SnSt Ht 100^III

Gløggva grein         hefk gǫrt til bragar,
        svát es tírætt hundrað talit;
hróðrs ørverðr         skala maðr heitinn vesa,
        ef sá fær alla háttu ort.

Hefk gǫrt gløggva grein til bragar, svát tírætt hundrað es talit. Maðr skala vesa heitinn ørverðr hróðrs, ef sá fær ort alla háttu.

I have made a clear account of poetic form, so that one hundred [stanzas] counted in tens are enumerated. A man must not be called unworthy of praise if he can compose in all verse-forms.

Mss: R(53r) (SnE)

Readings: [4] ørverðr: ‘ǫr vþr’(?) R

Editions: Skj AII, 77, Skj BII, 88, Skald II, 48, NN §2575; SnE 1848-87, I, 714-15, III, 134, SnE 1879-81, I, 16, 85, II, 34, SnE 1931, 252, SnE 2007, 39; Konráð Gíslason 1895-7, I, 67.

Context: The metre is ljóðaháttr ‘songs’ form’ (heading in right margin in scribal hand). The stanza consists of six lines: two half-lines linked by alliteration (ll. 1-2, 4-5) and two full lines with internal alliteration (ll. 3, 6).

Notes: [All]: For this metre, see RvHbreiðm Hl 1-2 as well as Section 4 of the General Introduction in SkP I. — [3] tírætt hundrað ‘one hundred [stanzas] counted in tens’: This equals a hundred, as opposed to the ‘long’ hundred (hundrað = 120). The count here must be of stanzas, whereas st. 67 refers to sixty different metrical variants (hættir), sts 1-8 being counted as stylistic variants of dróttkvætt (see Note to st. 67/4). — [4] ørverðr ‘unworthy’: Ms. R has ‘ǫr vþr’, with a blotched abbreviation above the <v> which looks like the abbreviation for er. It is not clear whether this is an addition or alteration by R*, and, if so, what the original reading of R would have been. Later a line was drawn between <r> and <v> (R*) indicating that this ought to be read as one word. Ørverðr is formed from the adj. verðr ‘worthy’ plus the prefix ør- with a privative meaning. The cpd also occurs in Egill Arkv 13/5^V (Eg 109) coupled with the same gen. as here (hróðrs ‘of praise’).

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. SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
6. Konráð Gíslason. 1895-7. Efterladte skrifter. 2 vols. I: Forelæsninger over oldnordiske skjaldekvad. II: Forelæsninger og videnskablige afhandlinger. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
7. SkP I = Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Ed. Diana Whaley. 2012.
8. SnE 2007 = Snorri Sturluson. 2007. Edda: Háttatal. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
9. SnE 1879-81 = Möbius, Theodor, ed. 1879-81. Hattatal Snorra Sturlusonar. 2 vols. Halle an de Saale: Verlag der Buchhandlung des Waisenhauses.
10. Internal references
11. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2022, ‘Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar 109 (Egill Skallagrímsson, Arinbjarnarkviða 13)’ 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. 349.
12. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Rǫgnvaldr jarl and Hallr Þórarinsson, Háttalykill 1’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1009.