Kate Heslop (ed.) 2012, ‘Þorleifr jarlsskáld Rauðfeldarson, Poem about Hákon 2’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 371.
Hǫfðum í þér, Hôkun,
es at hjǫrrógi drógumk,
— þú rautt Skǫglar skýja
skóð — forvistu góða.
Hǫfðum góða forvistu í þér, Hôkun, es drógumk at {hjǫrrógi}; þú rautt {skóð {skýja Skǫglar}}.
We had a fine leader in you, Hákon, when we advanced to {the sword-strife} [BATTLE]; you reddened {the harmer {of the clouds of Skǫgul <valkyrie>}} [SHIELDS > SWORD].
Mss: A(4v), W(103) (TGT); W(111) (FoGT)
Readings: [1] í þér: þá er W(103) [2] ‑rógi: ‑þingi W(111); drógumk: drógum W(103), gengum W(111)
Editions: Skj AI, 141, Skj BI, 132, Skald I, 73, NN §§2443A, D, 3396K; SnE 1848-87, II, 114-15, 410, TGT 1884, 17, 75, 182-3, TGT 1927, 51, 95, TGT 1998, 132-3; SnE 1848-87, II, 190, FoGT 1884, 120; ÞorlJ 1883, 160.
Context: The helmingr is cited to exemplify a sub-class of the rhetorical figure solecismus (TGT; it is an example of the similar figure protheseos paralange according to FoGT). This type of solecismus, according to TGT, involves the replacement of a word by another which belongs to the same part of speech but is inappropriate in context (þá er hinn sami partr er óviðrkæmiliga settr); FoGT gives the same explanation but limits the figure to the class of prepositions. In the present stanza the authors of the Grammatical Treatises regard í þér ‘in you’ in l. 1 as a solecism for af þér ‘from you’ (though see Notes to ll. 1 and 4 below).
Notes: [All]: The stanza is attributed to Þorleifr in all mss, though FoGT has only ‘Þorleifr’ and W (TGT) only ‘jarlsskáld’. — [1] hǫfðum í þér, Hôkun ‘we had ... in you, Hákon’: Hǫfðum is normalised here from ‘hǫfðv(m) ver’ in the mss, but the line is metrically defective in both its diplomatic and normalised forms. It both lacks hending and, more seriously, does not scan unless the stress is borne by the prep. í ‘in’, precisely the word which attracted the interest of the grammarians (see Context). Kock in NN §2443 suggested Hǫfðum vér þá, Hôkon ‘We had then, Hákon’, adapting the W(103) reading Hǫfðum vér þá er (in NN §3396K he instead proposes the reading presented in the Text above). The unemended W(103) reading þá er improves the metre by providing a stressed vér ‘we’, but it makes no sense, and eliminates the solecismus and therefore the point of the citation in TGT. Finnur Jónsson (TGT 1927, 51 n. 7) questions whether í þér is truly a solecism, insisting that it is ‘completely normal’ (fuldkommen normal). — [2] drógumk ‘we advanced’: The m. v. form of draga is taken here as meaning ‘move (oneself)’, as often in skaldic poetry (LP: draga 12). The variants are inferior. Drógum ‘we dragged, pulled’ (W(103)) is unlikely as draga is usually transitive (TGT 1884, 183). FoGT has for l. 2 es at hjǫrþingi gengum ‘when we went to the sword-meeting [BATTLE]’, but gengum is probably, like drógum, a scribal attempt at simplification (Nj 1875-8, II, 1005). — [4] forvistu ‘leader’: Usually an abstract noun, ‘leadership’, but sometimes, as here, forvista/forysta refers to the person who embodies these attributes (Fritzner: forysta). The grammarians’ citation of this stanza as an example of solecismus suggests they understood forvista as the abstract noun (as in GSvert Hrafndr 5/8IV) and hence considered í þér ‘(we had good leadership) in you’ a solecism for af þér ‘from you’. The ms. forms are forystu (A) and forustu (W, both texts), but normalised forvista, with long first syllable, is required in this metrical position.
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