Ggnæv Frag 1^III

Ǫðlingr drap sér ungum
ungr naglfara á tungu
innanborðs ok orða
aflgerð meðalkafla.

Ungr ǫðlingr drap sér ungum innanborðs á aflgerð {tungu naglfara} ok {orða meðalkafla}.

The young ruler launched himself on board ship while young on the powerful activity {of the language of the nail-studded one <sword>} [BATTLE] and {the words of the sword-hilt} [BATTLE].

Mss: R(40r), Tˣ(41v), U(37v), A(15r), B(6v), 744ˣ(42v), C(9r) (SnE)

Readings: [2] á: so Tˣ, U, A, om. R, 744ˣ, C, ‘[…]’ B;    tungu: ‘tunglo’ Tˣ, ‘[…]u’ B, ‘tu. gu’ 744ˣ    [4] aflgerð: so U, A, B, aflgjóðr with l added later R, aflgjǫrð Tˣ, aflgjóðr C

Editions: Skj AI, 140, Skj BI, 132, Skald I, 73, NN §422; SnE 1848-87, I, 524-5, II, 344, 462, 541, 608, III, 109, SnE 1931, 184, SnE 1998, I, 103.

Context: See Introduction. The helmingr is introduced in R with the words: Sem Gamli kvað Gnævaðarskáld ‘As Gamli gnævaðarskáld said’.

Notes: [All]: The helmingr employs dunhent ‘echoing-rhymed’ in ll. 1 and 2 (cf. SnE 2007, 15, 43), and has aðalhending in ll. 2, 3 and 4.  — [2] naglfara ‘of the nail-studded one <sword>’: Understood here as a heiti for ‘sword’ (see Þul Sverða 8/4 and Note) which forms the determinant of a kenning for ‘battle’. The cpd also occurs in Bragi Rdr 5/3 (see Note to ll. 3-4 there). See also ÞjóðA Frag 3/3-4^II slíðrdúkaðar siglur samnagla ‘sheath-covered masts of the rivet [SWORDS]’. — [3] innanborðs ‘on board ship’: Interpretations of innan have varied, depending on whether scholars have (a) understood innan (l. 3) as an adv. ‘away from home’ or ‘abroad’ (lit. ‘from inside’) in association with drap sér ‘launched himself’ (l. 1), as have Skj B and SnE 1998, I, 222, II, 329 or (b) taken innan together with borðs, as has been done in this edn. Kock (NN §422) construed innan borðs as an adverbial phrase, meaning ‘on the ship’ and linked it with á aflgerð orða tungu naglfara ok meðalkafla ‘into the powerful activity of the words of the blade of the sword and the hilt’ (see Notes above and below for a discussion of these lines). Marold (1994c, 574-5), in a discussion of the cpd naglfari, which she understands to mean ‘ship’, takes innanborðs naglfara to mean ‘on board ship’. — [4] aflgerð ‘the powerful activity’: Aflgerð is a hap. leg. Ms. Tˣ’s aflgjǫrð ‘strength-girdle’ offers a variant form of the second element, as do R’s and C’s ‑gjóðr ‘eagle’. Neither of these variants fits the context.  Here the cpd is understood as a metaphorical way of referring to battle, in combination with the two kennings, both of which have base-words meaning ‘language’ or ‘words’. The underlying concept is that of a debate or altercation at a þing or assembly. So both kennings belong to the pattern ‘speech/debate of weapons’ (cf. Meissner 176-8). Marold (1994c, 575) understands a different syntactical arrangement, ungr ǫðlingr drap sér ungum innanborðs naglfara á tungu ok orða aflgerð meðalkafla ‘the young ruler devoted himself in his youth on board ship to the powerful action of speech and of the words of the sword [BATTLE]’. — [4] meðalkafla ‘of the sword-hilt’: The meðalkafli ‘middle piece’ was that part of the sword-hilt between the pommel and the guard (Fritzner: meðalkafli; Shetelig and Falk 1937, 380 n. 1; cf. HHund II 3/7; Þul Sverða 12/6).

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. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
6. Meissner = Meissner, Rudolf. 1921. Die Kenningar der Skalden: Ein Beitrag zur skaldischen Poetik. Rheinische Beiträge und Hülfsbücher zur germanischen Philologie und Volkskunde 1. Bonn and Leipzig: Schroeder. Rpt. 1984. Hildesheim etc.: Olms.
7. Fritzner = Fritzner, Johan. 1883-96. Ordbog over det gamle norske sprog. 3 vols. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske forlagsforening. 4th edn. Rpt. 1973. Oslo etc.: Universitetsforlaget.
8. SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
9. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
10. Shetelig, Haakon and Hjalmar Falk. 1937. Scandinavian Archaeology. Trans. E. V. Gordon. Oxford: Clarendon.
11. SnE 2007 = Snorri Sturluson. 2007. Edda: Háttatal. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
12. Marold, Edith. 1994c. ‘“Nagellose Masten”. Die Sage von Hamðir und Sörli in der Ragnarsdrápa’. In Gísli Sigurðsson et al. 1994, II, 565-79.
13. Internal references
14. Margaret Clunies Ross 2017, ‘(Biography of) Gamli gnævaðarskáld’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 189.
15. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Sverða heiti 12’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 812.
16. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Sverða heiti 8’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 804.
17. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Bragi inn gamli Boddason, Ragnarsdrápa 5’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 35.
18. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Þjóðólfr Arnórsson, Fragments 3’ 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. 161-2.