SnSt Lv 6^III

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).

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.

Mss: W(113) (FoGT)

Editions: Skj AII, 79, Skj 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.

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.

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

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. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. FoGT 1884 = Björn Magnússon Ólsen, ed. 1884. Den tredje og fjærde grammatiske afhandling i Snorres Edda tilligemed de grammatiske afhandlingers prolog og to andre tillæg. SUGNL 12. Copenhagen: Knudtzon.
6. FoGT 2004 = Longo, Michele, ed. [2004]. ‘Il Quarto Trattato Grammaticale Islandese: Testo, Traduzione e Commento’. Dottorato di Ricerca in ‘Linguistica Sincronica e Diacronica’ (XV Ciclo). Palermo: Università degli Studi di Palermo, Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia.
7. FoGT 2014 = Clunies Ross, Margaret and Jonas Wellendorf, eds. 2014. The Fourth Grammatical Treatise. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
8. Internal references
9. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, The Fourth Grammatical Treatise’ 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=34> (accessed 1 May 2024)
12. Katharina Seidel 2017, ‘ Eyjólfr Brúnason, Lausavísa’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 182. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1138> (accessed 1 May 2024)
13. Guðrún Nordal (forthcoming), ‘ Snorri Sturluson, Lausavísur’ in Guðrún Nordal (ed.), Poetry on Icelandic History. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 4. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1378> (accessed 1 May 2024)
14. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Einarr Skúlason, Elfarvísur 1’ 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. 566-7.
15. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Kolbeinn Tumason, Lausavísa 7’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 270.