Arn Hryn 1^II

Kljúfa létk í kaupfǫr dúfu
knarra minn við borð in stinnu.

Létk knarra minn kljúfa dúfu við in stinnu borð í kaupfǫr.

I made my vessel cleave the billow with its firm strakes on a trading voyage.

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

Readings: [1] Kljúfa: ‘Klifa’ W;    kaupfǫr: ‘kofvr’ W;    dúfu: drífu W

Editions: Skj AI, 333, Skj BI, 306, Skald I, 155, NN §810; SnE 1848-87, II, 136, 416, TGT 1884, 88, 22, TGT 1927, 63, TGT 1998, 166-7; Whaley 1998, 142-3.

Context: The couplet is cited in Óláfr hvítaskáld’s Málskrúðsfræði (TGT) to illustrate paragoge, the lengthening of a word by the addition of a letter or syllable. After the quotation Óláfr points to knarra ‘ship, vessel’ as an example of such addition til þæss at kveðanndi halldiz ‘so that the metre is preserved’.

Notes: [All]: The ll. share the metre and seafaring theme of st. 2 which, on the evidence of Óláfr hvítaskáld (see Context to st. 2), belongs to the exordium of the poem. The two couplets answer well to the detail of the Mork anecdote about Arnórr’s recitation before Magnús and Haraldr (see Introduction above). The assignment of the two couplets to this poem is further discussed in Cawley 1926-7 and Edwards 1979, 40-1. — [2] knarra ‘vessel’: This is a unique instance of knarri, a m. counterpart to knǫrr f. which appears to have referred to an ocean-going vessel, originally either a royal warship or a trading ship, but from the C11th the latter (Jesch 2001a, 128-32). — [2] minn ‘my’: That the possessive pronoun here takes the form with short vowel is shown by the aðalhending with stinnu, cf. þinn : minna (st. 13/4), minn : innan (st. 16/6) and minn : sinni (Arn Hardr 4/4). In Arn Þorfdr 21/4, on the other hand, mínn is indicated by the aðalhending with sína. — [2] við in stinnu borð ‘with its firm strakes’: (a) Við could be oppositional ‘against’ or instr. ‘by (means of)’. In either case the phrase would be adverbial, modifying kljúfa ‘cleave’ (l. 1), hence ‘cleave the billow with/against its firm strakes’. Analysed thus, the couplet gives a fine picture of the ship’s motion through the waves. (b) Finnur Jónsson in Skj B took the við-phrase to qualify knarra, hence ‘vessel with firm strakes’.

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. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
4. 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.
5. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
6. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
7. Jesch, Judith. 2001a. Ships and Men in the Late Viking Age: The Vocabulary of Runic Inscriptions and Skaldic Verse. Woodbridge: Boydell.
8. Whaley, Diana, ed. and trans. 1998. The Poetry of Arnórr jarlaskáld: An Edition and Study. Westfield Publications in Medieval Studies 8. Turnhout: Brepols.
9. Edwards, Diana C. 1979. ‘The Poetry of Arnórr jarlaskáld: An Edition and Study’. D. Phil thesis. Oxford.
10. 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.
11. TGT 1998 = Krömmelbein, Thomas, ed. and trans. 1998. Dritte grammatische Abhandlung. Studia nordica 3. Oslo: Novus.
12. Cawley, F. S. 1926-7. ‘A Note on Two Fragments of Arnórr Jarlaskáld’. SS 9, 13-17.
13. Internal references
14. (forthcoming), ‘ Óláfr hvítaskáld Þórðarson, The Third Grammatical Treatise’ in Tarrin Wills (ed.), The Third Grammatical Treatise. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=32> (accessed 26 April 2024)
15. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Morkinskinna’ 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, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=87> (accessed 26 April 2024)
16. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Arnórr jarlaskáld Þórðarson, Haraldsdrápa 4’ 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. 264-5.
17. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Arnórr jarlaskáld Þórðarson, Þorfinnsdrápa 21’ 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. 254-5.