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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Þjóð Haustl 3III

Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Þjóðólfr ór Hvini, Haustlǫng 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. 435.

Þjóðólfr ór HviniHaustlǫng
234

text and translation

Tormiðlaðr vas tívum
talhreinn meðal beina;
hvat kvað * hapta snytrir
hjalmfaldinn því valda.
Margspakr of nam mæla
môr valkastar bôru
— vasat Hœnis vinr hônum
hollr — af fornum þolli.

{Talhreinn} vas tívum tormiðlaðr meðal beina; {hjalmfaldinn snytrir hapta} kvað * hvat valda því. {Margspakr môr {bôru valkastar}} of nam mæla af fornum þolli; {vinr Hœnis} vasat hollr hônum.
 
‘The dung-reindeer [OX] was difficult for the gods to pierce between the shanks; the helmet-capped instructor of the divine powers [= Óðinn] said something was causing this. The deeply wise seagull of the wave of the corpse-heap [BLOOD > RAVEN/EAGLE = Þjazi] began to speak from an ancient tree; the friend of Hœnir <god> [= Loki] was not well-disposed to him.

notes and context

As for st. 1. In addition, ll. 1-4 are cited again in mss R, , U, A and C in a section of Skm (SnE 1998, I, 84) exemplifying alternative names for the Old Norse gods, in this case hǫpt ‘fetters’ (hapta, l. 3).

[1-2]: A different construal of these lines is offered by Finnur Jónsson and Faulkes. They take tormiðlaðr beina as ‘a difficult, slow deliverer of service’ or possibly ‘of bones’ (Faulkes, SnE 1998, II, 414: tormiðlaðr; cf. LP: tormiðlaðr), referring ironically to the giant Þjazi, and assume a cpd adj. meðaltálhreinn ‘middlingly free of deceit’, hence, with ironic litotes, very deceitful, also describing Þjazi (Skj B and LP: meðaltálhreinn, tálhreinn; Faulkes, ibid., II, 353: meðal, II, 412: tálhreinn). Meðal is displaced by tmesis. Finnur in Skj B further regards meðaltálhreinn as substantivised and translates Den svigfulde var den, som hindrede måltidet for guderne ‘The deceitful one was the one who hindered the gods’ meal’.

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: Þjóðólfr ór Hvini, enn hvinverski, 2. Haustlǫng 3: AI, 16, BI, 14, Skald I,10, NN §§1015, 2504, 3396C; SnE 1848-87, I, 306-9, 468-71, II, 340, 447, 591, III, 41, SnE 1931, 111, 166, SnE 1998, I, 31, 84.

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