StarkSt Frag 1^III

Þann hefi ek manna        menskra fundit
hringhreytanda        hrammastan at afli.

Ek hefi fundit {þann hringhreytanda} hrammastan at afli menskra manna.

I have met {that ring-distributor} [GENEROUS MAN] [who was] the mightiest as regards strength among human beings.

Mss: A(4r), B(2v), W(101) (TGT)

Readings: [3] ‑hreytanda: ‑heyjandi W    [4] at: at apparently corrected from af B

Editions: SnE 1818, 311-12, SnE 1848, 183, SnE 1848-87, II, 104-5, 407, 510, III, 139, TGT 1884, 15, 68, 176, TGT 1927, 46, 93.

Context: Cited as an example of barbarismus involving the addition of aspiration (viðrlagning áblásningar) (TGT 1927, 46): Hér er hrammastan sett fyrir rammastan at kveðandi haldiz í bálkar-lagi ‘Here hrammastan is used instead of rammastan so that the alliteration is preserved in the bálkarlag metre’. Bálkarlag ‘section’s metre’ is a variation on fornyrðislag described in Ht (see SnE 2007, 38, as well as SnSt Ht 97-9) where the alliterating words are in the same arrangement as in dróttkvætt, that is, the odd lines have two alliterating syllables and the even lines begin with the hǫfuðstafr. The first line here, however, has only one alliterating stave, so in that respect, the metre corresponds to SnSt Ht 99 (see Note to [All] there).

Notes: [1-2] menskra manna ‘among human beings’: This phrase also occurs in Hfr ErfÓl 27/3^I. — [4] hrammastan ‘mightiest’: This form of the adj. ram(m)r ‘strong’ with initial <h> is not elsewhere attested, but is required for the alliteration. The fact that this is the hǫfuðstafr of the alliterative sequence should mean that the other alliterative syllables are dependent on it. Although the sound change hr- > r- occurred in C9th in Denmark (Haugen 1976, 208), the verse cannot be dated on this basis, as the form hrammr cannot be linked etymologically to rammr (see AEW: rammr, ramr). Björn Magnússon Ólsen (TGT 1884, 176) suggests that, given the apparent Danish provenance of the helmingr, it should read ringreytanda rammastan at afli. Óláfr hvítaskáld spent a considerable time at the Danish court (see TGT 1884, xxxiv-xxxv) and may have heard the stanza there.

References

1. Bibliography
2. TGT 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.
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. SnE 1848 = Sveinbjörn Egilsson, ed. 1848. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar, eða Gylfaginning, Skáldskaparmál og Háttatal. Reykjavík: Prentsmiðja landsins.
5. AEW = Vries, Jan de. 1962. Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 2nd rev. edn. Rpt. 1977. Leiden: Brill.
6. TGT 1927 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1927b. Óláfr Þórðarson: Málhljóða- og málskrúðsrit. Grammatisk-retorisk afhandling. Det kgl. Danske Videnskabernes Selskab. Historisk-filologiske meddelelser 13, 2. Copenhagen: Høst.
7. SnE 2007 = Snorri Sturluson. 2007. Edda: Háttatal. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
8. SnE 1818 = Rask, Rasmus Kristian, ed. 1818a. Snorra Edda ásamt Skáldu og þarmeð fylgjandi ritgjörðum. Stockholm: Elmen.
9. Haugen, Einar. 1976. The Scandinavian Languages: An Introduction to their History. London: Faber & Faber.
10. Internal references
11. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Háttatal’ 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=165> (accessed 26 April 2024)
12. Kate Heslop (ed.) 2012, ‘Hallfreðr vandræðaskáld Óttarsson, Erfidrápa Óláfs Tryggvasonar 27’ 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. 439.
13. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Snorri Sturluson, Háttatal 97’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1206.
14. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Snorri Sturluson, Háttatal 99’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1207.