Ólsv Hákdr 1^III

Gjarn emk máls of, Mǫrnar,
mæring, þanns blik særir.

Emk gjarn máls of mæring, þanns særir {blik Mǫrnar}.

I am eager for talk of the noble man who wounds {the gleam of Mǫrn <river>} [GOLD].

Mss: W(168) (SnE); 761bˣ(261r)

Readings: [2] særir: færir 761bˣ

Editions: Skj AII, 84, Skj BII, 96, Skald II, 51, NN §1331; SnE 1848-87, II, 498, III, 177.

Context: The couplet is cited to illustrate a kenning for a man who distributes gold.

Notes: [All]: The analysis presented here is in conformity with what appears to have been the understanding of the compiler of W. This analysis is almost certainly wrong, but the correct interpretation is now irrecoverable. The gold-kenning as perceived by the compiler is plainly blik Mǫrnar ‘the gleam of Mǫrn <river>’ (Mǫrn is a river in this instance: see Þul Á 3/3 and LP: 1. Mǫrn). The compiler’s understanding of the lines is perhaps further explained by his immediately following citation of SnSt Ht 40/8 hann vélir blik spannar ‘he tricks the gleam of the grip [GOLD]’, which is straightforward in terms of word order and is plainly parallel to þanns særir blik Mǫrnar ‘who wounds the gleam of Mǫrn <river> [GOLD]’, which may have been what prompted the inclusion of Óláfr’s couplet in the first place. However, as Kock points out (NN §1331), the prep. of must not be separated from its object, mæring ‘noble man’ (l. 2): such separation never occurs in dróttkvætt. He takes mæring Mǫrnar ‘the noble man of Mǫrn’ to be a kenning for ‘seafarer’ and blik ‘gleam’ alone as a heiti for ‘gold’. This solution is the only one possible from the point of view of word order. On the other hand, a kenning such as mæringr Mǫrnar ‘seafarer’ is unprecedented, as is the simplex blik for ‘gold’. The correct solution must depend upon material contained in the missing lines. — [1, 2] þanns særir blik Mǫrnar ‘who wounds the gleam of Mǫrn <river> [GOLD]’: To wound gold is to distribute it (by breaking it into pieces).

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. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. LP = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1931. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis: Ordbog over det norsk-islandske skjaldesprog oprindelig forfattet af Sveinbjörn Egilsson. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Møller.
6. Internal references
7. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Á heiti 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. 843.
8. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Snorri Sturluson, Háttatal 40’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1149.