Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1999, Blaðsíða 133

VI From the tum of the century to Jan de Vries
113
pause after the metrical long line. Binding, on the other hånd, means that
a sentence begun in the first long line is completed in the next long line; if
the part of the sentence contained in the first long line has sufficient mean-
ing in itself and is continued by some addition or variation in the next long
line (enjambement), the binding is said to be loose; but if the first long line
is occupied by a sentence that is incomplete in respect of syntax or con-
tent, and gets its necessary complement in the next long line, the binding
is said to be strong. Finally, Neckel investigated to what extent short lines
are syntactically independent of each other, and found considerable vari-
ation as to binding across the caesura within the long line.
On the basis of these types of binding Neckel distinguished between
three main types of Eddie verse:
1) The line is bound in itself but isolated against its adjacent lines (lack
of binding - examples: Prymskvida, Gudrunarkvida ///);
2) The line is bound in itself as well as with its adjacent lines, i.e. the
half stanza tends to be one closed syntactical unit (examples: Hy-
miskvida, Helreid Brynhildar, Innsteinskvida [Innsteinslied]);
3) The short verse is largely isolated (examples: Atlamål, Rigspula)}2
Examples:
1) Prymskvida, st. 3.1^1: Gengo Jteir fagra / Freyio tuna, / oc hann Jtat
or8a / allz fyrst um qva5.
2) Hymiskvida, st. 5.1-4: Byr fyr austan / Élivåga / hundvfss Hymir, / at
himins enda
3) Atlamål, st. 66.1-4: Hgrpo toc Gunnarr, / hrærbi ilqvistom; / slå
hann svå kunni, / at snotir gréto.
In statistical tables Neckel showed the frequency of different types of
binding in the poems in fornyrdislag and målahåttr (Neckel 1908:
27—40).
12 “I. Der langvers ist gegen seinen nachbam isolirt, dagegen in sich fest geschlossen:
t>rymskvi5a, Gu5runarkvi5a JtriSia. - II. Der langvers neigt stark zur festen bindung,
sowol mit dem nachbarvers als zwischen seinen halften; der helming strebt danach, ein
festgeschlossenes satzganzes zu werden: Hymiskviba, HelreiS, Innsteinslied. - III. Der
halbvers ist in weitem malle isolirt: Atlamål, Rfgsjtula” (Neckel 1908: 39).