Anon (FoGT) 10^III

Blies um hváfta hása
höfuðskrípamanns pípa.

Pípa höfuðskrípamanns blies um hása hváfta.

The lead minstrel’s flute blew across his hoarse cheeks.

Mss: W(112) (FoGT)

Editions: Skj AII, 215, Skj BII, 232, Skald II, 120; SnE 1848-87, II, 198-9, III, 155, FoGT 1884, 124, 252-3, FoGT 2004, 34, 62, 97, FoGT 2014, 8-9, 64.

Context: Stanza 10 follows immediately upon st. 9, and is introduced with the words ok iǫðrvm stað segiz sva ‘and in another place it is said thus’. After the couplet the prose text reads as follows: her er pipan kǫllvt blaasa, sv sem i var blaasít, ok þikker hon iafnan liót figvra, þo at hon finniz iskꜳ̋lldskap sett fyrer skrvðs ęðr navzynía ‘here the flute, which was blown into, is said to blow, and this always seems an unattractive figure, even though it is found in poetry for the sake of ornament or necessity’.

Notes: [All]: The vocabulary in this couplet is very similar to that of Máni Lv 2^II and 3^II, which also describe the musical performances of minstrels. In both cases the performers and their music-making are represented as grotesque. — [All]: Like st. 9, st. 10 was probably invented by the author of FoGT, or someone working for him, to provide another case of hypallage similar to what was in his Latin models. In this case the closest similarity is provided by the example perflavit fistula buccas ‘the pipe blew through the cheeks’ in Alexander of Villa Dei’s Doctrinale (Reichling 1893, 174, l. 2581). — [1] um hása hváfta ‘across his hoarse cheeks’: Hvaptr (so Máni Lv 3/8^II, assured by rhyme) or hváptr (cf. LP: hvaptr) usually refers to the front part of the mouth or the cheeks. It is probably pl. here in imitation of the Lat. buccas ‘cheeks’. The use of the prep. um ‘through, across’ here may possibly suggest the use of a transverse rather than a duct flute (cf. Mayer Brown Flute §II.4, Grove Music Online). — [2] höfuðskrípamanns ‘the lead minstrel’s’: Hap. leg. but cf. skrípalôt ‘strange gestures’ (Máni Lv 2/4^II), used of a minstrel who plays both a fiddle and a flute. In Máni’s stanza skríp- also rhymes with píp-, as here. ON skrípi means something monstrous or grotesque.

References

1. Bibliography
2. SnE 1848-87 = Snorri Sturluson. 1848-87. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar: Edda Snorronis Sturlaei. Ed. Jón Sigurðsson et al. 3 vols. Copenhagen: Legatum Arnamagnaeanum. Rpt. Osnabrück: Zeller, 1966.
3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. LP = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1931. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis: Ordbog over det norsk-islandske skjaldesprog oprindelig forfattet af Sveinbjörn Egilsson. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Møller.
5. FoGT 1884 = Björn Magnússon Ólsen, ed. 1884. Den tredje og fjærde grammatiske afhandling i Snorres Edda tilligemed de grammatiske afhandlingers prolog og to andre tillæg. SUGNL 12. Copenhagen: Knudtzon.
6. FoGT 2004 = Longo, Michele, ed. [2004]. ‘Il Quarto Trattato Grammaticale Islandese: Testo, Traduzione e Commento’. Dottorato di Ricerca in ‘Linguistica Sincronica e Diacronica’ (XV Ciclo). Palermo: Università degli Studi di Palermo, Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia.
7. Mayer Brown, Howard. Flute §II. 4: ‘The Western Transverse Flute: History’. Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy. <http://www.grovemusic.com> [accessed 25 June 2008]
8. Reichling, Dietrich, ed. 1893. Das Doctrinale des Alexander de Villa-Dei. Monumenta Germaniae paedagogica 12. Berlin: A. Hofmann & Comp. Rpt. 1974. Burt Franklin Research and Source Works Series, Studies in the History of Education 11. New York: Burt Franklin.
9. FoGT 2014 = Clunies Ross, Margaret and Jonas Wellendorf, eds. 2014. The Fourth Grammatical Treatise. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
10. Internal references
11. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, The Fourth Grammatical Treatise’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=34> (accessed 26 April 2024)
12. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Máni, Lausavísur 2’ 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. 642-3.
13. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Máni, Lausavísur 3’ 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. 643-4.