill 49’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1057.
13. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Sturla Þórðarson, Hákonarkviða 11’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 708.
14. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Þjóðólfr Arnórsson, Magnússflokkr 2’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 65-6.