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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Þjsk Lv 6I

Kate Heslop (ed.) 2012, ‘Þorleifr jarlsskáld Rauðfeldarson, Lausavísur 6’ 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. 377.

Þorleifr jarlsskáld RauðfeldarsonLausavísur
56

text and translation

Hvarf inn hildardjarfi
— hvat varð af Þorgarði? —
villumaðr á velli
vígdjarfr refilstíga.
Farit hefr Gautr at grjóti
gunnelds inn fjǫlkunni;
síðan mun hann í helju
hvílask stund ok mílu.

Inn hildardjarfi villumaðr, vígdjarfr, hvarf refilstíga á velli; hvat varð af Þorgarði? {Inn fjǫlkunni Gautr {gunnelds}} hefr farit at grjóti; síðan mun hann hvílask í helju stund ok mílu.
 
‘The battle-bold false one, slaughter-bold, vanished on secret paths on the plain; what became of Þorgarðr? The sorcerous Gautr <= Óðinn> of war-flame [SWORD > WARRIOR] has gone into the ground; now he will linger in Hell for a while and a bit.

notes and context

Þorgarðr, a wooden golem or trémaðr sent to Iceland by Hákon jarl to attack Þorleifr, fatally wounds the skald with a spear-thrust, but plunges head first into the ground before Þorleifr can strike back. Þorleifr holds his guts in with his cloak and speaks this stanza.

[7]: The line lacks internal rhyme and is hypermetrical because of the disyllablic síðan ‘now, since then’. (a) Kock (NN §2443D) suggests emending hann to halr ‘man’ and reading halr mun síðan í helju, and indeed halr is the reading of 4867ˣ, but his supporting arguments are not convincing and he later (NN §2987G) withdraws this proposal. (b) Finnur Jónsson (ÞorlJ 1883, 159) suggests emending síðan to sjálfr ‘[him]self’, but presents no reasons for doing so beyond the metrical problem. Given the irregularity of some other Þorleifr attributions (cf. Hákdr 1/1, 2/1; Jarl 1/1; Þjsk Lv 5/5), emendation does not seem justified here.

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: Þórleifr jarlsskáld Rauðfeldarson, 4. Lausavísur 6: AI, 143, BI, 134, Skald I, 74, NN §§426, 2443B, D, 2987G; SHI 3, 105, Flat 1860-8, I, 214, ÞorlJ 1883, 128-9, 158-9, ÍF 9, 226, ÍS III, 2273 (ÞorlJ).

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