SnSt Ht 17III/2 — jarðar ‘of the earth’
Síks glóðar verr sœkir
slétt skarð hafi jarðar;
hlífgranda rekr hendir
heit kǫld loga ǫldu.
Fljótt válkat skilr fylkir
friðlæ (rǫðuls sævar
ránsið ræsir stǫðvar)
reiðr (glaðr frǫmum meiðum).
Sœkir glóðar síks verr skarð jarðar slétt hafi; hendir loga ǫldu rekr kǫld heit hlífgranda. Reiðr fylkir skilr fljótt válkat friðlæ; glaðr ræsir stǫðvar ránsið frǫmum meiðum rǫðuls sævar.
The attacker of the ember of the brook [GOLD > GENEROUS MAN = Hákon] defends the clefts of the earth [FJORDS], smoothed by the ocean; the distributor of the flame of the wave [GOLD > GENEROUS MAN] drives away the cold threat of defence-damagers [WEAPONS]. The angry leader quickly understands pondered peace-destruction [BATTLE]; the cheerful ruler puts an end to the practice of plundering for outstanding trees of the sun of the sea [GOLD > GENEROUS MEN].
notes
[2] skarð jarðar slétt hafi ‘the clefts of the earth [FJORDS], smoothed by the ocean’: Skarð ‘cleft’ is taken as a collective here, based on the prose commentary (SnE 2007, 12): þat eru Firðir, svá heitir fylki í Nóregi ‘those are Fjordane, that is the name of a district in Norway’. The district is Fjordane (ON Firðir ‘the Fjords’), now a part of modern Sogn og Fjordane, located on the western coast of Norway. Konráð Gíslason (1895-7) retained the sg. meaning. He suggested that skarð jarðar ‘the cleft of the earth’ referred to Viken, the areas around Oslofjorden, and that the stanza celebrated Hákon’s victory over the Ribbungar at the battles of Værne and Oslo in 1221 (see Sturl Hákkv 6II and Sturl Hákfl 1-2II).
kennings
- skarð jarðar — the clefts of the earth, [FJORDS]