Anon (LaufE) 9^III

These anonymous half-stanzas (Anon (LaufE) 9-10) in fornyrðislag (st. 9) and ljóðaháttr (st. 10) are found in mss of the LaufE Y redaction (mss 2368ˣ (main ms. for st. 10), 743ˣ). Anon (LaufE) 9 is also transmitted among the excerpts of LaufE in 742ˣ (main ms.) and 1496ˣ (see the discussion in Jón Helgason 1966a, 176). Neither of these stanzas is edited in Skj and Skald, but they are included (with German translation) in Jón Helgason (loc. cit.).

Á sá hann falla         eitri blandna;
fákr sparn fótum         foldar sveita.

Hann sá á falla, blandna eitri; fákr sparn {sveita foldar} fótum.

He saw a river flow, mixed with poison; the horse kicked {the blood of the earth} [WATER] with its feet.

Mss: 742ˣ(4r), 1496ˣ(36v), 2368ˣ(86), 743ˣ(67v) (LaufE)

Readings: [1] hann: ek 1496ˣ, 2368ˣ, 743ˣ    [3] fákr: ‘–’ 1496ˣ;    sparn fótum (‘spann fötum’): ‘sporum’ 1496ˣ, 2368ˣ, ‘spotum’ 743ˣ    [4] foldar: ‘–’ 1496ˣ;    sveita: dreyra 1496ˣ, 2368ˣ, 743ˣ

Editions: LaufE 1979, 337, Jón Helgason 1966a, 176.

Context: The helmingr is listed in the section on heiti and kennings for ‘river-water’ (LaufE 1979, 337: Arvatn heiter ‘River-water is called’), and the kenning sveita foldar ‘blood of the earth’ illustrates ‘water’ being paraphrased as ben, blod, dreyra og sueita jardarinnar ‘wounds, blood, gore and blood of the earth’.

Notes: [1] hann ‘he’: The 1496ˣ, 2368ˣ, 743ˣ variant ek ‘I’ is also possible, but could have been caused by the fact that the stanza that follows immediately upon this one in LaufE Y and 1496ˣ (Anon (LaufE) 10) is in the 1st pers. sg. (so Jón Helgason 1966a). — [2] blandna eitri ‘mixed with poison’: The reference to this poisonous river is obscure, but it recalls the mythical rivers Élivágar, which according to Vafþr were mixed with poison. Cf. Vafþr 31/1-3 (NK 50): Ór Élivágom | stucco eitrdropar ‘Drops of poison were flung from the Élivágar’. See also Gylf (SnE 2005, 9-10). Jón Helgason (1966a) sees mythical allusions here as well, possibly to Óðinn’s journey to Hel in Bdr or to the river Slíðr described in Vsp 36/1-2 (NK 8): Á fellr austan | um eitrdala ‘A river flows from the east through valleys of poison’. See also Eil Þdr 6/7-8. — [3] fákr ‘the horse’: Fákr is the name of Haki’s horse in Anon Kálfv 1/4 (see Note there), but the word is most likely used as a heiti for ‘horse’ in the present context. Ms. 1496ˣ has a space with a line drawn through it here, indicating a corrupt exemplar. — [3] sparn … fótum ‘kicked … with its feet’: Ms. 742ˣ has ‘spann fötum’, where ‘spann’ is an orthographic variant of sparn (see Heggstad et al. 2008: sperna). The variants in 1496ˣ, 2368ˣ (‘sporum’) and 743ˣ (‘spotum’) must have been caused by scribal corruption at some point in the ms. transmission. — [4] sveita foldar ‘the blood of the earth [WATER]’: The 2368ˣ, 743ˣ variant, dreyra foldar ‘gore of the earth’, is an equally good reading, but could have been caused by the kenning dreyra dals ‘gore of the valley [WATER]’ in Anon (LaufE) 10/3 (see Note to l. 1 above). Ms. 1496ˣ has an open space with a horizontal line, followed by the word dreyra.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
3. LaufE 1979 = Faulkes, Anthony, ed. 1979. Edda Magnúsar Ólafssonar (Laufás Edda). RSÁM 13. Vol. I of Two Versions of Snorra Edda from the 17th Century. Reykjavík: Stofnun Árna Magnússonar, 1977-9.
4. Jón Helgason. 1966a. ‘Verse aus der Laufás-Edda’. In Rudolph et al. 1966, 175-80.
5. NK = Neckel, Gustav and Hans Kuhn (1899), eds. 1983. Edda: Die Lieder des Codex Regius nebst verwandten Denkmälern. 2 vols. I: Text. 5th edn. Heidelberg: Winter.
6. SnE 2005 = Snorri Sturluson. 2005. Edda: Prologue and Gylfaginning. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
7. Internal references
8. (forthcoming), ‘ Snorri Sturluson, Gylfaginning’ 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=113> (accessed 5 May 2024)
9. Not published: do not cite ()
10. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Kálfsvísa 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. 664.
11. Not published: do not cite ()
12. Edith Marold (ed.) 2017, ‘Eilífr Goðrúnarson, Þórsdrápa 6’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 87.
13. Not published: do not cite ()
14. Not published: do not cite ()
15. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Lausavísur, Stanzas from Laufás Edda 9’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 646.
16. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Lausavísur, Stanzas from Laufás Edda 10’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 647.
17. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Laufás Edda’ 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=10928> (accessed 5 May 2024)