SnSt Ht 79^III

Læsir leyfðr vísi
landa útstrandir
blíðr ok bláskíðum
barða randgarði.
Ern kná jarl þyrna
oddum falbrodda
jǫrð með élsnœrðum
jaðri hrænaðra.

Leyfðr vísi læsir útstrandir landa, blíðr, randgarði ok {bláskíðum barða}. Jarl, ern {falbrodda}, kná þyrna jǫrð með élsnœrðum jaðri oddum {hrænaðra}.

The praised leader encloses the outer shores of the lands, cheerful, with a shield-fence and {dark skis of prows} [SHIPS]. The jarl, vigorous {with socket-points} [SPEARS], spikes the earth along its storm-laced edge with points {of corpse-adders} [SPEARS].

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

Readings: [3] ok: so W, om. R;    ‑skíðum: so W, skíðu R    [4] rand‑: rann‑ R, hrann‑ W    [6] fal‑: so W, val‑ R

Editions: Skj AII, 72-3, Skj BII, 83, Skald II, 45, NN §2186; SnE 1848-87, I, 696-7, III, 131, SnE 1879-81, I, 13, 83, II, 29, SnE 1931, 247, SnE 2007, 33; Konráð Gíslason 1895-7, I, 50-1.

Context: The metre is called Haðarlag ‘Hǫðr’s metre’, and it may have been named after an unknown poet. Each line contains five syllables (a stereotyped pattern of málaháttr D*1 lines), and the placement of rhyme and alliteration corresponds to that of dróttkvætt.

Notes: [All]: The rubric in R is lxxii. — [All]: For the name of this metre, see Vésteinn Ólason (1984, 58). See also RvHbreiðm Hl 53-4. The only extended poem to employ this metre consistently is Sturl Hrafn^II, and st. 2/5-8 of that poem shows that Sturla, Snorri’s nephew, was well familiar with the present stanza. — [1] læsir ‘encloses’: Lit. ‘locks’. — [2]: Repeated as Sturl Hrafn 2/6^II. — [3] ok bláskíðum ‘and dark skis’: So W. The metre requires an additional syllable, and ‘blaskiþv’ in R has been altered to ‘\vm/ blaskiþa’ or ‘\vm/ blaskoþa’ (R*; the second vowel of the cpd is unclear). The corrections could have been made to achieve a metrical line with five syllables and skothending rather than aðalhending. — [4] randgarði ‘with a shield-fence’: The R and W readings, ranngarði ‘with a house-fence’ and hranngarði ‘with a wave-fence’ respectively, make no sense in the context. The word is also used in a similar context in Sturl Hrafn 2/8^II. — [6] falbrodda (m. gen. pl.) ‘with socket-points [SPEARS]’: Lit. ‘of socket-points’. So W, and altered from valbrodda ‘of slaughter-points’ to falbrodda in R (R*). This gen. is taken here with the adj. ern ‘eager’ (so also Konráð Gíslason 1895-7 and Skj B). Kock (NN §2186) construes both falbrodda ‘socket points’ and hrænaðra (m. gen. pl.) ‘corpse-adders’ (l. 8) with oddum ‘points’ (l. 6) as two asyndetic parallel constructions (‘with points of the socket-points, with points of the corpse-adder’). Faulkes (SnE 2007) keeps the original R reading valbrodda ‘slaughter-points’ i.e. ‘spears’, which he connects with ern while leaving Kock’s suggestion as a viable option (SnE 2007, 157: valbroddr). — [7] élsnœrðum ‘storm-laced’: In R the second element of the cpd is spelled ‘snorþvm’, but <o> appears to have been altered to <ǫ> (R*). The alteration is very faint, however.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
3. 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.
4. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
6. SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
7. Konráð Gíslason. 1895-7. Efterladte skrifter. 2 vols. I: Forelæsninger over oldnordiske skjaldekvad. II: Forelæsninger og videnskablige afhandlinger. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
8. SnE 2007 = Snorri Sturluson. 2007. Edda: Háttatal. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
9. Vésteinn Ólason. 1984. ‘Sýnt í tvo heima’. In [n. a.]. 1984. Pétursskip búið Peter Foote sextugum, 26. maí 1984. Reykjavík: [n. p.], 58-60.
10. SnE 1879-81 = Möbius, Theodor, ed. 1879-81. Hattatal Snorra Sturlusonar. 2 vols. Halle an de Saale: Verlag der Buchhandlung des Waisenhauses.
11. Internal references
12. Kari Ellen Gade 2009, ‘ Sturla Þórðarson, Hrafnsmál’ 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. 727-45. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1397> (accessed 27 April 2024)
13. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Rǫgnvaldr jarl and Hallr Þórarinsson, Háttalykill 53’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1060.
14. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Sturla Þórðarson, Hrafnsmál 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. 728-9.