Anon (FoGT) 24III
Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Lausavísur, Stanzas from the Fourth Grammatical Treatise 24’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 601.
Haki ‘Haki’
(not checked:)
Haki (noun m.): Haki
notes
[1] Haki: Name of a famous pirate or sea-king. The name can be used generally in poetry for a sea-king, but here there is a specific reference to the brother of the legendary Hagbarðr. Haki is mentioned in Ynglinga saga chs 22-3 (ÍF 26, 43-5) as a fierce and bellicose warrior, who killed Hugleikr, king of the Swedes, at Fyrisvellir ‘Plains by the Fyrisån’ (Fyris river) near Uppsala, assumed the kingship himself, and was later engaged in a second battle at Fyrisvellir, in which he was mortally wounded and placed at his own request on a pyre on board a burning ship, which was pushed out to sea. Cf. Note to Anon (SnE) 16/1. A rather different account of Haki’s death appears in Saxo 2005, I, 7, 8, 1-6, pp. 476-80.
Kraki ‘Kraki (‘Pole-ladder’)’
(not checked:)
Kraki (noun m.; °-a; -ar): pole-ladder, Kraki
notes
[1] Kraki ‘(“Pole-ladder”)’: Nickname of the legendary Danish king and hero Hrólfr kraki, who was the subject of numerous narratives, including Hrólfs saga kraka and the now lost Skjǫldunga saga. He was renowned for his generosity. Snorri Sturluson tells an elaborate narrative in Skm to account for the gold-kenning ‘seed of Kraki’ (SnE 1998, I, 58-9). Accounts of his and his champions’ deaths vary across the sources, but in all cases he dies in battle.
hoddum ‘with treasures’
(not checked:)
1. hodd (noun f.): gold, treasure
broddum ‘with pikes’
(not checked:)
broddr (noun m.; °dat. -i; -ar): point of spear or arrow
særði ‘wounded’
(not checked:)
særa (verb): wound
mærði ‘honoured’
(not checked:)
mæra (verb): praise
seggi ‘men’
(not checked:)
seggr (noun m.; °; -ir): man
leggi ‘legs’
(not checked:)
leggr (noun m.; °-jar, dat. -; -ir): limb
Veitir ‘The giver’
(not checked:)
veitir (noun m.): giver
kennings
Veitir pella‘The giver of costly materials ’
= GENEROUS MAN = Haki
The giver of costly materials → GENEROUS MAN = Haki
neitir ‘the squanderer’
(not checked:)
neitir (noun m.): [squanderer]
kennings
neitir vella‘the squanderer of gold ’
= GENEROUS MAN = Kraki
the squanderer of gold → GENEROUS MAN = Kraki
notes
[5] neitir ‘the squanderer’: I.e. neytir, not neitir ‘denier’ (from neita ‘to deny’). The same word rhymes with hreytir ‘scatterer’ in st. 27/5.
vella ‘of gold’
(not checked:)
vell (noun n.): gold
kennings
neitir vella‘the squanderer of gold ’
= GENEROUS MAN = Kraki
the squanderer of gold → GENEROUS MAN = Kraki
pella ‘of costly materials’
(not checked:)
pell (noun n.; °-s; -): velvet
kennings
Veitir pella‘The giver of costly materials ’
= GENEROUS MAN = Haki
The giver of costly materials → GENEROUS MAN = Haki
báli ‘on a pyre’
(not checked:)
bál (noun n.; °-s; -): fire
stáli ‘by a steel weapon’
(not checked:)
1. stál (noun n.; °-s; -): steel, weapon, prow
beittiz ‘was killed’
(not checked:)
2. beita (verb; °-tt-): beat, tack
heittiz ‘was burnt’
(not checked:)
4. heita (verb): [was burnt, heat]
notes
[8] heittiz ‘was burnt’: Lit. ‘was heated’.
Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses
This stanza provides the Fourth Grammarian’s fourth example of antitheton. Here, as he explains, the first and fourth words of each couplet belong together, in such a way that two clauses are created in a cross-over pattern in each helmingr, making four independent clauses in the stanza as a whole, referring to two legendary subjects, the pirate or sea-king Haki and the Danish king Hrólfr kraki ‘Pole-ladder’.
In this ingenious stanza, in every line of which there is full internal rhyme, words 1, 4, 5 and 8 in the first helmingr form a clause, while words 2, 3, 6 and 7 do likewise. In the second helmingr the same combination of words (1, 4, 5, 8) form another clause referring to the subject of the first clause in helmingr 1 (Haki), while words 2, 3, 6 and 7 form a second clause with Hrólfr kraki as their subject. Following the pattern established in st. 23, the poet dwells on how these two heroes met their deaths. The same two subjects are also treated in st. 27 (q.v.). The dual rhyming subjects of Haki and Kraki may have been suggested by SnSt Ht 94, where they are also juxtaposed. The metre is inn nýi háttr ‘the new verse-form’, illustrated in SnSt Ht 73.
Stanza/chapter/text segment
Use the buttons at the top of the page to navigate between stanzas in a poem.
Information tab
- text: if the stanza has been published, the edited text of the stanza and translation are here; if it hasn't been published an old edition (usually Skj) is given for reference
- sources: a list of the manuscripts or inscriptions containing this stanza, with page and line references and links (eye button) to images where available, and transcription where available
- readings: a list of variant manuscript readings of words in the main text
- editions and texts: a list of editions of the stanza with links to the bibliography; and a list of prose works in which the stanza occurs, allowing you to navigate within the prose context
- notes and context: notes not linked to individual words are given here, along with the account of the prose context for the stanza, where relevant
Interactive tab
The text and translation are given here, with buttons to toggle whether the text is shown in the verse order or prose word order. Clicking on indiviudal words gives dictionary links, variant readings, kennings and notes, where relevant.
Full text tab
This is the text of the edition in a similar format to how the edition appears in the printed volumes.
Chapter/text segment
This view is also used for chapters and other text segments. Not all the headings shown are relevant to such sections.