Anon Pl 52^VII

unz tírrœkir tœki
tveir brœðr of þat rœða
orð, hvat œski-Nirðir
… framast mynði.
Þollr gat … inn ellri
… fyr bróður
lýst ok langa freistni
… hlífar,

unz tveir tírrœkir brœðr tœki rœða orð of þat, hvat {œski-Nirðir …} mynði framast; {inn ellri þollr {… hlífar}} gat lýst … ok langa freistni … fyr bróður,

until the two renown-cultivating brothers began to speak of that which {the wishing-Nirðir <gods> …} [MEN] first remembered; {the older tree {… of the shield}} [BATTLE > WARRIOR] was able to describe … and long ordeal … to his brother,

Mss: 673b(5r)

Readings: [1, 2] tœki tveir brœðr: ‘t[...](c)[...] tu[...]þr’(?) 673b, ‘tøce tu[...]þr’ 673bÞH, ‘tøce tueir brøþr’ 673bFJ    [3, 4] ‑Nirðir …: ‘nir[...]’ 673b, ‘nirþer [...]’ 673bÞH, 673bFJ, ‘nirþ[...]’ 673bJH    [5, 6] ellri …: ‘el[...]’ 673b, ‘all[...]’ 673bÞH, ‘[...]’ 673bFJ, ‘[...]ll[...]þ[...]’ 673bJH    [8] …: ‘[...]’ 673b, 673bFJ, ‘l[...]’ 673bÞH, ‘[...]sc[...]’ 673bJH

Editions: Skj AI, 617, Skj BI, 620, Skald I, 301; Sveinbjörn Egilsson 1833, 32, 61, Finnur Jónsson 1887, 242, Jón Helgason 1932-3, 162-3, Louis-Jensen 1998, 119.

Notes: [3] -Nirðir: This is the nom. pl. of the name Njǫrðr, a member of the Vanir group of gods, and often regarded as the god of the sea in Norse mythology. — [4] …: A determinant of a man-kenning appears to be required here, but the metre predicts only that the two syllables should begin with a vowel and contain -yn. Sveinbjörn Egilsson’s conjecture, undlinns ‘of the wound-snake [SWORD]’, was rejected by Jón Helgason because it produces a poor rhyme. Finnur had ynðis ‘of happiness’ and added of before mynði to fill out the metre. Jón proposed instead odddyns ‘of the spear-din [BATTLE]’. — [5] …: The l. requires a long syllable alliterating with ellri or þollr (unless a conjecture in l. 6 is made), forming the base-word of a kenning. Jón Helgason proposed éls ‘of the storm’, forming a battle-kenning, but éls would produce three internal rhymes. — [6] …: The alliteration requires that the missing three syllables start with a vowel and contain the aðalhending -óð-. Jón Helgason suggested óðaljǫrð ‘ancestral home’ here, based in part on his own reading of the ms. (‘[...]ll[...]þ’), but this is largely conjectural. — [8] …: Jón read two letters (‘sc’) in this lacuna, and suggested lindskífanda ‘the shield-slicer’s’; a four-syllable sequence containing líf ... sk ... is also possible on the basis of the metre and Jón’s reading of the ms.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Sveinbjörn Egilsson, ed. 1833. Brot af Placidus-drápu. Bessastaðir: Helgi Helgason.
3. Jón Helgason. 1932-3. ‘Til skjaldedigtningen’. APS 7, 150-68.
4. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1887. ‘Plácítúsdrápa’. In Opuscula Philologica: Mindre Afhandlinger, 210-64.
6. Louis-Jensen, Jonna, ed. 1998. ‘Plácitus drápa’. In Tucker 1998, 89-130.