Anon Óldr 20^I

Hrafngreddir stóð hoddum
hættastr*, jafnt sem ætti,
linns í lypting sinni
látrkennir, fjǫr þrenni.
Yggs þykkjumk ek ekki
ógnblíðustum síðan
hjaldrs frá horskum gildi
hafa sannfregit annat.

{Hrafngreddir}, hættastr* hoddum, {{linns látr}kennir}, stóð í lypting sinni, jafnt sem ætti þrenni fjǫr. Ek þykkjumk ekki hafa sannfregit annat síðan frá {horskum, ógnblíðustum gildi {hjaldrs Yggs}}.

{The raven-feeder} [WARRIOR], most hazardous to hoards, {master {of the serpent’s lair}} [(lit. ‘lair-master of the serpent’) GOLD > GENEROUS MAN], stood on his after-deck, just as if he had three lives. I seem not to have truly heard anything else since about {the sage, most battle-delighting dispenser {of the uproar of Yggr <= Óðinn>}} [BATTLE > WARRIOR].

Mss: Bb(113ra)

Readings: [2] hættastr*: ‘hattr stod’ Bb;    ætti: ‘atti’ Bb    [4] ‑kennir: ‘kęnn’ Bb    [5] Yggs: ‘ygs’ Bb

Editions: Skj AI, 577, Skj BI, 572, Skald I, 277, NN §3127; Munch and Unger 1847, 122, 141, Gullberg 1875, 17, 35-6.

Notes: [2] hættastr* ‘most hazardous’: The ms. reading ‘hattr’ would be difficult to make sense of, whether it represented hattr m. ‘hat’ or háttr m. ‘mode, custom’; l. 2 in the ms. lacks aðalhending; and the presence of stóð ‘stood’ in both ll. 1 and 2 is most likely a case of dittography. (a) This emendation, suggested by Gullberg (1875), makes good sense of the ms. reading and yields a kenning-like adjectival phrase hættastr hoddum ‘most hazardous to hoards’, for which there is a close parallel (SnSt Ht 99/3^III hringum hæztir ‘most hazardous to rings’). (b) Skj B reads hættr ‘hazardous’, leaves stóð ‘stood’ in l. 2 and emends ‘stod’ in l. 1 to skaut ‘shot’. This provides a verb for hrafngreddir ‘raven-feeder [WARRIOR]’ which in the interpretation above is an apposition to the ‘generous man’ kenning, but it gives a less convincing explanation of Bb’s text and assumes that skaut ‘shot’ is intransitive. (c) NN §3127 reads hættr stoðjafnt, where the second (unattested) word is said to mean ‘straight as a pillar’. — [4] látrkennir ‘lair-master’: Emendation suggested by Konráð Gíslason (1866a, 248). Bb’s reading could be construed without emendation as látrkœnn ‘lair-wise’, but this does not provide enough syllables, the necessary aðalhending, or the required base-word to the kenning for ‘generous man’. The kenning is here taken in apposition to hrafngreddir ‘raven-feeder [WARRIOR]’, though apposition of two kennings is rare. It could alternatively be taken as the subject of ætti ‘(he) had’ in the subordinate clause, though more complex syntax results. — [5-8]: The helmingr’s uncertainty about Óláfr’s fate is reminiscent of Hfr ErfÓl 20-7, and sannfregit ‘truly heard’ may be a direct verbal echo of Hfr ErfÓl 22/5.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. Konráð Gíslason. 1866a. ‘Forandringer af “qvantitet” i oldnordisk-islandsk’. ÅNOH, 242-305.
6. Munch, P. A. and C. R. Unger, eds. 1847. Oldnorsk læsebog med tilhörende glossarium. Christiania (Oslo): Dahl.
7. Gullberg, H., ed. 1875. Óláfs drápa Tryggvasonar: fragment ur “Bergsboken”. Lund: Berling.
8. Internal references
9. Kate Heslop (ed.) 2012, ‘Hallfreðr vandræðaskáld Óttarsson, Erfidrápa Óláfs Tryggvasonar 20’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 429.
10. Kate Heslop (ed.) 2012, ‘Hallfreðr vandræðaskáld Óttarsson, Erfidrápa Óláfs Tryggvasonar 22’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 432.
11. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Snorri Sturluson, Háttatal 99’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1207.