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Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Hróksv Hrkv 13VIII (Hálf 63)

Hubert Seelow (ed.) 2017, ‘Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka 63 (Hrókr inn svarti, Hrókskviða 13)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 354.

Hrókr inn svartiHrókskviða
121314

Mest váru mér         manna hugðir
Hrókr, bróðir minn,         ok Hálfr konungr,
Styrr ok Steinar,         sterkir báðir,
snarráðir menn,         synir Gunnlaðar.

Mest hugðir manna mér váru Hrókr, bróðir minn, ok Hálfr konungr, Styrr ok Steinar, báðir sterkir, snarráðir menn, synir Gunnlaðar.

Most friendly of [all] men towards me were Hrókr, my brother, and King Hálfr, Styrr and [the two] Steinar, both strong, resolute men, the sons of Gunnlǫð.

Mss: 2845(38r) (Hálf)

Editions: Skj AII, 267, Skj BII, 289, Skald II, 152; Hálf 1864, 34-5, Hálf 1909, 125, FSGJ 2, 127-8, Hálf 1981, 134, 193; Edd. Min. 46.

Notes: [1-2] mest hugðir manna mér ‘most friendly of [all] men towards me’: On the meaning of this phrase, see Fritzner: hugaðr 2. Andrews (Hálf 1909) misunderstands the idiom to mean Ich schätzte am meisten von der mannschaft … ‘I treasured most from the men …’. Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) emends mest (l. 1) to bezt ‘best’ and translates mine bedste venner ‘my best friends’. In LP: hugaðr, Finnur quotes this example under two separate senses of the adj. ‘courageous’ and ‘friendly’. — [3] Hrókr: That is, Hrókr inn hvíti ‘Rook the White’. — [5-6]: Some eds have rearranged these lines, to conform better to the prose text, which mentions a Styrr hinn sterki ‘the Strong’ (Hálf 1981, 177, ch. 5, l. 17); Hálf 1864 has Styrr hinn sterki ok Steinar báðir, while Edd. Min. and Hálf 1909 have Styrr enn sterki, Steinar báðir, Hálf 1909 omitting the comma. — [5] Steinar ‘[the two] Steinar’: That is, the two brothers each named Steinn ‘Stone’, Innsteinn and Útsteinn; see Hálf 26, Note to l. 4. — [8] synir Gunnlaðar ‘the sons of Gunnlǫð’: Gunnlǫð is named as the mother of the two Steinar in the prose text (Hálf 1981, 177, ch. 5, ll. 3-5). She was married to Álfr inn gamli ‘the Old’, jarl of Hordaland (Hǫrðaland), and was the sister of the district chieftain Hámundr inn frækni ‘the Bold’, the father of the two men named Hrókr ‘Rook’. Thus the ‘Stones’ were first cousins of the ‘Rooks’. The pers. n. Gunnlǫð is uncommon (Lind 1905-15, 416-17), but occurs in a mythological context in Hávm 105-10 and SnE (SnE 1998, I, 4) as the name of the daughter of the giant Suttungr, who allowed Óðinn to gain possession of the mead of poetry; cf. Steinþ Frag 1/2III and Note. It is also the name given to the daughter of Hrókr inn svarti and Brynhildr Hakadóttir (see Hálf 75, Note to [All]).

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. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
  4. 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.
  5. Fritzner = Fritzner, Johan. 1883-96. Ordbog over det gamle norske sprog. 3 vols. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske forlagsforening. 4th edn. Rpt. 1973. Oslo etc.: Universitetsforlaget.
  6. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
  7. FSGJ = Guðni Jónsson, ed. 1954. Fornaldar sögur norðurlanda. 4 vols. [Reykjavík]: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan.
  8. Lind, Eric Henrik. 1905-15. Norsk-isländska dopnamn ock fingerade namn från medeltiden. Uppsala: Lundequist and Leipzig: Harrassowitz.
  9. Edd. Min. = Heusler, Andreas and Wilhelm Ranisch, eds. 1903. Eddica Minora: Dichtungen eddischer Art aus den Fornaldarsögur und anderen Prosawerken. Dortmund: Ruhfus. Rpt. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft.
  10. Hálf 1981 = Seelow, Hubert, ed. 1981. Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka. RSÁM 20. Reykjavík: Stofnun Árna Magnússonar.
  11. Hálf 1864 = Bugge, Sophus, ed. 1864. Saga af Hálfi ok Hálfsrekkum. Norrøne Skrifter af sagnhistorisk Indhold 1. Christiania (Oslo): Det Nordiske Oldskriftselskab.
  12. Hálf 1909 = Andrews, A. Le Roy, ed. 1909. Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka. ASB 14. Halle: Niemeyer.
  13. Internal references
  14. 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].
  15. Not published: do not cite (HróksvVIII)
  16. Not published: do not cite ()
  17. R. D. Fulk (ed.) 2017, ‘Steinþórr, Fragment 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. 390.
  18. Hubert Seelow (ed.) 2017, ‘Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka 26 (Innsteinn Gunnlaðarson, Innsteinskviða 7)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 325.
  19. Hubert Seelow (ed.) 2017, ‘Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka 75 (Hrókr inn svarti, Hrókskviða 25)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 362.
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