Þórarinn stuttfeldr, Stuttfeldardrápa 6

Kari Ellen Gade

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Þstf Stuttdr 6^II

Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Þórarinn stuttfeldr, Stuttfeldardrápa 6’ 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, pp. 477-8.

Þórarinn stuttfeldr Stuttfeldardrápa

5 6 7

Varðir ‘may you ensure’

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2. varða (verb): defend

notes

[1] varðir (2nd pers. sg. pres. subj.) ‘may you ensure’: For this meaning of the verb, see Fritzner: varða 6-8.

Hǫrða ‘of the Hǫrðar’

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Hǫrðar (noun m.): the Hǫrðar

kennings

Hvatr fylkir Hǫrða,
‘Swift ruler of the Hǫrðar, ’
= NORWEGIAN KING = Sigurðr
Swift ruler of the Hǫrðar, → NORWEGIAN KING = Sigurðr

hvatr ‘Swift’

(not checked:)
hvatr (adj.; °-ari, -an; -astr): keen, brave

kennings

Hvatr fylkir Hǫrða,
‘Swift ruler of the Hǫrðar, ’
= NORWEGIAN KING = Sigurðr
Swift ruler of the Hǫrðar, → NORWEGIAN KING = Sigurðr

fylkir ‘ruler’

(not checked:)
fylkir (noun m.): leader

kennings

Hvatr fylkir Hǫrða,
‘Swift ruler of the Hǫrðar, ’
= NORWEGIAN KING = Sigurðr
Swift ruler of the Hǫrðar, → NORWEGIAN KING = Sigurðr

[3] góðra: guðs H, góðu Hr

notes

[3] góðra (m. gen. pl.) ‘of the good’: In H, the l. (grǫf guðs lofs ‘the grave of God’s glory’) is hypometrical but has internal rhyme, whereas, in Hr, grǫf góðu golli ‘the grave with the good gold’ has three alliterative staves, lacks internal rhyme and is hypermetrical.

lof* ‘glory’

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lof (noun n.; °-s; -): praise, leave, permission

[3] lof*: lofs H, gulli Hr

geti ‘obtains’

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2. geta (verb): to beget, give birth to, mention, speak of; to think well of, like, love

[4] geti: skulut H, glaðr Hr

notes

[4] geti ... kviksettra ‘obtain ... of the holy ones’: The H variant (skulut kviksattar ‘shall not [be] buried alive’) lacks both alliteration and internal rhyme, and the Hr reading (glaðr kviksættar ‘cheerful “quiksættar”’) lacks internal rhyme. The stem vowel in -settra (m. gen. pl.) is an -e-: kviksettr ‘holy one’ from setja ‘place’ (see ANG §513.2 and Note to l. 4 below). Because the metre of Stuttdr is in general very regular (with some internal rhymes and double alliterations lacking in the odd ll.), the first word in l. 4 must be a monosyllabic or a short-stemmed disyllabic word beginning with g- and containing the stem -et- or -ett-. Skj B suggests (at) grǫf golli lofs | glaðr kviksettra ‘[you gave] gold (to) the grave of holy ones, cheerful of glory’ (ll. 3-4), which still leaves l. 4 without internal rhyme. Kock (NN §965; Skald) emends ll. 3-4 to (at) grǫf golli lofs | glætt kviksæti ‘(at) the grave [you covered] the shining relics with gold of praise’. That reading presupposes a suppressed verb and an unattested word, kviksæti ‘relics’. In the present edn, at ‘that’ (l. 2) is taken as a conj. rather than as a prep., and skulut (3rd pers. pl. pres. indic.) ‘shall not’ (so H; glaðr m. nom. sg. ‘cheerful’; Hr) has been emended to geti (3rd pers. sg. pres. subj.) ‘obtain’.

kviksettra ‘holy ones’

[4] kviksettra: ‘kviksattar’ H, ‘quiksættar’ Hr

notes

[4] kviksettra ‘holy ones’: Lit. ‘those buried alive’. Fritzner: kyksettr glosses this as hellig efter Døden ‘holy after death’. The adj. is also found in Þloft Glækv 3/7^I, where it is used about S. Óláfr. In ÍF 27, 406-7 n., Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson explains the word as referring to the fact that Óláfr’s hair and nails reportedly continued to grow after he was dead and buried. In Sv, Sverrir Sigurðarson also uses the substantivised adj. in one of his speeches in the meaning ‘holy ones’ (see ÍF 30, 62 and n. 5). The prose texts offer no information about which ‘holy ones’ (saints, relics) Sigurðr bestowed gifts upon, but it could be that he visited the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron. — [4] geti ... kviksettra ‘obtain ... of the holy ones’: The H variant (skulut kviksattar ‘shall not [be] buried alive’) lacks both alliteration and internal rhyme, and the Hr reading (glaðr kviksættar ‘cheerful “quiksættar”’) lacks internal rhyme. The stem vowel in -settra (m. gen. pl.) is an -e-: kviksettr ‘holy one’ from setja ‘place’ (see ANG §513.2 and Note to l. 4 below). Because the metre of Stuttdr is in general very regular (with some internal rhymes and double alliterations lacking in the odd ll.), the first word in l. 4 must be a monosyllabic or a short-stemmed disyllabic word beginning with g- and containing the stem -et- or -ett-. Skj B suggests (at) grǫf golli lofs | glaðr kviksettra ‘[you gave] gold (to) the grave of holy ones, cheerful of glory’ (ll. 3-4), which still leaves l. 4 without internal rhyme. Kock (NN §965; Skald) emends ll. 3-4 to (at) grǫf golli lofs | glætt kviksæti ‘(at) the grave [you covered] the shining relics with gold of praise’. That reading presupposes a suppressed verb and an unattested word, kviksæti ‘relics’. In the present edn, at ‘that’ (l. 2) is taken as a conj. rather than as a prep., and skulut (3rd pers. pl. pres. indic.) ‘shall not’ (so H; glaðr m. nom. sg. ‘cheerful’; Hr) has been emended to geti (3rd pers. sg. pres. subj.) ‘obtain’.

kviksettra ‘holy ones’

[4] kviksettra: ‘kviksattar’ H, ‘quiksættar’ Hr

notes

Á ‘upon’

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3. á (prep.): on, at

skínn ‘shine’

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skína (verb): shine

æva ‘will never’

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æva (adv.): (n)ever