SnSt Ht 65^III

Vápna hríð velta náði
vægðarlaus feigum hausi;
hilmir lét hǫggum mœta
herða klett bana verðan.
Fleina lands fylkir rendi
fjǫrnis hlíð meginskíði
— ǫflugt sverð eyddi fyrðum
jǫfri kent — holdi fenta.

{Vægðarlaus hríð vápna} náði velta feigum hausi; hilmir lét {klett herða}, verðan bana, mœta hǫggum. Fylkir rendi {hlíð fjǫrnis}, fenta holdi, {meginskíði {lands fleina}}; ǫflugt sverð, kent jǫfri, eyddi fyrðum.

{The merciless storm of weapons} [BATTLE] was able to topple the doomed skull; the lord made {the crag of the shoulders} [HEAD], deserving death, meet the blows. The ruler ran through {the slope of the helmet} [HEAD], snow-covered with flesh, {with the mighty ski {of the land of spears}} [SHIELD > SWORD]; the powerful sword, belonging to the prince, destroyed people.

Mss: R(51r), W(148) (SnE)

Readings: [4] verðan: so W, ‘verþn’ R    [7] ǫflugt sverð eyddi: so W, ‘avflvm sotti oddi’ R

Editions: Skj AII, 69, Skj BII, 79, Skald II, 44; SnE 1848-87, I, 678-81, III, 128, SnE 1879-81, I, 11, 82, II, 25, SnE 1931, 242, SnE 2007, 28; Konráð Gíslason 1895-7, I, 40-1.

Context: This dróttkvætt variant is called draughent ‘ghost-rhymed’ or ‘trunk-rhymed’. Each line is heptasyllabic and the internal rhyme falls in positions 3 and 6 (l. 4: positions 1 and 6). According to the commentary, the deletion of the syllable in position 2 would restore the dróttkvætt metre, although, in that case, some of it will not be ‘smooth’ (mjúkt). This presumably refers to the fact that deletion of the second syllable would create lines with heavy dips carrying internal rhyme (except in ll. 4 and 6) resembling skjálfhent ‘tremble-rhymed’ (st. 35) and tvískelft ‘twice-trembled’ (st. 28).

Notes: [All]: Other than in RvHbreiðm Hl 7-8, this metrical variant is unattested in Old Norse poetry. — [7]: The R variant of this line, ‘avflvm sotti oddi’, cannot be construed in any meaningful way. — [8] fenta ‘snow-covered’: Lit. ‘buried in snow-drifts’. This is the p. p. of the weak verb fenna, and the adj. thus sustains the wintry imagery of the sentence.

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 7’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1015.