Gripla - 01.01.1975, Page 88

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GRIPLA
possible that the drápa itself contains internal evidence which suggests
the use of either written or oral sources.
In relation to the dating of the poem, I would first like to examine
certain points of style. Möbius maintains the view, as was mentioned
earlier, that the free and simple stylistic structure of the íslendinga-
drápa (‘die leichte und einfache Fiigung des Vortrags’), points to a
composition date later than the mid-thirteenth century. It is not easy
to make such general characteristics of style into a criterion for dating
verses, particularly since the development of dróttkvæði is often a
long drawn out process such that there may be wide ranging vari-
ations of style between the poets of any single period, despite an over-
all development towards stylistic simplicity.
It is my impression, however, that the form of the drápa is actu-
ally considerably complex, and therefore likely to be of an early date.
The kennings are multiple and intricate, and the sentence structure
highly interwoven. I would consider that this type of poetic technique
belongs more to the twelfth than to the thirteenth century. There are
also certain linguistic characteristics in the poem which suggest an
early date of composition.
The rhyme, for example, in a number of ‘aðalhendingar’ demands
the early forms fing (v. 7, 1. 6) and ging (13,8; 14,6). The alternative
forms feng and geng are also of an early date, but are more to be
expected in later periods.10 In the manuscript, the first example is
written feng, in accordance with the form current at the time of
writing, but the remaining two are abbreviated with a superscript
stroke.
Also in one ‘aðalhending’, the vowels o and a (13,6) are rhymed
together, and it is generally believed that this particular rhyming pair
disappeared late in the twelfth century.11
The word ófáum (or ófpum) also appears in a non-assimilated form
(19,8). After 1200, the contracted form ófám is normally to be expec-
ted.12 In the manuscript under discussion the word appears as ófám,
10 Finnur Jónsson, Det norsk-islandske skjaldesprog, pp. 98-99.
11 Hreinn Benediktsson, Phonemic Neutralization and Inaccurate Rhymes, Acta
phil. Scand. 26, 1963, p. 11.
12 Adolf Noreen, Altnordische Grammatik I (1970), p. 115 (and works there
cited).