Ólhv Frag 4^III

Flugu hrafnar tveir         af Hnikars ǫxlum;
Huginn til hanga,         en á hræ Muninn.

Tveir hrafnar flugu af ǫxlum Hnikars; Huginn til hanga, en Muninn á hræ.

Two ravens flew from Hnikarr’s <= Óðinn’s> shoulders; Huginn to the hanged one, and Muninn to the corpse.

Mss: A(6r), W(106) (TGT)

Editions: SnE 1818, 322, SnE 1848, 190, SnE 1848-87, II, 142-3, 417, TGT 1884, 23, 92, 204, TGT 1927, 66, 102, NK 321.

Context: Cited as an example of prolepsis (‘prolemsis’), which Óláfr defines as follows (TGT 1927, 66): Prolemsis er uppnumning margfalligra hluta þeira, er síðan eru einfalliga greindir ‘Prolepsis is the anticipation of multiple things which later are recorded singly’, which seems to refer to the use of a verb in plural form for singular subjects (cf. OED: prolepsis 1). In order to clarify the point, Óláfr adds a prose word order rendering of the half-stanza, including the singular form of the verb (TGT 1927, 66): tveir hrafnar flugu af ǫxlum Hnikars, Huginn flaug til hanga en Muninn til hræs ‘two ravens flew from Hnikarr’s shoulders, Huginn flew to the hanged one and Muninn to the corpse’.

Notes: [All]: Björn Magnússon Ólsen identifies a close parallel to this in a Latin commentary (the Admirantes gloss on Alexander of Villa Dei’s Doctrinale (c. 1199); cf. Introduction to Anon (FoGT)) on the figure of prolepsis (Thurot 1868, 267): Aquilae volaverunt, iste ab oriente, ille ab occidente ‘The eagles flew, one from the east, the other from the west’. The Admirantes gloss is C13th, but the example ultimately derives from Priscian’s discussion of syntax (Keil 1855-80, III, 125). The strong similarity, describing two birds associated with battle flying from different locations, suggests that Óláfr composed this on the model of the Latin example. The half-stanza nevertheless has an authentically mythological flavour: Huginn and Muninn are Óðinn’s ravens, as described in Gylf (SnE 2005, 32), and the fornyrðislag metre of this stanza is in keeping with eddic poetry on similar subjects. The source of the section in Gylf was likely Grí 20 (NK 61): Huginn oc Muninn | fliúga hverian dag | iǫrmungrund yfir; | óomc ec of Hugin, | at hann aptr né komið, | þó siámc meirr um Munin ‘Huginn and Muninn fly every day over the vast expanse; I fear for Huginn that he will not come back, but I am more afraid for Muninn’. The present helmingr is not included in Skj and Skald. — [1] flugu ‘flew’: According to Óláfr, prolepsis is exemplified here by the use of the verb flugu ‘flew’, which is in the pl. as the first subject is also pl. (hrafnar ‘ravens’), but is also understood as the verb for the later parts which have sg. subjects. This is one of the better examples Óláfr uses to illustrate a grammatical feature. — [1] Hnikars ‘Hnikarr’s <= Óðinn’s>’: This heiti for Óðinn is also found in Grí 47/3. It is used in Anon Liðs 2/6^I in a raven-kenning: gjóðr Hnikars ‘Hnikarr’s <= Óðinn’s> eagle’. See also Notes to Þul Óðins 1/8, 2/6.

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. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
6. CCCM = [Anonymous] Corpus Christianorum. 1971-. Continuatio mediaevalis. Turnhout: Brepols.
7. NK = Neckel, Gustav and Hans Kuhn (1899), eds. 1983. Edda: Die Lieder des Codex Regius nebst verwandten Denkmälern. 2 vols. I: Text. 5th edn. Heidelberg: Winter.
8. OED = Murray, J. A. H. et al., eds. 1884-1928. The Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford: Clarendon. 2nd edn 1989. Simpson, J. A. and E. S. C. Weiner, eds. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
9. 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.
10. SnE 2005 = Snorri Sturluson. 2005. Edda: Prologue and Gylfaginning. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
11. Keil, Heinrich, ed. 1855-80. Grammatici Latini. 8 vols. Leipzig: Teubner.
12. Thurot, Charles, ed. 1868. Notices et extraits des manuscrits de la Bibliothèque impériale et autres bibliothèques. Vol. 22, Part 2. Paris: Impremerie impériale.
13. SnE 1818 = Rask, Rasmus Kristian, ed. 1818a. Snorra Edda ásamt Skáldu og þarmeð fylgjandi ritgjörðum. Stockholm: Elmen.
14. Holtz, Louis, ed. 1981. Donat et la tradition de l’enseignement grammatical: Étude sur l’Ars Donari et sa diffusion (IVe-IXe siècle) et édition critique. Paris: Centre national de la recherche scientifique.
15. Internal references
16. (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 17 April 2024)
17. Russell Poole (ed.) 2012, ‘Anonymous Poems, Liðsmannaflokkr 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. 1018.
18. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Óðins nǫfn 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. 732.
19. Not published: do not cite ()
20. Margaret Clunies Ross 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Stanzas from 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. 570. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=2933> (accessed 17 April 2024)