SnSt Ht 6III
Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Snorri Sturluson, Háttatal 6’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1110.
Sviðr lætr sóknar naðra
slíðrbraut jǫfurr skríða;
ótt ferr rógs ór réttum
ramsnákr fetilhamsi.
Linnr kná sverða sennu
sveita bekks at leita;
ormr þyrr vals at varmri
víg-Gjǫll sefa stígu.
Sviðr jǫfurr lætr {naðra sóknar} skríða {slíðrbraut}; {ramsnákr rógs} ferr ótt ór {réttum fetilhamsi}. {Linnr {sennu sverða}} kná at leita bekks sveita; {ormr vals} þyrr {stígu sefa} at {varmri víg-Gjǫll}.
The wise prince makes {adders of battle} [SWORDS] slide along {the scabbard-road} [SHEATH]; {the strong snake of strife} [SWORD] goes briskly out of {the straight baldric-slough} [SHEATH]. {The serpent {of the flyting of swords}} [BATTLE > SWORD] seeks the brook of blood; {the reptile of corpses} [SWORD] rushes {along paths of the mind} [CHESTS] to {the warm battle-Gjǫll <river>} [BLOOD].
Mss: R(45v), Tˣ(47v), U(47r) (l. 1), U(48v) (SnE)
Readings: [3] ótt: opt U [5] Linnr kná: linnr kná with spennir added in a later hand U [6] leita: leita bekks Tˣ [7] ormr: orm U; at: so Tˣ, U, ór R
Editions: Skj AII, 53-4, Skj BII, 62, Skald II, 36; SnE 1848-87, I, 606-7, II, 370, 376, III, 112, SnE 1879-81, I, 1, 74, II, 4, SnE 1931, 217, SnE 2007, 6-7; Konráð Gíslason 1895-7, I, 5-6.
Context: The stanza is given as an example of nýgjǫrvingar, that is, extended metaphors (see SnE 2007, 49, 136).
Notes: [All]: The headings read as follows: ‘nygiøʀningaʀ uj.’ ‘extended metaphors, six’ (Tˣ) and nygervingar (U(47r)) (no longer legible in R). — [All]: The extended metaphors are contained in the snake-imagery here, by which a sword is likened to a serpent sliding out of the scabbard seeking water (blood). In Skm, the term nýgjǫrvingar ‘new creations’ is used in a slightly different sense (see SnE 2007, 49 and Marold 1993b). All of the terms for ‘reptile’ that are used as base-words in the sword-kennings in this stanza also occur as base-words of sword-kennings in RvHbreiðm Hl 32. — [7] at ‘to’: So all other mss. Ór ‘from’ (R), which has been altered to at (R*), makes less sense in the context and was likely caused by ór in the previous helmingr (l. 3). — [8] víg-Gjǫll ‘battle-Gjǫll <river> [BLOOD]’: Gjǫll is the river that separates the realms of the living and the dead in Old Norse myth (see SnE 2005, 9, 47 and Notes to Sturl Hákkv 21/3II, 24/2II).
References
- Bibliography
- 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.
- Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
- SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
- Konráð Gíslason. 1895-7. Efterladte skrifter. 2 vols. I: Forelæsninger over oldnordiske skjaldekvad. II: Forelæsninger og videnskablige afhandlinger. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
- SnE 2005 = Snorri Sturluson. 2005. Edda: Prologue and Gylfaginning. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
- Marold, Edith. 1993b. ‘Nýgerving und Nykrat’. In Nielsen et al. 1993, 283-302.
- SnE 2007 = Snorri Sturluson. 2007. Edda: Háttatal. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
- SnE 1879-81 = Möbius, Theodor, ed. 1879-81. Hattatal Snorra Sturlusonar. 2 vols. Halle an de Saale: Verlag der Buchhandlung des Waisenhauses.
- Internal references
- (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 19 April 2024)
- Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Rǫgnvaldr jarl and Hallr Þórarinsson, Háttalykill 32’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1041.
- Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Sturla Þórðarson, Hákonarkviða 21’ 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, p. 715.
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