Þhorn Gldr 3^I

Hrjóðr lét hæstrar tíðar
harðráðr skipa bǫrðum
bôru fáks ins bleika
barnungr á lǫg þrungit,
þar svát barsk at borði
(borðhǫlkvi rak norðan)
hlífar valdr til hildar
(hregg) dǫglinga tveggja.

{Harðráðr hrjóðr {ins bleika fáks bôru}} lét barnungr hæstrar tíðar þrungit bǫrðum skipa á lǫg, svát {valdr hlífar} barsk þar at borði til hildar tveggja dǫglinga; hregg rak {borðhǫlkvi} norðan.

{The hard-ruling clearer {of the pale horse of the wave}} [SHIP > SEA-WARRIOR = Haraldr], [when] child-young, had ships’ prows put out to sea at the best time, so that {the owner of the shield} [WARRIOR = Haraldr] travelled on board there into battle against two rulers; the storm drove {the plank-horse} [SHIP] from the north.

Mss: Kˣ(55r), F(9v), J1ˣ(29v-30r), J2ˣ(31r-v) (Hkr, ll. 5-8); FskBˣ(6r), FskAˣ(17) (Fsk); Flat(76va) (Flat); R(35r), Tˣ(36v), W(79-80), U(33v), A(11v) (SnE, ll. 1-4); 761aˣ(19v) (ll. 1-4), 761aˣ(20v) (ll. 4-8)

Readings: [1] Hrjóðr: ‘Hriod’ Tˣ;    hæstrar: ‘hæ(tz)rar’(?) R;    tíðar: ‘ti[...]’ U    [2] harðráðr: ‘ha(r)þ(ráþr)’(?) U;    bǫrðum: báðum FskAˣ, 761aˣ(19v)    [3] fáks: raks FskBˣ, flaks Flat    [4] lǫg: ‘l[...]’ U    [5] þar: þars FskAˣ, 761aˣ(20v);    barsk: ‘banz’ FskBˣ;    borði: ‘borde’ corrected from ‘borðz’ Flat    [6] ‑hǫlkvi: so FskBˣ, ‑hǫlkvis Kˣ, F, J1ˣ, J2ˣ, ‘‑hꝍkvi’ corrected from ‘‑hꝍvkvi’ FskAˣ, ‘hrockvir’ Flat, ‘‑hrekvi’ 761aˣ(20v)    [7] hlífar: hlífðar FskAˣ, 761aˣ(20v);    til: fyrir FskBˣ, FskAˣ, Flat, 761aˣ(20v)    [8] hregg: hreggs F

Editions: Skj AI, 22, Skj BI, 20, Skald I, 13, NN §§232, 1020, 1916A, 2212; Hkr 1893-1901, I, 109, IV, 30-1, ÍF 26, 103, Hkr 1991, 63 (HHárf ch. 10), F 1871, 42; Fsk 1902-3, 18 (ch. 2), ÍF 29, 69 (ch. 3); Fms 10, 186-7, Fms 12, 224-5, Flat 1860-8, I, 572 (HarHárf); SnE 1848-87, I, 440-1, II, 331, 442, SnE 1931, 156, SnE 1998, I, 74.

Context:

The sources place this stanza in different contexts. Fsk associates sts 3-5 with the battle of Hafrsfjǫrðr (Hafrsfjorden), citing them in unbroken sequence after Þhorn Harkv 7-11. Hkr reports that Haraldr goes south to Mœrr (Møre) and defeats Húnþjófr, king of Norðmœrr (Nordmøre), and King Nǫkkvi, the ruler of Raumsdalr (Romsdalen), in a major battle near Sólskel (Solskjel). It then cites sts 3/5-8 and 4 as a single stanza. Flat (HarHárf) cites st. 3, followed by two stanzas comprising sts 9 and 5/1-4, and 5/5-8 and 4, in the context of a battle against three kings of Norðmœrr, which precedes the battle of Sólskel. SnE (Skm) provides the stanza’s first helmingr as an example of a ship-kenning.

