SnSt Ht 24^III

Hreintjǫrnum gleðr horna
— horn náir lítt at þorna —
— mjǫðr hegnir bǫl bragna —
bragningr skipasagnir.
Fólkhǫmlu gefr framla
framlyndr viðum gamlar
— hinns heldr fyr skot skjǫldum —
skjǫldungr hunangsǫldur.

Bragningr gleðr skipasagnir {hreintjǫrnum horna}; horn náir lítt at þorna; mjǫðr hegnir bǫl bragna. Framlyndr skjǫldungr, hinns heldr skjǫldum fyr skot, gefr framla {viðum {fólkhǫmlu}} {gamlar hunangsǫldur}.

The prince gladdens the ships’ crews {with pure lakes of horns} [MEAD]; the horn is hardly able to dry out; mead keeps away men’s misfortune. The bold-minded lord, the one who holds shields before the shots, gives {old honey-waves} [MEAD] liberally {to woods {of war-rods}} [SWORDS > WARRIOR].

Mss: R(47v), Tˣ(50r), W(143), U(47r) (l. 1), U(51v) (SnE)

Readings: [2] náir: so all others, ná R    [3] mjǫðr: ‘[…]ðr’ W;    bǫl: boð U    [6] gamlar: ‘ga[…]lar’ W, ‘gamlair’ U    [7] hinns (‘hinn er’): sá er W;    skjǫldum: skjǫldu U

Editions: Skj AII, 58-9, Skj BII, 67, Skald II, 38; SnE 1848-87, I, 634-5, II, 371, 385, III, 116, SnE 1879-81, I, 4, 77, II, 13, SnE 1931, 227, SnE 2007, 15; Konráð Gíslason 1895-7, I, 15-16.

Context: This stanza illustrates dunhent ‘echoing-rhymed’, that is, the systematic variation in the use of internal rhyme where the stem of last word of the odd line (metrical position 5, containing the second skothending) is repeated as the first word in the following even line (containing the first aðalhending).

Notes: [All]: The headings are dunhenda ‘echoing-rhyme’ (added in R (R*)), dunhent .xuii. háttr ‘echoing-rhymed, the seventeenth verse-form’ (Tˣ) and dunhent (U(47r)). — [All]: For this metre, see also RvHbreiðm Hl 65-6 and SnE 2007, 80-1. — [2] náir (3rd pers. sg. pres. indic.) ‘is ... able to’: So Tˣ, W, U. The R variant ná (3rd pers. pl. pres. indic.) ‘are able to’, which has been changed to náir (R*), requires that horn (n. nom. sg.) ‘horn’ be taken as a pl. rather than as a sg. That reading is not supported by the majority of the ms. witnesses.

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. SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
5. Konráð Gíslason. 1895-7. Efterladte skrifter. 2 vols. I: Forelæsninger over oldnordiske skjaldekvad. II: Forelæsninger og videnskablige afhandlinger. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
6. SnE 2007 = Snorri Sturluson. 2007. Edda: Háttatal. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
7. SnE 1879-81 = Möbius, Theodor, ed. 1879-81. Hattatal Snorra Sturlusonar. 2 vols. Halle an de Saale: Verlag der Buchhandlung des Waisenhauses.
8. Internal references
9. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Rǫgnvaldr jarl and Hallr Þórarinsson, Háttalykill 65’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1073.