Þjóð Haustl 1^III

Hvé skalk gótt at gjǫldum
gunnveggjar brú leggja
…
raddkleif at Þórleifi.
Týframra sék tíva
trygglaust of far þriggja
á hreingǫru hlýri
Hildar fats ok Þjaza.

Hvé skalk leggja … gótt ... at gjǫldum {brú {gunnveggjar}} ... {raddkleif} at Þórleifi. Sék trygglaust of far þriggja týframra tíva ok Þjaza á {hreingǫru hlýri {fats Hildar}}.

How can I provide … good ... as recompense {for the bridge {of the battle-wall}} [SHIELD-WALL > SHIELD] ... {voice-cliff} [SHIELD] from Þorleifr. I see the insecure situation of three god-bold deities and Þjazi on {the brightly made surface {of the clothing of Hildr <valkyrie>}} [ARMOUR > SHIELD-FACE].

Mss: R(25v), Tˣ(26r), W(55) (SnE)

Readings: [1] Hvé skalk (‘Hue skal ec’): so Tˣ, ‘[…]’ R, hvé skal W;    gótt: ‘[…]’ R, ‘got’ Tˣ, ‘goðs’ W;    at: so all others, ‘[…]’ R;    gjǫldum: ‘[…]’ R, ‘gioldo’ Tˣ, ‘gjǫld[…]’ W    [2] ‑veggjar: ‑veigar Tˣ;    brú leggja: so all others, ‘[…]’ R    [3] …: ‘[…]’ R, om. Tˣ, space for one line left but not filled in W    [4] raddkleif: ‘[…]’ R, naddkleif Tˣ, ‘[…]addkleif’ W;    at Þórleifi: so all others, ‘[…]’ R;    at: so all others, ‘[…]’ R    [5] ‑framra: framma Tˣ;    tíva: so W, ‘tifa’ R, Tˣ    [6] of: ok all;    far: so W, ‘fia[…]’ R, fjár Tˣ;    þriggja: so all others, ‘[…]’ R    [7] á hreingǫru: so W, ‘[…]ro’ R, ‘hleingo᷎ro’ Tˣ    [8] Hildar: so all others, ‘hild[…]’ R;    fats: ‘vez’ all

Editions: Skj AI, 16, Skj BI, 14, Skald I, 9, NN §§157, 1809, 2985D, 3036, 3197A; SnE 1848-87, I, 306-7, III, 40, SnE 1931, 111, SnE 1998, I, 30.

Context: Stanzas 1-13 of Haustl are quoted as a block in three mss of SnE R, Tˣ (minus st. 4) and W (minus sts 11/6-13/8) after a short section of Skm on names and periphrases for Norse goddesses. The stanzas come after the listing of kennings for the goddess Iðunn, and are introduced with the statement: Eptir þeiri sǫgu orti Þjóðólfr hinn hvinverski í Haustlǫng ‘Þjóðólfr from Kvinesdal (Hvinir) composed [verses] in Haustlǫng based on that story’.

