SnSt Ht 9^III

Vex iðn; vellir roðna;
verpr lind; þrimu snerpir;
fæsk gagn; fylkir eignask;
falr hitnar; sezk vitnir.
Skekr rǫnd; skildir bendask;
skelfr askr; griðum raskar;
brandr gellr; brynjur sundrask;
braka spjǫr; litask ǫrvar.

Iðn vex; vellir roðna; verpr lind; snerpir þrimu; gagn fæsk; fylkir eignask; falr hitnar; vitnir sezk. Skekr rǫnd; skildir bendask; askr skelfr; raskar griðum; brandr gellr; brynjur sundrask; spjǫr braka; ǫrvar litask.

Toil increases; fields are reddened; a linden-spear is thrown; battle becomes fierce; victory is gained; the ruler obtains [it]; a spear-socket grows hot; the wolf is sated. A shield-rim is shaken; shields are bent; an ash-spear trembles; truces are broken; a blade resounds; byrnies are sundered; spears crash; arrows are coloured.

Mss: R(46r), Tˣ(48v), W(140), U(47r) (l. 1), U(49v) (SnE)

Readings: [1] Vex: Vóx U(47r);    roðna: ‘[…]na’ with ‘rod’ added in the margin in a later hand W, ‘roþnan’ U(47r)    [3] fæsk: felsk U    [4] vitnir: vitni U    [5] Skekr: so all others, skefr R    [8] spjǫr: spjót U

Editions: Skj AII, 54-5, Skj BII, 63, Skald II, 36; SnE 1848-87, I, 614-15, II, 370, 378, SnE 1879-81, I, 2, 75, II, 7, SnE 1931, 220, SnE 2007, 9; Konráð Gíslason 1895-7, I, 7.

Context: The stanza illustrates a variant of dróttkvætt produced by the regular repetition of a specific sentence pattern: each line consists of two syntactically independent clauses (sextánmælt ‘sixteen-times spoken’).

Notes: [All]: This is the first stanza in Ht to exemplify variants of dróttkvætt in which verse-forms are differentiated by various arrangements of words. — [All]: The headings are xvimæltr ‘sixteen-times spoken’ (R), ij. háttr ‘the second verse-form’ (Tˣ) and sextánmælt (U(47r)). See also RvHbreiðm Hl 41-2. The metre is unusual in that each odd line is Sievers’s Type A2l, with a heavy syllable in position 2 carrying internal rhyme (except l. 7; see Sievers 1893, 106). In that respect it resembles in forna skálfhenda ‘the ancient tremble-rhymed’ (st. 35). This dróttkvætt variant is attested elsewhere in the corpus of skaldic poetry, but it is never used systematically as in Ht and Hl (cf. also SnE 2007, 77-8). — [2, 6] verpr; raskar ‘is thrown; are broken’: Both of these verbs occur in impersonal constructions, with lind ‘linden-spear’ (l. 2) and griðum ‘truces’ (l. 6), respectively, as dat. objects. — [2] lind ‘a linden-spear’: Lindr could either mean ‘linden-spear’ or ‘linden-shield’ (see st. 10/3 below), but the context shows that it denotes a spear here. — [2] snerpir ‘becomes fierce’: Used impersonally with þrímu ‘battle’ as the acc. object. — [5] skekr ‘is shaken’: Used impersonally with rǫnd ‘shield-rim’ as the acc. object. The R variant skefr (3rd pers. sg. pres. indic. of skafa ‘shave’ (?)) has been altered to ‘skekr’ (R*). — [6] askr ‘an ash-spear’: Spear-shafts were usually made from ash (see Falk 1914b, 85). Konráð Gíslason (1895-7) suggests that this means ‘sword’ (ensis), but there is no evidence for that sense. See also st. 57/3.

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. Sievers, Eduard. 1893. Altgermanische Metrik. Sammlung kurzer Grammatiken germanischer Dialekte. Ergänzungsreihe 2, ed. Wilhelm Braune. Halle: Niemeyer.
5. Falk, Hjalmar. 1914b. Altnordische Waffenkunde. Videnskapsselskapets skrifter, II. Hist.-filos. kl. 1914, 6. Kristiania (Oslo): Dybwad.
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. SnE 1879-81 = Möbius, Theodor, ed. 1879-81. Hattatal Snorra Sturlusonar. 2 vols. Halle an de Saale: Verlag der Buchhandlung des Waisenhauses.
10. Internal references
11. (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 27 April 2024)
12. Kari Ellen Gade 2017, ‘ Rǫgnvaldr jarl and Hallr Þórarinsson, Háttalykill’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1001. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1347> (accessed 27 April 2024)
13. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Rǫgnvaldr jarl and Hallr Þórarinsson, Háttalykill 41’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1049.