Bragi Rdr 2^III

Nema svát góð ins gjalla
gjǫld baugnafaðs vildi
meyjar hjóls inn mæri
mǫgr Sigvarðar Hǫgna.

Nema svát {inn mæri mǫgr Sigvarðar} vildi góð gjǫld {ins gjalla baugnafaðs hjóls {meyjar Hǫgna}}.

Unless in such a way that {the famous son of Sigurðr} [= Ragnarr loðbrók] should want good recompense for {the resounding boss-hubbed wheel {of the maid of Hǫgni <legendary king>}} [= Hildr > SHIELD].

Mss: R(34r), Tˣ(35v), W(78), U(33r), A(11v), C(5v) (SnE)

Readings: [1] góð ins: ‘goð hins’ with g changed from h in scribal hand W, ‘gædings’ C;    gjalla: gegna U, gjalda A, C    [2] gjǫld: gjald A;    baug‑: ‘b[…]vg‑’ U, ‘gaugn’ C;    ‑nafaðs: so Tˣ, A, C, ‘nafagdrs’ R, nafar W, nafrs corrected from ‑naðrs in scribal hand U    [3] meyjar: ‘mæyia’ W, ‘meygi[…]’ U;    hjóls: holls Tˣ, hljóðs C;    inn mæri: inn meiri Tˣ, en ek merkða U    [4] mǫgr: mǫg W, U;    Sigvarðar: sigurðar R, W, A, C, ‘sigrdar’ Tˣ, sigrúnar U

Editions: Skj AI, 1, Skj BI, 1, Skald I, 1; SnE 1848-87, I, 426-7, II, 329, 440, 589, III, 80-1, SnE 1931, 152, SnE 1998, I, 70.

Context: As for Rdr 1; however, the main kenning of this helmingr is cited because it contains a reference to the shield boss or its surround (baugr) as well as the whole shield. The helmingr is introduced with the words Bragi skáld kvað þetta um bauginn á skildinum ‘The poet Bragi said this about the ring on the shield’. After the quotation, Skm explains the kenning thus: Hann kallaði skjǫldinn Hildar hjól, en bauginn nǫf hjólsins ‘He called the shield Hildr’s wheel, and the boss the hub of the wheel’.

Notes: [All]: This helmingr is clearly incomplete grammatically, consisting only of a subordinate clause, introduced by nema ‘unless’. — [1, 2, 3, 4] ins gjalla baugnafaðs hjóls meyjar Hǫgna ‘the resounding boss-hubbed wheel of the maid of Hǫgni <legendary king> [= Hildr > SHIELD]’: This extended kenning, like that in st. 1, includes an adjectival element formed from a p. p., baugnafaðr ‘boss-hubbed’ (from baugr ‘boss, circle’ and nǫf ‘nave, hub’), that both continues and draws attention to the analogy between a shield and a wheel that forms the basis of the kenning. This adj. is a hap. leg. and caused the scribes difficulty. A second adj., gjallr ‘ringing, resounding’, has a similar effect, as it can apply both to the noise of a cart-wheel turning and the striking of weapons on the metal boss of a wooden shield. Hǫgni was the father of Hildr, a valkyrie-like figure central to the story of the Everlasting Battle (Hjaðningavíg) that forms the subject of Rdr 9-12 (q. v.). In skaldic poetry Hildr may be a proper name (and thus the basis of a woman- or valkyrie-kenning), but carries with it some semantic resonance from its meaning as the common noun hildr ‘battle’. — [3-4] inn mæri mǫgr Sigvarðar ‘the famous son of Sigurðr [= Ragnarr loðbrók]’: Some medieval authorities, apparently including Bragi Boddason, regarded Ragnarr loðbrók ‘Shaggy-breeches’ as the son of the legendary Sigurðr hringr ‘Ring’, king of Sweden, who fought against the Danish king Haraldr hilditǫnn ‘War-tooth’ at the battle of Brávellir (see ÍF 35, 59-71; ÍF 26, 109; Flat 1860-8, I, 27; Saxo 2005, I, 9, 3, 2, p. 584).  On the other hand, Snorri Sturluson probably associated Ragnarr with the Niflungar through his wife Áslaug (cf. SnE 1998, I, 50). The R, W, A, C reading Sigurðar has been normalised to the more archaic form Sigvarðar, because positions 2-3 in D-lines could not be occupied by two short syllables until the C13th (see Kuhn 1937, 59-60; Kuhn 1983, 48; Gade 1995a, 31).

References

1. Bibliography
2. 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.
3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. Gade, Kari Ellen. 1995a. The Structure of Old Norse dróttkvætt Poetry. Islandica 49. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
5. Flat 1860-8 = Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and C. R. Unger, eds. 1860-8. Flateyjarbók. En samling af norske konge-sagaer med indskudte mindre fortællinger om begivenheder i og udenfor Norge samt annaler. 3 vols. Christiania (Oslo): Malling.
6. Kuhn, Hans (1899). 1983. Das Dróttkvætt. Heidelberg: Winter.
7. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
8. ÍF 35 = Danakonunga sǫgur. Ed. Bjarni Guðnason. 1982.
9. SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
10. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
11. Kuhn, Hans (1899). 1937. ‘Zum Vers- und Satzbau der Skalden’. ZDA 74, 49-63. Rpt. in Kuhn (1899) 1969-78, I, 468-84.
12. Saxo 2005 = Friis-Jensen, Karsten, ed. 2005. Saxo Grammaticus: Gesta Danorum / Danmarkshistorien. Trans. Peter Zeeberg. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Det danske sprog- og litteraturselskab & Gads forlag.
13. Internal references
14. (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 27 April 2024)
16. Not published: do not cite (Rloð^VIII)
17. 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.
18. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Bragi inn gamli Boddason, Ragnarsdrápa 9’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 41.