Anon (TGT) 15^III

Þats orðslœgjum eigi
aldrbót konungs skaldi.

Þats eigi aldrbót orðslœgjum skaldi konungs.

That is not fame for the king’s word-cunning skald.

Mss: A(5v), W(105) (TGT)

Readings: [1] orðslœgjum: ‘vslǫgum’ corrected from ‘vrslǫgum’ W

Editions: Skj AI, 601, Skj BI, 601, Skald I, 293; SnE 1818, 319, SnE 1848, 188, SnE 1848-87, II, 130-1, 414, III, 144, TGT 1884, 20, 84, 197-8, TGT 1927, 60, 100.

Context: Cited as a second example (the first being Ólhv Frag 3) of amphibolia, ambiguity of diction. The figure illustrated here is ‘separation of words’ (sundrtekning orðanna, TGT 1927, 60), i.e. ambiguity concerning which words belong together.

Notes: [All]: Óláfr adds after the couplet (TGT 1927, 60): Hér skiptir þat málinu, hvart eigi er skipat til þess máls, er fyrir stendr, eða heyrir þat þeim orðum, er eptir fara ‘Here the sentence depends on whether eigi “not” takes part in the phrase which comes first [i.e. orðslœgjum “word-cunning”] or belongs to the words that come after [i.e. aldrbót “fame”]’. The ambiguity appears to be whether the sense is ‘That is not fame for the king’s word-cunning skald’ (as in this edn) or ‘That is fame for the king’s not word-cunning skald’ (cf. TGT 1927, 100). For an almost similar ambiguity, see Ólsv Love 3. — [1] orðslœgjum ‘word-cunning’: This word is used elsewhere with strong negative connotations and only in religious contexts, including Jón Lv 1/4^IV, referring to the devil, and in Konungs skuggsjá (Holm-Olsen 1983, 76, 83) where it describes the serpent in the Garden of Eden. The cpd does not necessarily have these connotations in the present context. — [2] aldrbót ‘fame’: The sense of this word (lit. ‘life-reward’) is ‘an improvement in [the skald’s] circumstances’.

References

1. Bibliography
2. TGT 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.
3. 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.
4. SnE 1848 = Sveinbjörn Egilsson, ed. 1848. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar, eða Gylfaginning, Skáldskaparmál og Háttatal. Reykjavík: Prentsmiðja landsins.
5. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
6. Holm-Olsen, Ludvig, ed. 1983. Konungs skuggsiá. 2nd rev. edn. Norrøne tekster 1. Oslo: Norsk historisk kjeldeskrift-institutt.
7. TGT 1927 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1927b. Óláfr Þórðarson: Málhljóða- og málskrúðsrit. Grammatisk-retorisk afhandling. Det kgl. Danske Videnskabernes Selskab. Historisk-filologiske meddelelser 13, 2. Copenhagen: Høst.
8. SnE 1818 = Rask, Rasmus Kristian, ed. 1818a. Snorra Edda ásamt Skáldu og þarmeð fylgjandi ritgjörðum. Stockholm: Elmen.
9. Internal references
10. Not published: do not cite (Jón Lv 1^IV)
11. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Óláfr svartaskáld Leggsson, Love poem 3’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 318.
12. Not published: do not cite ()