Notes: [All]: The prose texts preserve the helmingar of sts 3-5 and 9 in various combinations (see Context above), and eds vary. The text given here, like that of Skald, follows the arrangement of the text as preserved in Fsk, since the stanza here begins with a main clause as all other stanzas in Gldr do, followed by a subordinate clause (cf. Fidjestøl 1982, 87), and since Hkr lacks st. 3/1-4. — [1-4] harðráðr hrjóðr ins bleika fáks bôru ... barnungr ‘the hard-ruling clearer of the pale horse of the wave [SHIP > SEA-WARRIOR = Haraldr] ... [when] child-young’: The elements of the kenning and the two adjectives accompanying it are distributed across all four lines of the first helmingr, each at the beginning of a line. Mohr (1933, 13) calls this pattern Tiefstellung (lit. ‘deep-placement’); see also Reichardt (1928, 131) and NN §408. — [1] hæstrar tíðar ‘at the best time’: Hæstr, sup. of hôr ‘high, excellent’ (LP: hôr 4). — [3] bleika ‘pale’: This adj. might be a reference to the ships being painted white (LP: bleikr); see Falk (1912, 51). — [4] barnungr ‘[when] child-young’: It is a topos of praise-poems and heroic poetry for kings and heroes to perform their great deeds at a young age, cf. Þhorn Harkv 4/7, 6/5 and LP: barnungr for further examples of the cpd; see also Marold (1993c, 105-6) and Marold (2003, 403). — [5-8]: The syntactic structure of this helmingr is problematic. (a) The construal here corresponds to that of most other eds. (b) Kock (NN §§232, 2212) simplifies the syntax by reading borðhǫlkvi rak norðan as ‘it drove the plank-horse [SHIP] from the north’, i.e. as a parenthesis containing an impersonal use of rak ‘drove’. But his reading also entails reading hildar hreggs ‘of the storm of Hildr <valkyrie> [BATTLE]’, in which hreggs is the reading of F only, and clearly a scribal ‘improvement’. (c) Sveinbjörn Egilsson (Fms 12) and Reichardt (1928, 27-9) combine valdr hlífar ‘the owner of the shield [WARRIOR]’ as the subject of rak borðhǫlkvi ‘drove the plank-horse [SHIP]’. But barsk at borði cannot then be adequately accounted for (as Finnur Jónsson 1929b, 137 notes). — [5] barsk ‘travelled’: For this m. v. usage, see Fritzner: bera 1a. — [6] borðhǫlkvi ‘the plank-horse [SHIP]’: Hǫlkvir is the name of the horse of the legendary hero Hǫgni; see Anon Kálfv 4/5^III and Þul Hesta 3/1^III. — [7] valdr hlífar ‘the owner of the shield’: Valdr literally means ‘ruler’, but here it must mean ‘owner’. — [8] tveggja dǫglinga ‘against two rulers’: According to Hkr, the two rulers are Húnþjófr and Nǫkkvi, defeated at the battle of Sólskel (Solskjel). But Fsk associates the stanzas with the battle at Hafrsfjorðr (Hafrsfjorden) and names the two opponents as Kjǫtvi inn auðgi ‘the Wealthy’ and Haklangr.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Fms = Sveinbjörn Egilsson et al., eds. 1825-37. Fornmanna sögur eptir gömlum handritum útgefnar að tilhlutun hins norræna fornfræða fèlags. 12 vols. Copenhagen: Popp.
3. 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.
4. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
6. LP = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1931. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis: Ordbog over det norsk-islandske skjaldesprog oprindelig forfattet af Sveinbjörn Egilsson. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Møller.
7. Fidjestøl, Bjarne. 1982. Det norrøne fyrstediktet. Universitet i Bergen Nordisk institutts skriftserie 11. Øvre Ervik: Alvheim & Eide.
8. Falk, Hjalmar. 1912. Altnordisches Seewesen. Wörter und Sachen 4. Heidelberg: Winter.
9. Flat 1860-8 = Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and C. R. Unger, eds. 1860-8. Flateyjarbók. En samling af norske konge-sagaer med indskudte mindre fortællinger om begivenheder i og udenfor Norge samt annaler. 3 vols. Christiania (Oslo): Malling.
10. Fritzner = Fritzner, Johan. 1883-96. Ordbog over det gamle norske sprog. 3 vols. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske forlagsforening. 4th edn. Rpt. 1973. Oslo etc.: Universitetsforlaget.
11. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
12. Hkr 1893-1901 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1893-1901. Heimskringla: Nóregs konunga sǫgur af Snorri Sturluson. 4 vols. SUGNL 23. Copenhagen: Møller.
13. Hkr 1991 = Bergljót S. Kristjánsdóttir et al., eds. 1991. Heimskringla. 3 vols. Reykjavík: Mál og menning.
14. F 1871 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1871. Fríssbók: Codex Frisianus. En samling af norske konge-sagaer. Christiania (Oslo): Malling.
15. Fsk 1902-3 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1902-3. Fagrskinna: Nóregs kononga tal. SUGNL 30. Copenhagen: Møller.
16. SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
17. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
18. ÍF 29 = Ágrip af Nóregskonunga sǫgum; Fagrskinna—Nóregs konungatal. Ed. Bjarni Einarsson. 1985.
19. Mohr, Wolfgang. 1933. Kenningstudien. Beiträge zur Stilgeschichte der altgermanischen Dichtung. Stuttgart: W. Kohlhammer.
20. Reichardt, Konstantin. 1928. Studien zu den Skalden des 9. und 10. Jahrhunderts. Palaestra 159. Leipzig: Mayer & Müller.
21. Marold, Edith. 1993c. ‘Die Topik der Fürstendarstellung in den Preisliedern des 10. Jahrhunderts’. In Glienke et al. 1993, 96-111.
22. Finnur Jónsson. 1929b. ‘Skjaldekvad’. ANF 45, 127-49.
23. Marold, Edith. 2003. ‘Preislied’. In RGA, 23, 398-408.
24. Internal references
25. Edith Marold 2017, ‘Snorra Edda (Prologue, Gylfaginning, Skáldskaparmál)’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols [check printed volume for citation].
26. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Heimskringla’ 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, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=4> (accessed 24 April 2024)
27. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Flateyjarbók’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=44> (accessed 24 April 2024)
28. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Fagrskinna’ 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, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=56> (accessed 24 April 2024)
29. (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 24 April 2024)
30. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Haralds þáttr hárfagra’ 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, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=137> (accessed 24 April 2024)
31. (forthcoming), ‘ Heimskringla, Haralds saga hárfagra’ 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, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=140> (accessed 24 April 2024)
32. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Kálfsvísa 4’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 668.
33. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Hesta heiti 3’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 937.
34. Edith Marold with the assistance of Vivian Busch, Jana Krüger, Ann-Dörte Kyas and Katharina Seidel, translated from German by John Foulks 2012, ‘ Þorbjǫrn hornklofi, Glymdrápa’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 73. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1435> (accessed 24 April 2024)
35. R. D. Fulk (ed.) 2012, ‘Þorbjǫrn hornklofi, Haraldskvæði (Hrafnsmál) 4’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 97.
36. R. D. Fulk (ed.) 2012, ‘Þorbjǫrn hornklofi, Haraldskvæði (Hrafnsmál) 7’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 100.