SnSt Ht 80^III

Lofs flutt fjǫrum
fyr gunnǫrum
— né spurð spǫrum
spjǫll grams — snǫrum.
Hefk hans fǫrum
til hróðrs gǫrum
ypt óvǫrum
fyr auðs bǫrum.

Lofs flutt fyr snǫrum, gunnǫrum fjǫrum; né spǫrum spurð spjǫll grams. Hefk ypt fǫrum hans, gǫrum til hróðrs, fyr {óvǫrum bǫrum auðs}.

Praise is presented before bold, battle-generous men; nor do we [I] withhold stories heard about the ruler. I have extolled his expeditions, performed for glory, before {unwary trees of wealth} [MEN].

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

Readings: [1] fjǫrum: fǫrum W    [4] grams: gram W    [6] til: so W, om. R;    hróðrs: hróðrar W;    gǫrum: so W, ǫrum R

Editions: Skj AII, 73, Skj BII, 83, Skald II, 46; SnE 1848-87, I, 696-9, III, 131, SnE 1879-81, I, 13, 83, II, 30, SnE 1931, 247, SnE 2007, 33; Konráð Gíslason 1895-7, I, 51-2.

Context: The metre is runhent ‘end-rhymed’, and it consists of fornyrðislag lines of Types D2 (ll. 2, 4, 5, 7) and C3 (ll. 1, 3, 6, 8) with end-rhymes that are similar throughout the stanza. Stanzas 80-94 are all examples of runhent, most of which are based on metres that have been used in earlier stanzas of Ht.

Notes: [All]: The rubric in R is lxxiii. — [All]: Cf. the similar rhymes in RvHbreiðm Hl 34/1-4. — [1] fjǫrum ‘men’: This is the dat. pl. of fjǫrvar m. ‘men’ (cf. fyrvar ‘men’). — [4] grams (m. gen. sg.) ‘about the ruler’: Lit. ‘of the ruler’. The W variant, gram ‘ruler’, could be taken as a m. dat. sg. with snǫrum ‘bold’ (l. 4): lof snǫrum gram [e]s flutt fyr gunnǫrum fjǫrum ‘praise to the bold lord is presented before battle-generous men’ (so Konráð Gíslason 1895-7, Skj B and Skald). — [6] til ‘for’: So W. Originally omitted in R and added later (R*), the syllable is required by the metre (see below). — [6] gǫrum (dat. pl.) ‘performed’: So W. In R ‘ꜹrvm’ has been altered to ‘geyrvm’ (R*). The original R reading, ǫrum (dat. pl.) ‘valiant, liberal’ could qualify fǫrum ‘expeditions’ (l. 5) and be construed with hróðrs ‘praise’ (l. 6): ǫrum fǫrum hróðrs ‘expeditions giving rise to a great deal of praise’ (so SnE 1848-87 and SnE 2007, 124: hróðr, 165: ǫrr). That reading does, however, force the omission of the prep. til ‘for’, which is necessary from a metrical point of view (hróðrs ǫrum is hypometrical, and all other lines in this stanza are regular in terms of the number of metrical positions per line).

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. SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
6. Konráð Gíslason. 1895-7. Efterladte skrifter. 2 vols. I: Forelæsninger over oldnordiske skjaldekvad. II: Forelæsninger og videnskablige afhandlinger. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
7. SnE 2007 = Snorri Sturluson. 2007. Edda: Háttatal. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
8. SnE 1879-81 = Möbius, Theodor, ed. 1879-81. Hattatal Snorra Sturlusonar. 2 vols. Halle an de Saale: Verlag der Buchhandlung des Waisenhauses.
9. Internal references
10. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Háttatal’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=165> (accessed 19 April 2024)
11. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Rǫgnvaldr jarl and Hallr Þórarinsson, Háttalykill 34’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1043.