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Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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SnSt Lv 6^III

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 Sturluson Lausavísur

Eyjólfi ‘to Eyjólfr’

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Eyjólfr (noun m.): Eyjulfr, Eyjólfr

notes

[1] Eyjólfi ‘to Eyjólfr’: The prose text of FoGT (FoGT 1884, 127) identifies Eyjólfr as brvna son, skaalld einkar gott ok bv þegn góðr en eigi féríkr ‘the son of Brúni, an exceptionally good poet and a good farmer although not a wealthy one’. This detailed characterisation, unusual for the treatise, may perhaps indicate that the author of FoGT did not expect his audience to know anything about Eyjólfr. Only one helmingr by Eyjólfr Brúnason has survived (EBrún Lv). It is a rather amusing helmingr about a seafarer who buys a pair of Norwegian shoes, snekkjur ilja ‘warships of footsoles’, and is not dissimilar in tone to Snorri’s stanza.

ber ‘carry’

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3. bera (verb; °berr; bar, báru; borinn): bear, carry

elfar ‘of the river’

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elfr (noun f.): river

kennings

Elfar úlfseðjandi,
‘wolf-feeder of the river’
= SEAFARER
the wolf of the river, → SHIP
Feeder of the SHIP → SEAFARER

notes

[1-2] elfar úlfseðjandi ‘feeder of the wolf of the river [(lit. ‘wolf-feeder of the river’) SHIP > SEAFARER]’: A somewhat playful inverted kenning, imagining the master of the ship ‘feeding’, i.e. loading, cargo into his ship. Kock (NN §2825) compares the ‘feeding the wolf’ imagery to ESk Elfv 1/3-4^II, but that context of a nautical battle with many casualties fallen into the sea is quite different.

elfar ‘of the river’

(not checked:)
elfr (noun f.): river

kennings

Elfar úlfseðjandi,
‘wolf-feeder of the river’
= SEAFARER
the wolf of the river, → SHIP
Feeder of the SHIP → SEAFARER

notes

[1-2] elfar úlfseðjandi ‘feeder of the wolf of the river [(lit. ‘wolf-feeder of the river’) SHIP > SEAFARER]’: A somewhat playful inverted kenning, imagining the master of the ship ‘feeding’, i.e. loading, cargo into his ship. Kock (NN §2825) compares the ‘feeding the wolf’ imagery to ESk Elfv 1/3-4^II, but that context of a nautical battle with many casualties fallen into the sea is quite different.

úlf ‘of the wolf’

(not checked:)
1. ulfr (noun m.; °-s, dat. -i; -ar): wolf < ulfseðjandi (noun m.)

kennings

Elfar úlfseðjandi,
‘wolf-feeder of the river’
= SEAFARER
the wolf of the river, → SHIP
Feeder of the SHIP → SEAFARER

notes

[1-2] elfar úlfseðjandi ‘feeder of the wolf of the river [(lit. ‘wolf-feeder of the river’) SHIP > SEAFARER]’: A somewhat playful inverted kenning, imagining the master of the ship ‘feeding’, i.e. loading, cargo into his ship. Kock (NN §2825) compares the ‘feeding the wolf’ imagery to ESk Elfv 1/3-4^II, but that context of a nautical battle with many casualties fallen into the sea is quite different.

úlf ‘of the wolf’

(not checked:)
1. ulfr (noun m.; °-s, dat. -i; -ar): wolf < ulfseðjandi (noun m.)

kennings

Elfar úlfseðjandi,
‘wolf-feeder of the river’
= SEAFARER
the wolf of the river, → SHIP
Feeder of the SHIP → SEAFARER

notes

[1-2] elfar úlfseðjandi ‘feeder of the wolf of the river [(lit. ‘wolf-feeder of the river’) SHIP > SEAFARER]’: A somewhat playful inverted kenning, imagining the master of the ship ‘feeding’, i.e. loading, cargo into his ship. Kock (NN §2825) compares the ‘feeding the wolf’ imagery to ESk Elfv 1/3-4^II, but that context of a nautical battle with many casualties fallen into the sea is quite different.

seðjandi ‘Feeder’

(not checked:)
seðjandi (noun m.): [sater, Feeder] < ulfseðjandi (noun m.)

