RvHbreiðm Hl 25^III

…
hjǫrþings ǫr*u
réð byrbeiðir
brands huglandi.
…
almr hjǫrsalma
þjóð lofar þat ráð
…

… {{brands byr}beiðir} réð {ǫr*u huglandi} {hjǫrþings} … {almr {hjǫrsalma}} … þjóð lofar þat ráð …

… {the demander {of the fair breeze of the sword}} [(lit. ‘sword’s fair-breeze-demander’) BATTLE > WARRIOR] ruled {a brave mind-land} [HEART] {as to sword-assembly} [BATTLE] … {the elm-tree {of sword-psalms}} [BATTLE > WARRIOR] … people praise that counsel …

Mss: papp25ˣ(43r), R683ˣ(127v)

Readings: [2] hjǫrþings: ‘… dings’ papp25ˣ, R683ˣ;    ǫr*u: ‘orro’ papp25ˣ, R683ˣ    [4] huglandi: ‘hug …’ papp25ˣ, R683ˣ    [6] ‑salma: ‑salmur R683ˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 517, Skj BI, 493, Skald I, 242; Hl 1941, 35, 60-1.

Context: The heading is tøgdrápu háttr (‘Teg dropo hottʀ’) ‘journey-poem form’ (cf. SnSt Ht 68-9). It is a variant of fornyrðislag with aðalhendingar in the even lines. The odd lines may contain skothendingar, but that is not prerequisite.

Notes: [All]: This metre is attested in skaldic encomia (see Section 4, General Introduction in SkP I). — [All]: It is not clear whom the stanza commemorates, but Jón Helgason (Hl 1941) suggests that it could have been Hjalti (based on the surmised h-alliteration in ll. 1-2). Hjalti was one of Hrólfr kraki’s champions (see sts 47-8 below). — [1]: The line cannot be reconstructed. — [2] ǫr*u … hjǫrþings ‘a brave … as to sword-assembly [BATTLE]’: Lit. ‘brave of sword-assembly’. This is Jón Helgason’s suggestion (Hl 1941). The mss read ‘… dings orro’, and ‘orro’ could be read either as ǫru (n. dat. sg.) ‘brave, generous’ or as ôru (m. acc. pl.) ‘men, envoys’. The metre requires a short rather than a long root syllable (Type A2k), and Jón’s reconstruction of the line is plausible. Skj B and Skald reconstruct ll. 1-2 as … þings | orrostu … ‘assembly’s battle’. Rugman does not indicate that anything is missing after ‘orro’, however. — [3]: Skald reads réð byr beiðri (?) without accompanying explanation. — [4] huglandi ‘mind-land [HEART]’: The reading, which follows Hl 1941, is conjectural but reasonably certain in view of the internal rhyme. — [6] hjǫrsalma ‘of sword-psalms [BATTLE]’: For the word salmr ‘psalm’, see also sts 54/8 and 74/4. See also messa odda ‘mass of points [BATTLE]’ (Anon Krm 11/7^VIII).

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. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. Hl 1941 = Jón Helgason and Anne Holtsmark, eds. 1941. Háttalykill enn forni. BA 1. Copenhagen: Munksgaard.
5. SkP I = Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Ed. Diana Whaley. 2012.
6. Internal references
7. Rory McTurk (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Poems, Krákumál 11’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 738.
8. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Snorri Sturluson, Háttatal 68’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1180.