Notes: [All]: Although the ms. transmission of this stanza is poor, it clearly forms an introduction to the drápa, in which Þjóðólfr exclaims at the task of repaying with a poem the generosity of his patron, Þorleifr, for the gift of a decorated shield, and begins to describe what he can see on its painted surface. — [1-4]: Lines 1-4 are largely illegible in R and missing words are supplied from Tˣ and W. Finnur Jónsson (Skj A) was able to read ‘Hve skal æk gott gioldvm’ in l. 1, but these words are illegible now. Line 3 is lacking in all mss; it is omitted in Tˣ and the scribe of W left a gap for it, but the gap was never filled. — [1] gótt … at gjǫldum ‘good … as recompense’: The line lacks skothending, but this is common in early skaldic verse (cf. Gade 1995a, 6). The prep. at in Tˣ and W is required on grounds of sense and metre and may also have been present in R (so, tentatively Skj AI, 16 n. and Faulkes, SnE 1998, I, 139). Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) adopts W’s góðs and renders the line as Hvé skalk góðs at gjǫldum, but does not provide a prose order or translation for ll. 1-4. Kock (Skald; cf. NN §3197A) emends gótt/góðs to gilds, for which there is no ms. justification. Faulkes (SnE 1998, I, 177) has proposed construing ll. 1-2 without at (l. 1) as ‘…’, but this must be rejected as hypometrical and syntactically dubious. — [2] brú gunnveggjar ‘for the bridge of the battle-wall [SHIELD-WALL > SHIELD]’: It is presumed that brú ‘bridge’ is dat. Gunnveggr ‘battle-wall’ (hap. leg.) refers to a defensive formation of overlapping shields presented to the enemy in battle. — [4] raddkleif ‘voice-cliff [SHIELD]’: Finnur Jónsson (Skj A) reported in a note that the initial <r> of this cpd was beskadiget ‘damaged’ in W, though he gives ‘raddkleif’ in the variant readings, while Faulkes (SnE 1998, I, 139) claimed it was illegible by the time he came to examine it, and it is illegible now. The shield-kenning is unusual, and may not be complete, assuming the rest of an inverted tvíkent kenning comprised the gen. of a word for ‘weapon’, whose voice is battle, and whose cliff is a shield (cf. SnE 1998, II, 372). Holtsmark (1949, 9) adopts Tˣ’s reading naddkleif ‘spear-point cliff [SHIELD]’. — [4] at Þórleifi ‘from Þorleifr’: Presumably the name of the poet’s patron, possibly (certainly LP: Þórleifr) to be identified with Þorleifr inn spaki ‘the Wise’, the son of Hǫrða-Kári, c. 900, or possibly later, if he is the same Þorleifr as the one who was involved in setting up the Icelandic alþingi in 930 (cf. ÍF 1, 7 and n., 313; cf. ÍF 26, 163 n.; SnE 1998, I, 169; Holtsmark 1949, 5). — [6] of: Emendation, as all mss read ok ‘and’. Of is a pleonastic particle used with pret. tenses and pret. participles of verbs and some nouns, found most often in early poetry, later replaced by um (cf. Kuhn 1929a; Fidjestøl 1989b). — [7-8] á hreingǫru hlýri fats Hildar ‘on the brightly-made surface of the clothing of Hildr <valkyrie> [ARMOUR > SHIELD-FACE]’: Þjóðólfr seems to have created this unusual tvíkent kenning to draw his audience’s attention to the brightly decorated shield-face upon which the scenes he was to describe were painted or carved. — [8] fats ‘of the clothing’: An emendation, first proposed by Konráð Gíslason (1876, 329 and see Skj AI, 16 n.), for all mss’ ‘vez’ or ‘uez’, which does not make sense. Skald (cf. NN §1809) emends to nets, giving the kenning nets Hildar ‘of the net of Hildr [SHIELD]’, but this emendation does not provide aðalhending. — [8] Þjaza ‘Þjazi’: Name of a giant, mentioned in a number of eddic and skaldic poems, as well as in Gylf (SnE 2005, 23-4) and Skm (SnE 1998, I, 1-2). Various etymologies of his name have been proposed; see AEW: Þjazi and Note to Þul Jǫtna I 1/4. He sought to abduct the goddess Iðunn by pressuring Loki into enticing her away from Ásgarðr, after he had first prevented Óðinn’s, Hœnir’s and Loki’s dinner (an ox) from cooking while they were away from home. After his death, his daughter Skaði sought compensation from the gods for her father’s killing.

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. AEW = Vries, Jan de. 1962. Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 2nd rev. edn. Rpt. 1977. Leiden: Brill.
8. 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.
9. Gade, Kari Ellen. 1995a. The Structure of Old Norse dróttkvætt Poetry. Islandica 49. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
10. ÍF 1 (parts 1 and 2) = Íslendingabók; Landnámabók. Ed. Jakob Benediktsson. 1968. Rpt. as one volume 1986.
11. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
12. SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
13. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
14. Kuhn, Hans (1899). 1929a. Das Füllwort of-um im Altwestnordischen: Eine Untersuchung zur Geschichte der germanischen Präfixe: Ein Beitrag zur altgermanischen Metrik. Ergänzungsheft zur Zeitschrift für vergleichende Sprachforschung auf dem Gebiet der indogermanischen Sprachen 8. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.
15. SnE 2005 = Snorri Sturluson. 2005. Edda: Prologue and Gylfaginning. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
16. Konráð Gíslason. 1876. ‘Œgir og Ægir’. ÅNOH, 312-30.
17. Holtsmark, Anne. 1949. ‘Myten om Idun og Tjatse i Tjodolvs Haustlǫng’. ANF 64, 1-73.
18. Fidjestøl, Bjarne. 1989b. ‘Ekspletivpartikkelen som dateringskriterium: Forsøk i filologisk statistikk’. In Eithun et al. 1989, 46-64. Trans. with additions as ‘The Expletive Particle’ in Fidjestøl 1999, 207-30.
19. Internal references
20. Edith Marold 2017, ‘Snorra Edda (Prologue, Gylfaginning, Skáldskaparmál)’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols [check printed volume for citation].
21. (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)
22. (forthcoming), ‘ Snorri Sturluson, Gylfaginning’ 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=113> (accessed 20 April 2024)
23. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Jǫtna heiti I 1’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 707.
24. Margaret Clunies Ross 2017, ‘ Þjóðólfr ór Hvini, Haustlǫng’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 431. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1438> (accessed 20 April 2024)