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Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Anon (LaufE) 6III

Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Lausavísur, Stanzas from Laufás Edda 6’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 643.

Anonymous LausavísurStanzas from Laufás Edda
567

This fragment (Anon (LaufE) 6) is transmitted in the Y redaction of LaufE (mss 2368ˣ (main ms.) and 743ˣ), where it is written as one half-stanza along with Eskál Vell 7/5-6I (as ll. 3-4), which is rendered in 2368ˣ as Braktogner hio Bogna | Barg uþyrmer varga. The scribes of the LaufE mss clearly believed that Vell 7/5-6I belonged to the present stanza, but it is impossible to make any sense of the two couplets together. It could well be that they were originally cited separately, and that the kenning bogna brak-Rǫgnir ‘the Rǫgnir <= Óðinn> of the crash of bows [(lit. ‘crash-Rǫgnir of bows’) BATTLE > WARRIOR]’ was given as another illustration of kennings for ‘warrior’ with base-words from Old Norse myth. All four lines (Anon (LaufE) 6 and Vell 7/5-6I) were copied in RE 1665(Hh3) from a ms. of the LaufE Y redaction. The RE 1665 redaction has no independent value and has not been considered here. The fragment is not edited in Skj or Skald and it is not possible to establish a tentative date for the couplet on the basis of metre and diction.

Ok orðvísa Ásu
járnraddar svá kvaddi.

Ok kvaddi {orðvísa Ásu {járnraddar}} svá.

And greeted {the word-wise Æsir <gods> {of the iron-voice}} [BATTLE > WARRIORS] thus.

Mss: 2368ˣ(113), 743ˣ(86v) (LaufE)

Editions:  SnE 1848-87, II, 628, III, 191, LaufE 1979, 371.

Context: The couplet is given as an example of kennings for ‘man’ in which the base-word is Æsir (LaufE 1979, 371): kiender eru menn so, ad kalla Asar sem hier er giortt ‘men are paraphrased in such a way as to call them Æsir, as is done here’.

Notes: [All]: The couplet is too fragmentary to allow for a definite interpretation, and the present edn only attempts to make syntactic sense of the two lines that have been preserved. There is clearly a play on the words orðvísa ‘word-wise’ (l. 1), járnraddar ‘of the iron-voice’ (l. 2) and kvaddi ‘greeted’ (l. 2), but the interpretation of the couplet given here remains tentative. — [1] orðvísa Ásu ‘the word-wise Æsir <gods>’:  Both the adj. and the noun are in the acc. pl. and clearly belong together syntactically, and the noun phrase has been taken here as the object of the verb kvaddi ‘greeted’ (l. 2). — [2] járnraddar ‘of the iron-voice [BATTLE]’: This is a kenning for ‘battle’, but it is not certain that it functions as a determinant for Ásu ‘Æsir’ (l. 1); it could equally well qualify a base-word in the now-lost lines. As a battle-kenning, járnrǫdd ‘iron-voice’ is not found elsewhere. — [2] kvaddi ‘greeted’: This is 3rd pers. sg. pret. indic. of the verb kveðja, which could have several meanings (‘address, greet, summon, demand, put an end to’; see LP, Fritzner: kveðja). It cannot be ascertained whether the translation ‘greeted’ (adopted here) is the intended sense of the verb in this couplet.

References

  1. Bibliography
  2. 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.
  3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
  4. LaufE 1979 = Faulkes, Anthony, ed. 1979. Edda Magnúsar Ólafssonar (Laufás Edda). RSÁM 13. Vol. I of Two Versions of Snorra Edda from the 17th Century. Reykjavík: Stofnun Árna Magnússonar, 1977-9.
  5. 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.
  6. 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.
  7. Internal references
  8. Edith Marold (ed.) 2012, ‘Einarr skálaglamm Helgason, Vellekla 7’ 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. 291.
  9. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Lausavísur, Stanzas from Laufás Edda 6’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 643.
  10. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Laufás Edda’ 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=10928> (accessed 29 March 2024)
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