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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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SnSt Lv 6III

Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Snorri Sturluson, Lausavísur 6’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 372.

Snorri SturlusonLausavísur
567

introduction

This dróttkvætt lausavísa (SnSt Lv 6), edited by Margaret Clunies Ross, is attributed to a Snorri, who is assumed by all editors to be Snorri Sturluson. It is recorded only in W’s text of FoGT, and it was also copied from W by Árni Magnússon in 761bˣ(351r, ll. 2-9).

text and translation

Eyjólfi ber, elfar
úlfseðjandi, kveðju
heim, þás hánum sómi
heyra bezt með eyrum,
þvít skilmildra skalda
skǫrungmann lofak ǫrvan;
hann lifi sælstr und sólu
sannauðigra manna.

{{Elfar úlf}seðjandi}, ber Eyjólfi heim kveðju, þás sómi hánum bezt heyra með eyrum, þvít lofak ǫrvan skǫrungmann skilmildra skalda; lifi hann sælstr sannauðigra manna und sólu.
 
‘Feeder of the wolf of the river [(lit. ‘wolf-feeder of the river’) SHIP > SEAFARER], carry home my greeting to Eyjólfr, which it befits him best to hear with his own ears, since I praise the energetic champion among poets, generous with knowledge; may he live the happiest of truly rich men under the sun.

notes and context

In FoGT this stanza, the eighteenth in the treatise, illustrates the figure of apostropha, defined by the author as sv figvra, ef maðr talar til fraveranda mannz sva sem við hia veranda mann ‘that figure by which one addresses an absent person as if [addressing] someone present’ (FoGT 1884, 126). Its original context is unknown. It may have been an extempore direction to a merchant or ship’s captain, about to put to sea from Norway to Iceland, to carry the speaker’s greetings to a certain Eyjólfr. Snorri Sturluson was in Norway from 1218-20 and again from 1237-9, so this stanza could have been composed at some time during one of those periods.

The stanza does not really illustrate the figure of apostropha, as defined in FoGT; rather, it addresses someone present, a sailor or merchant, and asks him to bring Snorri’s greeting to the absent person, Eyjólfr. — [5-8]: FoGT’s remark that Eyjólfr was an exceptionally good poet and a good farmer though not a wealthy one (see Note to l. 1 above) is probably a comment on these lines. If so, the adj. sannauðigr ‘truly rich’ (l. 8) must refer to Eyjólfr’s outstanding skill as a poet and his generosity with knowledge rather than his economic wealth.

sources

Text is based on reconstruction from the base text and variant apparatus and may contain alternative spellings and other normalisations not visible in the manuscript text. Transcriptions may not have been checked and should not be cited.

editions and texts

Skj: Snorri Sturluson, 4. Lausavísur 6: AII, 79, BII, 90, Skald II, 49, NN §2825; SnE 1848-87, II, 204-5, III, 156-7, FoGT 1884, 127, 256, FoGT 2004, 36-7, 64, 102-4, FoGT 2014, 12-13, 70-1.

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