SnSt Ht 54^III

Skýtr at Skǫglar veðri,
en skjaldagi haldask,
Hildar hlemmidrífu
of hvítum þrǫm rítar.
Enn í sœfis sveita
at sverðtogi ferðar
rýðr aldar vinr odda
— þats jarlmegin — snarla.

Skýtr {hlemmidrífu Hildar} of hvítum þrǫm rítar at {veðri Skǫglar}, en skjaldagi haldask. Enn {vinr aldar} rýðr odda snarla í {sveita sœfis} at {sverðtogi} ferðar; þats jarlmegin.

{The rumbling blizzard of Hildr <valkyrie>} [ARROWS] is shot over the white rim of the shield at {the storm of Skǫgul <valkyrie>} [BATTLE], and the shields do not endure. And {the friend of the people} [RULER] reddens spear-points quickly in {the sweat of the sword} [BLOOD] at {the sword-drawing} [BATTLE] of the company; that is the power of the jarl.

Mss: R(50r), Tˣ(52r), W(146), U(54v) (SnE)

Readings: [2] en skjaldagi haldask: ‘en skiolldv\n/gi halldiz’ U    [3] hlemmi‑: ‘hlemi’ or ‘hleini’ Tˣ, ‘hleimi’ U    [4] hvítum: hvítan Tˣ, W;    þrǫm: þrym W    [7] aldar: alda W;    vinr: so all others, vin R    [8] jarl‑: jarls Tˣ, W, U

Editions: Skj AII, 66-7, Skj BII, 76, Skald II, 42, NN §2276; SnE 1848-87, I, 666-9, II, 395, III, 125, SnE 1879-81, I, 9, 80, II, 21, SnE 1931, 238, SnE 2007, 24; Konráð Gíslason 1895-7, I, 32-3.

Context: The dróttkvætt variant is called Ragnars háttr ‘Ragnarr’s verse-form’, and this and the following four stanzas (sts 55-8) illustrate metrical peculiarities that occur in the poetry of ancient skalds (fornskáld). Ragnarr is the legendary king Ragnarr loðbrók ‘Hairy-breeches’ (Rloð^VIII); see Ragnars saga loðbrókar (Ragn). The stanza is characterised by a lack of internal rhymes in the odd lines and by alliteration in position 2 rather than in position 1 in the even lines (anacrusis: Sievers’s Types B (l. 4) and C3 (ll. 2, 6, 8)).

Notes: [All]: The heading in Tˣ is Ragnars háttr. 46. The metrical features that characterise Ragnars háttr are fairly common in the earliest dróttkvætt poetry (including a stanza attributed to Ragnarr (Rloð Lv 7/7-8^VIII (Ragn 23)), but they are never carried through as systematically as in the present stanza. — [1] skýtr ‘is shot’: The verb is used impersonally with hlemmidrífu Hildar ‘the rumbling blizzard of Hildr <valkyrie> [ARROWS]’ as the dat./instr. object. This kenning could also be taken as a kenning for ‘battle’, but the context shows that ‘arrows’ are meant here. — [2] skjaldagi ‘the shields do not’: This word is obscure, but scholars agree that the ending ‑gi represents the suffixed negation. Following Möbius (SnE 1879-81, I, 113) and Konráð Gíslason (1895-7), Finnur Jónsson (LP: gi (ki); skjǫldr) suggests an unattested m. nom. pl. form (skjaldar instead of skildir) with the suffixed negation ‑gi (skjaldar-gi > skjaldagi; see also ANG §396 Anm. 1). Kock (NN §2276) adopts the U variant skjǫldungi, which he takes as a dat. pl. (skjǫldum) with the negation ‑gi (skjǫldum-gi > skjǫldungi): skjǫldungi haldask ‘(they) are unable to protect themselves with the shields’. — [3] hlemmidrífu ‘the rumbling blizzard’: This cpd is otherwise not attested in Old Norse, and it is formed from the weak verb hlemma ‘rumble, resound, scream’ and the weak f. noun drífa ‘snowdrift, blizzard’. — [5] sœfis ‘of the sword’: In R ‘sofis’ has been altered to ‘sǫ́fis’ (R*). — [7] aldar ‘of the people’: An attempt has been made in R to erase <r> (or <ar>).

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. 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.
6. ANG = Noreen, Adolf. 1923. Altnordische Grammatik I: Altisländische und altnorwegische Grammatik (Laut- und Flexionslehre) unter Berücksichtigung des Urnordischen. 4th edn. Halle: Niemeyer. 1st edn. 1884. 5th unrev. edn. 1970. Tübingen: Niemeyer.
7. SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
8. Konráð Gíslason. 1895-7. Efterladte skrifter. 2 vols. I: Forelæsninger over oldnordiske skjaldekvad. II: Forelæsninger og videnskablige afhandlinger. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
9. SnE 2007 = Snorri Sturluson. 2007. Edda: Háttatal. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
10. SnE 1879-81 = Möbius, Theodor, ed. 1879-81. Hattatal Snorra Sturlusonar. 2 vols. Halle an de Saale: Verlag der Buchhandlung des Waisenhauses.
11. Internal references
12. 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Ragnars saga loðbrókar’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 616. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=81> (accessed 27 April 2024)
13. Not published: do not cite (Rloð^VIII)
14. Rory McTurk (ed.) 2017, ‘Ragnars saga loðbrókar 23 (Ragnarr loðbrók, Lausavísur 7)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 670.