SnSt Ht 13^III

Manndýrðir fá mærðar
(mæt ǫld) fira gæti;
(lýtr auðgjafa ítrum
ǫll) stóð sær of fjǫllum.
Rjóðvendils gatk randa
rœki-Njǫrð at sœkja
— hœf ferð vas sú harða —
heim; skaut jǫrð ór geima.

Manndýrðir fá {gæti fira} mærðar; ǫll mæt ǫld lýtr ítrum auðgjafa; sær stóð of fjǫllum. Gatk at sœkja heim {rœki-Njǫrð {rjóðvendils randa}}; sú ferð vas harða hœf; jǫrð skaut ór geima.

Manly virtues give glory {to the guardian of men} [RULER = Hákon]; all splendid people bow to the magnificent wealth-giver; the sea stood above the mountains. I got to visit {the tending-Njǫrðr <god> {of the shields’ reddening-rod}} [SWORD > WARRIOR] in his home; that journey was very fitting; the earth shot up from the ocean.

Mss: R(46v), Tˣ(48v), W(140), U(47r) (l. 1), U(50r) (SnE)

Readings: [1] fá: fær U(50r);    mærðar: ‘mæþar’ U(47r)    [2] mæt: ‘m[…]t’ U(50r);    gæti: gætir U(50r)    [3] lýtr: lætr U(50r)    [4] of: á U(50r)    [5] Rjóð‑: rjóðr U(50r);    ‑vendils: vandill W;    gatk: gat Tˣ, W, gatz U(50r)    [7] harða: handa U(50r)

Editions: Skj AII, 55-6, Skj BII, 64, Skald II, 37; SnE 1848-87, I, 618-19, II, 370, 379-80, III, 114, SnE 1879-81, I, 3, 75, II, 8, SnE 1931, 221, SnE 2007, 10; Konráð Gíslason 1895-7, I, 9.

Context: The syntactic peculiarity illustrated by this stanza is hjástælt ‘abutted’, where metrical positions 2-5 in ll. 4 and 8 are occupied by an independent clause, a ‘saying’ (orðtak) that relates ‘ancient memories’ (forn minni).

Notes: [All]: The headings are ‘uj. h.’ ‘the sixth verse-form’ (Tˣ) and hjástælt (U(47r) and added in R (R*)). — [4, 8]: The two ‘sayings’ apparently refer to one or two myths of creation. The first has no precedent in known Old Norse creation myths, but recalls Ps. 103.6 super montes stabunt aquae ‘waters stood above the mountains’. The second seems to correspond to Vsp 59 – the new world emerging from the sea after ragnarǫk. Cf. Vsp 59/1-3 (NK 14): Sér hon upp koma | ǫðro sinni | iǫrð ór ægi ‘She sees the earth emerge from the ocean a second time’. The syntactic peculiarity of hjástælt is otherwise carried out systematically only in KormǪ Sigdr (see Marold 1990a). — [4] sær ‘the sea’: In R ‘ser’ has been altered to ‘sęr’ (R*). — [5-8]: Snorri visited Hákon and Skúli in Norway during the years 1218-20. — [5] gatk ‘I got’: The word is difficult to read in R because it has been altered (to ‘kann’ or ‘kna’ (?) (R*)). The <t> looks clear and the <k> is almost clear but not quite (the upstroke has been rubbed out). The Tˣ, W variant gat ‘got’ could be taken as 1st pers. sg. pret. indic. with a suppressed subject. — [5] randa ‘of the shields’’: Altered to randar ‘of the shield’s’ in R (R*).

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. NK = Neckel, Gustav and Hans Kuhn (1899), eds. 1983. Edda: Die Lieder des Codex Regius nebst verwandten Denkmälern. 2 vols. I: Text. 5th edn. Heidelberg: Winter.
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. SnE 2007 = Snorri Sturluson. 2007. Edda: Háttatal. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
8. Marold, Edith. 1990a. ‘Skaldendichtung und Mythologie’. In Pàroli 1990, 107-30.
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. Edith Marold with the assistance of Vivian Busch, Jana Krüger, Ann-Dörte Kyas and Katharina Seidel, translated from German by John Foulks 2017, ‘ Kormákr Ǫgmundarson, Sigurðardrápa’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 272. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1293> (accessed 20 April 2024)
12. Not published: do not cite ()