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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Þhorn Harkv 21I

R. D. Fulk (ed.) 2012, ‘Þorbjǫrn hornklofi, Haraldskvæði (Hrafnsmál) 21’ 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. 115.

Þorbjǫrn hornklofiHaraldskvæði (Hrafnsmál)
202122

text and translation

‘Ulfheðnar heita,         þeir es í orrostu
        blóðgar randir bera;
vigrar rjóða,         es til vígs koma;
        þeim es þar sist saman.
Áræðismǫnnum einum,         hygg ek, þar undir felisk
skyli sá inn skilvísi,         þeim es í skjǫld hǫggva.’

‘Þeir heita ulfheðnar, es bera blóðgar randir í orrostu; rjóða vigrar, es koma til vígs; þar es þeim sist saman. Þar, hygg ek, felisk sá inn skilvísi skyli undir einum áræðismǫnnum, þeim es hǫggva í skjǫld.’
 
‘‘They are called wolf-skins, who bear bloody shields in combat; they redden spears when they come to war; there [at Haraldr’s court] they are seated together. There, I believe, he, the sovereign wise in understanding, may entrust himself to men of courage alone, those who hew into a shield.’

notes and context

In Fsk, as for st. 20; Flat is very similar.

The stanza is ascribed in Flat to Auðunn illskælda. It contains the raven’s reply to the valkyrie’s previous question. — [7-10]: Here the metre changes from ljóðaháttr to málaháttr. The Flat readings could give Áræðismǫnnum einum | hygg ek þar hœfa at standa, | þá es skatnar skilvísir | í skjǫld hǫggva, presumably ‘I believe it is fitting for men of courage alone to stand there when men wise in understanding hew into a shield’ (so Möbius 1860), but they lack proper alliteration in ll. 7-8.

readings

sources

Text is based on reconstruction from the base text and variant apparatus and may contain alternative spellings and other normalisations not visible in the manuscript text. Transcriptions may not have been checked and should not be cited.

editions and texts

Skj: Þórbjǫrn hornklofi, 2. Haraldskvæði (Hrafnsmál) 21: AI, 28, BI, 25, Skald I, 16, NN §3206 anm.; Fsk 1902-3, 11-12, ÍF 29, 63-4 (ch. 2); Flat 1860-8, I, 568 (HarHárf); Möbius 1860, 230, Jón Helgason 1946, 140, Jón Helgason 1968, 20.

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