SnSt Ht 43^III

Samþykkjar fremr søkkum
snar-Baldr hjarar aldir;
gunnhættir kann Grotta
glaðdript hraða skipta.
Féstríðir kná Fróða
friðbygg liði tryggva;
fjǫlvinjat hylr Fenju
falr meldr alinveldi.

{Snar-Baldr hjarar} fremr aldir søkkum samþykkjar; {gunnhættir} kann skipta {glaðdript Grotta} hraða. {Féstríðir} kná tryggva liði {friðbygg Fróða}; {falr meldr Fenju} hylr {fjǫlvinjat alinveldi}.

{The bold Baldr <god> of the sword} [WARRIOR] promotes people with treasures of accord; {the battle-darer} [WARRIOR] distributes {the cheerful snowdrift of Grotti <hand-mill>} [GOLD] quickly. {The money-fighter} [GENEROUS MAN] secures {the peace-barley of Fróði <legendary king>} [GOLD] for the troop; {the marketable flour of Fenja <giantess>} [GOLD] covers {the many-meadowed elbow-realm} [HAND].

Mss: R(49r), Tˣ(51r), W(145), U(53v) (SnE)

Readings: [1] Sam‑: corrected from Sann‑ W;    søkkum: so all others, ‘sꜹckv’ R    [3] Grotta: ‘grottv’ W    [4] glað‑: grað‑ W    [5] kná: kann W    [7] ‑vinjat: ‑vinjar W    [8] falr: fal‑ W

Editions: Skj AII, 64, Skj BII, 73, Skald II, 41, NN §§1315, 2179; SnE 1848-87, I, 654-5, II, 391, III, 119, SnE 1879-81, I, 8, 79, II, 18, SnE 1931, 235, SnE 2007, 21; Konráð Gíslason 1895-7, I, 26.

Context: The dróttkvætt variant is called in minni alhenda ‘the lesser completely-rhymed’. Each line contains two pairs of hendingar (skothending in the odd lines and aðalhending in the even lines).

Notes: [All]: Occasional double rhymes are also attested elsewhere in dróttkvætt poetry. See the examples given in SnE 2007, 82. — [All]: The heading in Tˣ is minni aðalhenda. 35. ‘the lesser full rhyme. 35’, and that term also occurs in the prose that precedes the stanza in R. — [All]: In W, sts 43 and 44 are given in the reverse order. — [All]: The legendary frame of reference for the gold-kennings in this stanza is Grottasǫngr, the tale of the Danish king Fróði Friðleifsson’s two servant women, the giantesses Fenja and Menja, who grind gold on the hand-mill Grotti (Grott, SnE 1998, I, 51-8). See also ESk Øxfl 3, 6, Note to Anon Bjark 4/3 and Note to ll. 5-6 below. — [1] samþykkjar ‘of accord’: In R ‘Samþickiar’ (a later spelling) has been altered to ‘Samþyckiar’ (R*). — [1] søkkum ‘with treasures’: In R ‘sꜹckv’ has been altered to søkkvi (acc. or dat. sg.) ‘destroyer’ (R*). It is possible that an abbreviation for <ir> has been erased at the end of ‘sꜹckv’ in R (Skj A reads ‘sꜹckvir’), but if so, that abbreviation is no longer legible. — [2] snar-Baldr ‘the bold Baldr <god>’: So all mss. All earlier eds render the cpd as an adj. plus a noun, snarr Baldr ‘the bold Baldr’. In view of all the compounds in which snar- forms the first element (see LP), that emendation is unnecessary. — [3-4] glaðdript Grotta ‘the cheerful snowdrift of Grotti <hand-mill> [GOLD]’: This is a rather unconventional kenning for ‘gold’, because ‘snowdrift’ is usually the base-word in silver-kennings. See Note to Rv Lv 17/2^II. — [5] féstríðir ‘the money-fighter [GENEROUS MAN]’: A person who destroys money and wealth by distributing it to his men. — [5-6] friðbygg Fróða ‘the peace-barley of Fróði <legendary king> [GOLD]’: According to Skm (SnE 1998, I, 51-2), Fróði’s reign, which was extremely peaceful, was known as Fróða friðr ‘Fróði’s peace’. There were no thieves or robbers in Denmark during his reign, and a gold ring lay undisturbed for a long time on Jalangrsheiðr (a heath near Jellinge in Jylland). See also Note to Þjóð Yt 1/2^I. — [7, 8] fjǫlvinjat alinveldi ‘the many-meadowed elbow-realm [HAND]’: This is the hand with many fingers (‘meadows’) on which to put golden rings. Fjǫlvinjat has been altered in R to fjǫlvinjaðr (R*) which gives the reading fjǫlvinjaðr falr meldr Fenju ‘the many-meadowed marketable flour of Fenja’, i.e. ‘the marketable gold which rests on many meadows (has many recipients)’ (adopted in SnE 1848-87 and Skj B).

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj A = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15a. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. A: Tekst efter håndskrifterne. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1967. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
3. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
4. 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.
5. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
6. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
7. 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.
8. SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
9. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
10. Konráð Gíslason. 1895-7. Efterladte skrifter. 2 vols. I: Forelæsninger over oldnordiske skjaldekvad. II: Forelæsninger og videnskablige afhandlinger. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
11. SnE 2007 = Snorri Sturluson. 2007. Edda: Háttatal. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
12. SnE 1879-81 = Möbius, Theodor, ed. 1879-81. Hattatal Snorra Sturlusonar. 2 vols. Halle an de Saale: Verlag der Buchhandlung des Waisenhauses.
13. Internal references
14. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Poems, Bjarkamál in fornu 4’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 500.
15. (forthcoming), ‘ Snorri Sturluson, Skáldskaparmál’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=112> (accessed 20 April 2024)
16. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Einarr Skúlason, Øxarflokkr 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. 143.
17. Not published: do not cite ()
18. Judith Jesch (ed.) 2009, ‘Rǫgnvaldr jarl Kali Kolsson, Lausavísur 17’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 595-6.
19. Edith Marold (ed.) 2012, ‘Þjóðólfr ór Hvini, Ynglingatal 1’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 9.