ÞSjár Frag 2^III

The couplet (ÞSjár Frag 2) is cited in W and in LaufE (mss 2368ˣ and 743ˣ), from which it was copied in RE 1665(Hh3). In W it is transmitted in Orms-Eddu-brot, three leaves which contain an expanded version of Skm peculiar to W. The poet’s name is given as ‘þorðr .s. son’ (W; similarly abbreviated in 2368ˣ and 743ˣ) and Finnur Jónsson identifies him as Þórðr Sjáreksson (see also SnE 1848-87, III, 558). That attribution remains tentative.

Hlakkar stofns at hefna
herðendr í því sverða.

{Herðendr sverða} at hefna {stofns Hlakkar} í því.

{The strengtheners of swords} [WARRIORS] to avenge {the tree-stump of Hlǫkk <valkyrie>} [WARRIOR] in that.

Mss: W(168) (SnE); 2368ˣ(110), 743ˣ(85r) (LaufE)

Editions: Skj AI, 329, Skj BI, 303, Skald I, 154, NN §§1124B, 2018; SnE 1848-87, II, 497, III, 175-6; LaufE 1979, 369.

Context: The couplet illustrates base-words of the category ‘tree’ in man-kennings.

Notes: [All]: The couplet is syntactically incomplete and too fragmentary to allow for a meaningful translation. — [1] stofns Hlakkar ‘the tree-stump of Hlǫkk <valkyrie> [WARRIOR]’: The base-word, stofns ‘the tree-stump’, is in the gen. and it is likely that the kenning is the object of the verb hefna ‘avenge’, which is construed with a gen. object. — [2] herðendr sverða ‘the strengtheners of swords [WARRIORS]’: The base-word (herðendr ‘strengtheners, hardeners’) is in the nom. (or acc.). Kock suggested that it could function either as a form of address (NN §1124B) or as the subject of hefna ‘avenge’. Following the latter interpretation, he regarded at (l. 1) as the conj. ‘that’ rather than as the inf. marker ‘to’ (NN §2018): at herðendr sverða hefna stofns Hlakkar ‘that the strengtheners of swords avenge the tree-stump of Hlǫkk’. The couplet must originally have been preceded by two lines, and Kock’s suggestions are conjectural. In the present edn, at is taken as the inf. marker ‘to’. — [2] í því ‘in that’: Again it is unclear what this prepositional phrase refers to, and it could also mean ‘thereby’ or ‘at that’.

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. LaufE 1979 = Faulkes, Anthony, ed. 1979. Edda Magnúsar Ólafssonar (Laufás Edda). RSÁM 13. Vol. I of Two Versions of Snorra Edda from the 17th Century. Reykjavík: Stofnun Árna Magnússonar, 1977-9.
6. Internal references
7. (forthcoming), ‘ Snorri Sturluson, Skáldskaparmál’ 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=112> (accessed 1 May 2024)
8. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Þórðr Særeksson (Sjáreksson), Fragments 2’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 477.
9. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Laufás Edda’ 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=10928> (accessed 1 May 2024)