Gripla - 20.12.2006, Page 23

KVE‹SKAPUR EGILS SKALLAGRÍMSSONAR 21
dered difficult by the lack of good authentic specimens of fornyrðis-
lag from the 10th century. Until we know exactly when, where, and by
whom the poems of the Edda were composed we cannot with any safe-
ty found our investigations upon them. That such lines as stendr æ of
grœnn and ykkr læt’k þat gull occur in Völuspá and Völundarkviða
proves nothing: we must find out, if possible, what was done by skalds
whose names and dates are not matters of uncertainty. Then of course
we may take the Edda poems into account, and see how they compare
with the results obtained (bls. 346–347).
Craigie tekur síðan dæmi úr 9 lausavísum sem hlíta lögmálinu og eru
eignuð skáldum frá lokum 10. aldar eða upphafi hinnar 11. og heldur áfram:
But if these lausavísur are too few to establish the principle as valid
for all correct fornyrðislag, it is not difficult to supplement their evi-
dence from sources more extensive and equally decisive. While long
poems in this metre by 10th century skalds are wanting, we can utilize
for our purpose the even lines of the poems in kviðuháttr, (viz. Yng-
lingatal, Háleygjatal and Sonatorrek) numbering 328 in all. In these
the same system is consistently followed: if the monosyllable ending a
line is a verb, it may have any possible form, e g. Vanlanda kom; þars
Fróði bjó; at hálsi gekk; ept dvergi hljóp; but if it is a noun, only two
types are admissible, examples of which are ef Agna her and í odda
gný (bls. 347–348).
Síðan gerir hann grein fyrir því hvernig lögmálið stenst í öllum þessum þrem-
ur kvæðum utan á tveimur stöðum þar sem hann telur að textinn muni líklega
vera afbakaður (og er það síður en svo ólíklegt).
Að svo búnu snýst Craigie að Höfuðlausn, og þá kemst hnífur hans heldur
betur í feitt:
Still clearer proof may perhaps be found in Egil’s Höfuðlausn, which,
apart from the rimes, is composed throughout in absolutely correct
fornyrðislag, and might well serve as a model of that metre. The ad-
dition of rime has quite naturally increased the number of lines of this
type, and their evidence is in the highest degree instructive. In the poem
there are 144 lines, and 72 of these end in a monosyllable; with four
exeptions (vann : þann : hann : fann) these words have a short vowel or