Guðl Lv 1^III

Hrǫkk at Haugabrekku
hóts meirr en til gátum
fyr hyrgœði hríðar
Halldórr í bug skjaldi.

At Haugabrekku hrǫkk Halldórr hóts meirr en gátum til í bug skjaldi fyr {{hríðar hyr}gœði}.

At Haugabrekka Halldórr recoiled a great deal more than we expected in the hollow of the shield before {the increaser {of the fire of battle}} [(lit. ‘fire-increaser of battle’) SWORD > WARRIOR].

Mss: A(5r), W(104) (TGT)

Readings: [3] hyrgœði: corrected from ‘hæyrgæði’ A, hyrboði W;    hríðar: hríða W    [4] Halldórr: Halldór W

Editions: Skj AI, 543, Skj BI, 524, Skald I, 255; NN §994; SnE 1818, 319, SnE 1848, 188, SnE 1848-87, II, 128-9, 414; TGT 1884, 20, 83, 196-7, TGT 1927, 59, 99.

Context: This helmingr is cited as an example of cacosyntheton or faulty juxtaposition of words, as shown by the inverted kenning in l. 3.

Notes: [1] Haugabrekku ‘Haugabrekka’: A farm on the north side of the Snæfellsness peninsula (TGT 1927, 99). Eyrbyggja saga (ÍF 4, 107) refers to a gathering at this location where a fight takes place, but the name Halldórr is not mentioned. Finnur Jónsson (TGT 1927, 99) speculates on whether the stanza refers to this occasion. — [3] hyrgœði hríðar ‘the increaser of the fire of battle [(lit. ‘fire-increaser of battle’) SWORD > WARRIOR]’: Sveinbjörn Egilsson (SnE 1848, 188) and most subsequent eds emend hyr- to hjǫr- ‘sword-’ to create a battle-kenning; however, hríð can refer to battle by itself (cf. Þul Orrostu 2/7), and can therefore function as a determinant in a sword-kenning, as Kock intimates (NN §994). However, it is possible that, by citing the kenning as cacosyntheton, Óláfr himself considered the kenning as a whole incorrect, rather than the inverted arrangement of its elements. — [4] í bug skjaldi ‘in the hollow of the shield’: This phrase occurs in the same position in Hharð Lv 14/4^II (see also RvHbreiðm Hl 58/4). To hide in the hollow of one’s shield during a fight was considered an act of cowardice.

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. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
7. ÍF 4 = Eyrbyggja saga. Ed. Einar Ólafur Sveinsson and Matthías Þórðarson. 1935.
8. 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.
9. SnE 1818 = Rask, Rasmus Kristian, ed. 1818a. Snorra Edda ásamt Skáldu og þarmeð fylgjandi ritgjörðum. Stockholm: Elmen.
10. Internal references
11. Kate Heslop 2022, ‘ Anonymous, Eyrbyggja saga’ 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, pp. 409-473. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=10> (accessed 19 April 2024)
12. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Orrostu heiti 2’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 788.
13. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Rǫgnvaldr jarl and Hallr Þórarinsson, Háttalykill 58’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1067.