Anon Nkt 8^II

Réð þría vetr
Þundar beðju
siklingr snarr
ok sjautøgu,
áðr * lofðung
lífi at ræna
ǫðlings kom
einkadóttir.

Snarr siklingr réð {beðju Þundar} þría vetr ok sjautøgu, áðr * {einkadóttir ǫðlings} kom at ræna lofðung lífi.

The brave lord ruled {the bedmate of Þundr <= Óðinn>} [= Jǫrð (jǫrð ‘earth’)] for three and seventy years, before {the only daughter of the chieftain [Loptr] <= Loki>} [= Hel (hel ‘death’)] came to rob the ruler of his life.

Mss: Flat(144va)

Readings: [4] sjautøgu: sjautigi Flat    [5] áðr *: áðr an Flat

Editions: Skj AI, 580, Skj BI, 576, Skald I, 279, NN §§2119, 2272, 3396V; Flat 1860-8, II, 521.

Notes: [All]: The reign of Haraldr is given variously as seventy years (so Íslb, ÍF 1, 6; Theodoricus, MHN 6; Ágr, ÍF 29, 6-7) or seventy-three years (so HN, MHN 104; ÓH 1941, 8; HhárfHkr, ÍF 26, 146-7; Fsk, ÍF 29, 74). The latter number includes the three years when Haraldr ruled jointly with his son, Eiríkr blóðøx (see Ólafía Einarsdóttir 1964, 174-7). — [1, 2] réð beðju Þundar ‘ruled the bedmate of Þundr <= Óðinn> [= Jǫrð (jǫrð ‘earth’)]’: For the imagery of a ruler taking or governing the land (represented by a kenning for the earth conceived of as a woman), see sts 17, 23 and 42 below. See also Hfr Hákdr^III, Notes to ÞjóðA Sex 3/3 and 3/6 and Frank 1978, 63-5. — [4] sjautøgu ‘seventy’: The indeclinable form sjautigi (so Flat) is late (see ANG §450). — [5] áðr * ‘before’: The particle an (so Flat) in the connective áðr an ‘before’ has been deleted for metrical reasons here and passim. The ms. uses áðr and áðr an interchangeably, and the latter makes the l. hypermetrical. — [7, 8] einkadóttir ǫðlings ‘the only daughter of the chieftain [Loptr] <= Loki> [= Hel (hel ‘death’)]’: This must be a kenning for Hel ‘death’, Loki’s daughter, but the construction is obscure. In the present edn einkadóttir ǫðlings is treated as an ofljóst ‘too transparent’ construction: the chieftain alluded to must be Loptr Sæmundarson, Jón Loptsson’s father, as Loptr is another name for Loki (see LP: Loptr). Skj B replaces lofðung ‘lord’ (l. 5) with Loka and reads áðr Loka | lífi at ræna | ǫðlings kom | einkadóttir ‘before Loki’s only daughter came to steal the chieftain’s life’. Loka makes the l. unmetrical, however. Kock emends ǫðlings to the otherwise unattested andljúgs ‘the one who lies in return’ (NN §2272) or andstyggs ‘the evil one’ (NN §2119), i.e. ‘Loki’.

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. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
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. Ágr = [Anonymous] Ágrip af Nóregs konunga sögum.
7. Frank, Roberta. 1978. Old Norse Court Poetry: The Dróttkvætt Stanza. Islandica 42. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press.
8. ANG = Noreen, Adolf. 1923. Altnordische Grammatik I: Altisländische und altnorwegische Grammatik (Laut- und Flexionslehre) unter Berücksichtigung des Urnordischen. 4th edn. Halle: Niemeyer. 1st edn. 1884. 5th unrev. edn. 1970. Tübingen: Niemeyer.
9. Flat 1860-8 = Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and C. R. Unger, eds. 1860-8. Flateyjarbók. En samling af norske konge-sagaer med indskudte mindre fortællinger om begivenheder i og udenfor Norge samt annaler. 3 vols. Christiania (Oslo): Malling.
10. ÓH 1941 = Johnsen, Oscar Albert and Jón Helgason, eds. 1941. Saga Óláfs konungs hins helga: Den store saga om Olav den hellige efter pergamenthåndskrift i Kungliga biblioteket i Stockholm nr. 2 4^to med varianter fra andre håndskrifter. 2 vols. Det norske historiske kildeskriftfond skrifter 53. Oslo: Dybwad.
11. ÍF = Íslenzk fornrit.
12. ÍF 1 (parts 1 and 2) = Íslendingabók; Landnámabók. Ed. Jakob Benediktsson. 1968. Rpt. as one volume 1986.
13. MHN = Storm, Gustav, ed. 1880. Monumenta historica Norvegiæ: Latinske kildeskrifter til Norges historie i middelalderen. Kristiania (Oslo): Brøgger. Rpt. 1973. Oslo: Aas & Wahl.
14. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
15. HN = Historia Norwegiæ. In MHN 69-124.
16. ÍF 29 = Ágrip af Nóregskonunga sǫgum; Fagrskinna—Nóregs konungatal. Ed. Bjarni Einarsson. 1985.
17. Theodoricus = Theodrici monachi historia de antiquitate regum Norwagiensium. In MHN 1-68.
18. Internal references
19. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Íslendingabók’ in Guðrún Nordal (ed.), Poetry on Icelandic History. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 4. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=26> (accessed 25 April 2024)
20. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Fagrskinna’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=56> (accessed 25 April 2024)
21. Kate Heslop 2017, ‘ Hallfreðr vandræðaskáld Óttarsson, Hákonardrápa’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 212. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1257> (accessed 25 April 2024)
22. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Þjóðólfr Arnórsson, Sexstefja 3’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 114-16.