SnSt Ht 87^III

Drífr handar hlekkr,
þars hilmir drekkr;
mjǫks brǫgnum bekkr
blíðskálar þekkr.
Leikr hilmis her
hreingullit ker
— segik alt, sem er —
við orða sker.

{Hlekkr handar} drífr, þars hilmir drekkr; {bekkr blíðskálar} [e]s mjǫk þekkr brǫgnum. Hreingullit ker leikr við {sker orða} her hilmis; segik alt, sem er.

{The chain of the arm} [RING] flies around where the lord is drinking; {the brook of the cheer-cup} [DRINK] is very pleasing to men. The pure golden goblet plays against {the skerries of words} [TEETH] of the ruler’s army; I tell all as it is.

Mss: R(52v) (SnE)

Editions: Skj AII, 74, Skj BII, 85, Skald II, 46; SnE 1848-87, I, 704-5, III, 132, SnE 1879-81, I, 14, 84, II, 31, SnE 1931, 249, SnE 2007, 35; Konráð Gíslason 1895-7, I, 57-8.

Context: This variant is called ‘the lesser end-rhyme’ (in minni runhenda), because the identical end-rhymes are restricted to each helmingr (see st. 81). According to the commentary, it is a truncated (hnept) version of the metre in st. 86. That is not entirely correct, however, because although the lines end in monosyllables, they are still tetrasyllabic (regular Type B: ll. 1-3, 5, 7, 8; Type E: ll. 4, 6) and not catalectic variants of Types C3 and D2.

Notes: [All]: For this metre, see also RvHbreiðm Hl 47-8. — [1] drífr ‘flies around’: Lit. ‘drifts’, evoking the image of treasure flying around like snow or hail. — [7, 8]: Note the apparently rhotacised form of er in the rhyme er ‘is’ : sker ‘skerries’ (see Note to st. 82/5, 6 above). — [8] sker orða ‘the skerries of words [TEETH]’: This kenning is taken here as a circumlocution for ‘teeth’ (so also Konráð Gíslason 1895-7, Skj B and SnE 2007). LP: sker gives ‘tongue’, which is also possible (cf. rœði tǫlu  ‘the oar of speech [TONGUE]’ in st. 81/4). See also Meissner 133.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
3. 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.
4. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. Meissner = Meissner, Rudolf. 1921. Die Kenningar der Skalden: Ein Beitrag zur skaldischen Poetik. Rheinische Beiträge und Hülfsbücher zur germanischen Philologie und Volkskunde 1. Bonn and Leipzig: Schroeder. Rpt. 1984. Hildesheim etc.: Olms.
6. 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.
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. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Rǫgnvaldr jarl and Hallr Þórarinsson, Háttalykill 47’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1055.