Bragi Þórr 4^III

Ok borðróins barða
brautar hringr inn ljóti
á haussprengi Hrungnis
harðgeðr neðan starði.

Ok {inn ljóti hringr {brautar borðróins barða}} starði neðan harðgeðr á {haussprengi Hrungnis}.

And {the ugly ring {of the road of the side-rowed ship}} [SEA > = Miðgarðsormr] glared from below, defiant, at {the skull-splitter of Hrungnir <giant>} [= Þórr].

Mss: R(22r) (ll. 1-2, 4), Tˣ(22r), W(47), U(27v) (SnE)

Readings: [1] ‑róins: so all others, ‘‑toins’ R    [2] hringr: þvengr U    [3] á haussprengi Hrungnis (‘a haus spreingi hrungnis’): so Tˣ, om. R, ‘a havsprengi hrvngis’ W, ‘a havsprengiv hrvngnis’ U

Editions: Skj AI, 4, Skj BI, 4, Skald I, 2;  SnE 1848-87, I, 256-7, II, 309, III, 17, SnE 1931, 96, SnE 1998, I, 16.

Context: This helmingr, along with sts 2 and 3, is quoted in the section of Skm that deals with kennings for the god Þórr. Bragi Þórr 3 and 4 are separated in Skm by only one helmingr and one couplet, both ascribed to other skalds.

Notes: [All]: Stanza 4 is extant in mss R (which lacks l. 3), T^x, W and U. It is introduced by the clause Svá kvað Bragi ‘Thus spoke Bragi’. — [1-2] brautar borðróins barða ‘of the road of the side-rowed ship [SEA]’: The phrase borðróinn barði may have been imitated from here in Eskál Lv 2b/3^V. — [2] hringr ‘the ring’: Base-word of a kenning for Miðgarðsormr in the majority mss; U’s þvengr ‘thong’ is also a viable and seemingly independent variant, and is preferred by both Skj B and Skald. — [3] haussprengi Hrungnis ‘the skull-splitter of Hrungnir <giant> [= Þórr]’: A kenning for Þórr, whose single combat with the giant Hrungnir, in which he shatters the giant’s skull with his hammer Mjǫllnir, is told in considerable detail and with great verve in Skm (SnE 1998, I, 20-4), where Snorri also quotes sts 14-20 of Þjóð Haustl, a poem that describes scenes from this myth painted on a shield. Bragi alludes to the myth again in Rdr 1/2-4.

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. 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. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
6. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
7. Internal references
8. (forthcoming), ‘ Snorri Sturluson, Skáldskaparmál’ 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=112> (accessed 26 April 2024)
9. Margaret Clunies Ross 2017, ‘ Þjóðólfr ór Hvini, Haustlǫng’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 431. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1438> (accessed 26 April 2024)
10. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Bragi inn gamli Boddason, Ragnarsdrápa 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. 28.
11. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Bragi inn gamli Boddason, Þórr’s fishing 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. 49.
12. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2022, ‘Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar 125 (Einarr skálaglamm Helgason, Lausavísur in Egils saga 2b)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross, Kari Ellen Gade and Tarrin Wills (eds), Poetry in Sagas of Icelanders. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 5. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 374.