Refr Frag 3^III

This helmingr (Refr Frag 3) is preserved in Skm (SnE) and might have been part of a shield poem, because the skald is describing how he received a shield as a gift (de Vries 1964-7, I, 262; Fidjestøl 1982, 179). Guðbrandur Vigfússon’s (CPB II, 167) assumption that the stanza belongs to the poem about Gizurr svarti (Refr Giz) is unfounded.

Dagr vas fríðr, sás fǫgru
fleygjendr alinleygjar
í hangferil hringa
hlýrtungli mér þrungu.

Dagr vas fríðr, sás {fleygjendr {alinleygjar}} þrungu {fǫgru hlýrtungli} í {hangferil hringa} mér.

The day was fair on which {the flingers {of the forearm-flame}} [GOLD > GENEROUS MEN] pushed {the beautiful prow-moon} [SHIELD] onto my {hanging-track of rings} [ARM/HAND].

Mss: R(34r), Tˣ(35v), W(77-78), U(33r), A(11r), C(5v) (SnE)

Readings: [1] vas (‘var’): varð A;    sás (‘sa er’): á C;    fǫgru: ‘fræív’ W, fǫgrum U, C    [2] fleygjendr: ‘fleygendr’ Tˣ, U, C, ‘flæyiendr’ W, A;    alin‑: so Tˣ, W, C, alm‑ R, A, ‘alim‑’ U;    ‑leygjar: ‘‑læyiar’ W, A    [3] í hangferil: ‘a hr[…]’ U;    hringa: ‘[…]nga’ U    [4] hlýr‑: ‘[…]r’ C;    ‑tungli: ‘tv[…]li’ U;    mér: ‘(m)er’(?) U;    þrungu: ‘þrvngþo’ U

Editions: Skj AI, 318, Skj BI, 295,  Skald I, 150; SnE 1848-87, I, 424-7, II, 329, 439-40, 589, III, 80, SnE 1931, 151, SnE 1998, I, 69.

Context: The stanza is cited in Skm (SnE) among examples of kennings for ‘weapons’ and ‘armour’ to illustrate a shield-kenning (here, hlýrtungl ‘prow-moon’).

Notes: [2] alinleygjar ‘of the forearm-flame [GOLD]’: The choice of the reading alin- (so Tˣ, W, C) as opposed to alm- (R, A) is based in part on the metre (alm- renders the line hypometrical), and, further, alm- ‘bow’ does not yield a comprehensible kenning. The suggestion that almleygr ‘bow-fire’ could be an arrow-kenning (LP (1860): álmleygr) is unwarranted (there are no other kennings of this type; see Nj 1875-89, II, 225-7; cf. Meissner 144-5).

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. Nj 1875-89 = Konráð Gíslason and Eiríkur Jónsson. 1875-89. Njála: Udgivet efter gamle håndskrifter. Íslendingasögur udgivne efter gamle haandskrifter af Det Kongelige Nordiske Oldskrift-selskab 4. Copenhagen: Thiele.
4. 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.
5. LP (1860) = Sveinbjörn Egilsson, ed. 1860. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis. Copenhagen: Societas Regia antiquariorum septentrionalium.
6. Fidjestøl, Bjarne. 1982. Det norrøne fyrstediktet. Universitet i Bergen Nordisk institutts skriftserie 11. Øvre Ervik: Alvheim & Eide.
7. CPB = Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and F. York Powell, eds. 1883. Corpus poeticum boreale: The Poetry of the Old Northern Tongue from the Earliest Times to the Thirteenth Century. 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon. Rpt. 1965, New York: Russell & Russell.
8. Vries, Jan de. 1964-7. Altnordische Literaturgeschichte. 2 vols. 2nd edn. Grundriss der germanischen Philologie 15-16. Berlin: de Gruyter.
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. Internal references
12. Edith Marold 2017, ‘Snorra Edda (Prologue, Gylfaginning, Skáldskaparmál)’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols [check printed volume for citation].
13. (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 19 April 2024)
14. Edith Marold with the assistance of Vivian Busch, Jana Krüger, Ann-Dörte Kyas and Katharina Seidel, translated from German by John Foulks 2017, ‘ Hofgarða-Refr Gestsson, Poem about Gizurr gullbrárskáld’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 254. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1231> (accessed 19 April 2024)
15. Edith Marold (ed.) 2017, ‘Hofgarða-Refr Gestsson, Fragments 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. 262.
16. R. D. Fulk (ed.) 2022, ‘Njáls saga 18 (Skarpheðinn Njálsson, Lausavísur 3)’ 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. 1243.