Anon (FoGT) 29^III

Mætum stend eg að móti
mensveigjanda eigi;
rís eg við Ránar eisu
runni flærðarkunnum.
Því heit eg víst að veita
vígs dreingiligt geingi;
þier heit eg mest að móti
meginstrangliga að ganga.

Eg stend eigi að móti {mætum mensveigjanda}; eg rís við {flærðarkunnum runni {eisu Ránar}}. Eg heit því víst að veita dreingiligt geingi vígs; eg heit mest að ganga meginstrangliga að móti þier.

I do not stand opposed to {the excellent necklace-distributor} [GENEROUS MAN]; I oppose {the notoriously deceitful tree {of the fire of Rán <goddess>}} [GOLD > MAN]. I certainly promise to give valiant support in a fight; I promise most to oppose you very strongly.

Mss: W(116) (FoGT)

Readings: [2] men‑: ‘man’ W

Editions: Skj AII, 218, Skj BII, 236, Skald II, 122; SnE 1848-87, II, 228-9, III, 160, FoGT 1884, 139-40, 279-80, FoGT 2004, 48, 73, 137-9, FoGT 2014, 32-3, 116.

Context: Stanza 29 in dróttkvætt metre illustrates the figure called aclacassis (Lat. antanaclassis or anticlasis) in the prose of FoGT. It is defined thus: Aclacassis er þat, ef maðr setr tvenna skilninga gagnstaðliga með einvm orðum ‘Aclacassis comes about if one proposes two opposing meanings with the same words’. Straight after the stanza, the author comments: Her er þessi figvra tvitekin ok synd í bꜳ̋ðvm visv helmingvm ‘Here this figure is repeated and shown in both halves of the stanza’.

Notes: [All]: FoGT’s representation of the figure anticlasis is dependent on the prescription in the Doctrinale (Reichling 1893, 176, ll. 2608-9): Sensus oppositos notat anticlasis eodem | verbo: non obsto, sed toto posse resisto ‘Anticlasis denotes opposite senses in the same word: I do not oppose, but I resist in everything possible’. The Icelandic examples in the first helmingr, Eg stend eigi að móti ‘I do not stand opposed’ and eg rís við ‘I oppose’, are clearly dependent on the similar senses of the verbs obsto and resisto in the Latin example. In the second helmingr the relevance of the examples to the figure is less clear, though both probably indicate that the speaker will fight or oppose his adversary (‘you’ in l. 7); both clauses use forms of the verb heita in the sense ‘promise’ rather than any of its other meanings (‘call, be called, invoke’). — [2] mensveigjanda ‘necklace-distributor [GENEROUS MAN]’: The emendation men- ‘necklace’ from W’s ‘man’ was first proposed by Björn Magnússon Ólsen (FoGT 1884, 279-80) and has been adopted by all subsequent eds. Man might mean a female slave, though this sense would be inappropriate in context. SnE 1848-87, III, 160 proposed the meaning ‘horse’ (from manr adj. ‘maned one’, only in Akv 29/2), but this sense of the cpd cannot be paralleled. — [5] heit því ‘promise’: Lit. ‘promise that’, with því ‘that’ regarded as dat. object of heita ‘to promise’. Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) and Kock (Skald) emend to þér ‘to you’, dat. object of veita ‘give’, presumably to ensure that both clauses use similar words to express opposite meanings. — [6] geingi vígs ‘support in a fight’: Lit. ‘support of a fight’.

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. FoGT 1884 = Björn Magnússon Ólsen, ed. 1884. Den tredje og fjærde grammatiske afhandling i Snorres Edda tilligemed de grammatiske afhandlingers prolog og to andre tillæg. SUGNL 12. Copenhagen: Knudtzon.
6. FoGT 2004 = Longo, Michele, ed. [2004]. ‘Il Quarto Trattato Grammaticale Islandese: Testo, Traduzione e Commento’. Dottorato di Ricerca in ‘Linguistica Sincronica e Diacronica’ (XV Ciclo). Palermo: Università degli Studi di Palermo, Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia.
7. Reichling, Dietrich, ed. 1893. Das Doctrinale des Alexander de Villa-Dei. Monumenta Germaniae paedagogica 12. Berlin: A. Hofmann & Comp. Rpt. 1974. Burt Franklin Research and Source Works Series, Studies in the History of Education 11. New York: Burt Franklin.
8. FoGT 2014 = Clunies Ross, Margaret and Jonas Wellendorf, eds. 2014. The Fourth Grammatical Treatise. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
9. Internal references
10. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, The Fourth Grammatical Treatise’ 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=34> (accessed 16 April 2024)
11. Not published: do not cite ()