kennings

Elfar úlfseðjandi,
‘wolf-feeder of the river’
= SEAFARER
the wolf of the river, → SHIP
Feeder of the SHIP → SEAFARER

notes

[1-2] elfar úlfseðjandi ‘feeder of the wolf of the river [(lit. ‘wolf-feeder of the river’) SHIP > SEAFARER]’: A somewhat playful inverted kenning, imagining the master of the ship ‘feeding’, i.e. loading, cargo into his ship. Kock (NN §2825) compares the ‘feeding the wolf’ imagery to ESk Elfv 1/3-4^II, but that context of a nautical battle with many casualties fallen into the sea is quite different.

kveðju ‘my greeting’

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1. kveðja (noun f.; °-u; -ur): greeting

heim ‘home’

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heim (adv.): home, back

notes

[3] heim ‘home’: As Björn Magnússon Ólsen (FoGT 1884, 256) observed, Snorri’s use of the word heim implies an Icelandic perspective.

þás ‘which’

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þás (conj.): when

hánum ‘him’

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hann (pron.; °gen. hans, dat. honum; f. hon, gen. hennar, acc. hana): he, she, it, they, them...

sómi ‘it befits’

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sóma (verb): befit, beseem

heyra ‘to hear’

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2. heyra (verb): hear

notes

[4] heyra með eyrum ‘to hear with his own ears’: This expression is very similar to Kolb Lv 7/4, a helmingr that also contains an inverted kenning for ‘seafarer’: at heyra eyrum slíkt of unnar elgrenni ‘if I had heard with my own ears such a thing about the propeller of the elk of the wave [(lit. ‘wave’s elk-propeller’) SHIP > SEAFARER]’. The context of Kolbeinn’s stanza is unknown and he died in 1208, but it is possible that Snorri intended to echo it.

bezt ‘best’

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betri (adj. comp.; °superl. beztr/baztr; pos. góðr adj.): better, best

með ‘with’

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með (prep.): with

notes

[4] heyra með eyrum ‘to hear with his own ears’: This expression is very similar to Kolb Lv 7/4, a helmingr that also contains an inverted kenning for ‘seafarer’: at heyra eyrum slíkt of unnar elgrenni ‘if I had heard with my own ears such a thing about the propeller of the elk of the wave [(lit. ‘wave’s elk-propeller’) SHIP > SEAFARER]’. The context of Kolbeinn’s stanza is unknown and he died in 1208, but it is possible that Snorri intended to echo it.

eyrum ‘his own ears’

(not checked:)
eyra (noun n.; °eyra; eyru/eyrun, gen. eyrna): ear

notes

[4] heyra með eyrum ‘to hear with his own ears’: This expression is very similar to Kolb Lv 7/4, a helmingr that also contains an inverted kenning for ‘seafarer’: at heyra eyrum slíkt of unnar elgrenni ‘if I had heard with my own ears such a thing about the propeller of the elk of the wave [(lit. ‘wave’s elk-propeller’) SHIP > SEAFARER]’. The context of Kolbeinn’s stanza is unknown and he died in 1208, but it is possible that Snorri intended to echo it.

þvít ‘since’

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þvít (conj.): because, since

skilmildra ‘generous with knowledge’

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skilmildr (adj.): generous with knowledge

skalda ‘among poets’

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skáld (noun n.; °-s; -): poet

skǫrungmann ‘champion’

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skǫrungmaðr (noun m.): [champion]

lofak ‘I praise’

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lofa (verb): praise, permit

ǫrvan ‘the energetic’

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ǫrr (adj.): generous, brave

hann ‘he’

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hann (pron.; °gen. hans, dat. honum; f. hon, gen. hennar, acc. hana): he, she, it, they, them...

lifi ‘live’

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lifa (verb): live

sælstr ‘the happiest’

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sæll (adj.): happy, blessed

und ‘under’

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3. und (prep.): under, underneath

sólu ‘the sun’

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sól (noun f.; °-ar, dat. -u/-; -ir): sun

sannauðigra ‘of truly rich’

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sannauðigr (adj.): [truly rich]

manna ‘men’

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maðr (noun m.): man, person

Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses

verse
prose

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.

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