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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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ESk Lv 2II/3 — skaltattu ‘you must not’

Erlendr hefir undan
allvalds gleði haldit;
gramr, skaltattu, gumna,
Gapamunn of þat kunna.
Hafa munu heiðar jǫfra
hlíðrœkjanda fríðum
— geta verðr þess fyr gotnum —
galdrs nauðsynjar valdit.

Erlendr hefir haldit undan gleði allvalds; gramr gumna, skaltattu kunna Gapamunn of þat. Nauðsynjar munu hafa valdit fríðum jǫfra heiðar galdrs hlíðrœkjanda; verðr geta þess fyr gotnum.

Erlendr has fled from the cheer of the mighty ruler; leader of men, you must not fault Gapamunnr (‘Gaping-mouth’) for that. Necessities must have forced the handsome cultivator of the slope of the chant of the chieftains of the heath [(lit. ‘slope-cultivator of the chant of the chieftains of the heath’) GIANTS > GOLD > WOMAN > MAN]; one must recount that before the people.

readings

[3] gramr skaltattu gumna: ‘[...]’ Mork;    skaltattu: skallattu H, F, skalattu Hr

notes

[3] skaltattu (2nd pers. sg. pres. indic.) ‘you must not’: Skallattu (so H, F; skalattu Hr) ‘you must not’ has been emended to skaltattu (i.e. skalt-at-þú lit. ‘must-not-you’). The metre requires a long syllable in position 2, and the correct form of the 2nd pers. sg. pres. indic. of the verb skulu ‘must’ is skalt.

grammar

Verbs: Preterite-present verbs

The present tense of these verbs is like the past tense of strong verbs, and their past tense is weak.

eigamegakunnaskulumunumuna
indic.
pres.
sing.


pl.
1st
2nd
3rd
1st
2nd
3rd
á
átt
á
eigum
eiguð
eigu

mátt

megum
meguð
megu
kann
kannt
kann
kunnum
kunnuð
kunnu
skal
skalt
skal
skulum
skuluð
skulu
mun
munt
mun
munum
munuð
munu
man
mant
man
munum
munið
muna
indic. past stem
subj. pres. stem
subj. past stem
átt-
eig-
ætt-
mátt-
meg-
mætt-
kunn-
kunn-
kynn-
skyld-
skyl-
skyld-
mund-
myn-
mynd-
mund-
mun-
mynd-
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