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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Þmaur Frag 1III

Diana Whaley (ed.) 2017, ‘Þórðr mauraskáld, Fragment 1’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 475.

Þórðr mauraskáldFragment1

text and translation

Sér á seima rýri,
sigðis látrs at átti,
hrauns glaðsendir handa,
Hermóðr fǫður góðan.

Sér á {rýri seima}, {glaðsendir {hrauns handa}}, at {Hermóðr {látrs sigðis}} átti góðan fǫður.
 
‘One can see from the diminisher of gold [GENEROUS MAN], cheerful sender of the rock of hands [GOLD > GENEROUS MAN], that the Hermóðr <god> of the lair of the sword [SHIELD > WARRIOR] had a worthy father.

notes and context

The helmingr is the last of a series of citations illustrating kennings for ‘gold’.

The numerous kenning elements appear to form three kennings. The first kenning (l. 1), based on rýrir ‘diminisher’ and the third (ll. 2, 4), based on Hermóðr, appear to refer to the same person, but there is disagreement about the place of the second (l. 3), based on glaðsendir ‘cheerful sender’. In the construal shown above (adopted in SnE 1848-87, I, 406-7, III, 70-1 and Skj B), the kenning in l. 3 forms an apostrophe. The main alternatives are that it stands in apposition to the warrior-kenning based on Hermóðr (an option favoured by Faulkes in SnE 1998, I, 190, and apparently by Kock in Skald and NN §§904, 1855) or that it is the subject of sér ‘sees’ (also mentioned by Faulkes). In the latter case, however, the poet would be referring to himself, and doing so in an unusually laudatory way.

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: Þórðr mauraskáld, Af et ubestemmeligt digt: AI, 419, BI, 388, Skald I, 192, NN §§904, 1855; SnE 1848-87, I, 406-7, II, 323, 433, 517, 582, III, 70-1, SnE 1931, 144, SnE 1998, I, 62.

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