Stúfr Stúfdr 1^II

Vissak hildar hvessi
— hann vas nýztr at kanna —
af góðum byr Gríðar
gagnsælan mér fagna,
þás blóðstara bræðir
baugum grimmr at Haugi
gjarn með gylltu horni
gekk sjalfr á mik drekka.

Vissak {gagnsælan hvessi hildar} fagna mér af {góðum byr Gríðar}—hann vas nýztr at kanna—, þás {bræðir {blóðstara}}, grimmr baugum, gekk sjalfr gjarn drekka á mik með gylltu horni at Haugi.

I knew {the victory-blessed inciter of war} [WARRIOR] to welcome me with {a good wind of Gríðr <giantess>} [MIND]—he was the most bountiful to know—, when {the feeder {of the blood-starling}} [RAVEN > WARRIOR], ferocious to rings, himself went willingly to toast me with the gilded horn at Haug.

Mss: Kˣ(590r), 39(32vb) (ll. 1-2, 5-8), F(55vb), E(29v), J2ˣ(302r), 42ˣ(4r) (Hkr); H(79v), Hr(56rb) (H-Hr)

Readings: [1] hvessi: corrected from ‘hvassi’ E, ‘hyssi’ H, ‘hyssa’ Hr    [2] vas (‘var’): er H, Hr;    nýztr: nýzt H, Hr    [5] ‑stara: ‑staða 39, F;    bræðir: bræði E, J2ˣ, 42ˣ    [7] gylltu: gyldu E, J2ˣ, 42ˣ, Hr

Editions: Skj AI, 404, Skj BI, 373, Skald 186; ÍF 28, 206-7 (Ólkyrr ch. 3), F 1871, 257, E 1916, 105; Fms 6, 442 (Ólkyrr ch. 4).

Context: The st. illustrates drinking customs at King Haraldr’s court which are mentioned in Ólkyrr in a ch. on court customs in Óláfr’s time.

Notes: [3] af góðum byr Gríðar ‘with a good wind of Gríðr <giantess> [MIND]’: For the peculiar kennings of this type, in which ‘wind, breeze of a giantess’ denotes ‘thought, mind, disposition’, see Meissner 138-9 and SnE 1998, I, 108. See also ÞjóðA Run 2/1-3 and Arn Magndr 3/7-8. — [6] grimmr baugum ‘ferocious to rings’: Alludes to Haraldr’s generosity when he distributed rings or parts of rings as gifts to his men. — [6] at Haugi ‘at Haug’: A royal farmstead in Værdalen near Stiklestad in Trøndelag, Norway. — [7] gjarn ‘willingly’: Lit. ‘willing’. — [7] gylltu (n. dat. sg.) ‘gilded’: The variant gyldu ‘gilded’ (so E, J2ˣ, 42ˣ, Hr; Skj B) is a later form of the same word.

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. Fms = Sveinbjörn Egilsson et al., eds. 1825-37. Fornmanna sögur eptir gömlum handritum útgefnar að tilhlutun hins norræna fornfræða fèlags. 12 vols. Copenhagen: Popp.
4. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. Meissner = Meissner, Rudolf. 1921. Die Kenningar der Skalden: Ein Beitrag zur skaldischen Poetik. Rheinische Beiträge und Hülfsbücher zur germanischen Philologie und Volkskunde 1. Bonn and Leipzig: Schroeder. Rpt. 1984. Hildesheim etc.: Olms.
6. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
7. F 1871 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1871. Fríssbók: Codex Frisianus. En samling af norske konge-sagaer. Christiania (Oslo): Malling.
8. E 1916 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1916. Eirspennill: AM 47 fol. Nóregs konunga sǫgur: Magnús góði – Hákon gamli. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske historiske kildeskriftskommission.
9. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
10. Internal references
11. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Arnórr jarlaskáld Þórðarson, Magnússdrápa 3’ 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. 211-12.
12. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Þjóðólfr Arnórsson, Runhent poem about Haraldr 2’ 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. 105-6.