Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1999, Blaðsíða 163

VI From the tum of the century to Jan de Vries
143
On the evidence of runic inscriptions, in particular the stone of Rok,
and of Swedish stone carvings, he assumed, however, that in all prob-
ability Sweden had known a poetry, now lost, of the same kind as the
oldest West-Scandinavian poems. The prologue to Pidriks saga, refer-
ring to Danish and Swedish legends, which were treated in songs, points
in the same direction.61 In particular in the third version of his history, in
which he also exploited possible evidence taken from Finnish poetry
and Estonian legends, following Finnish scholars like Julius and Kaarle
Krohn, Schiick made an effort at reconstructing the content of some of
the lost Swedish Eddie poems, such as a poem on Freyr corresponding
to Skirnismål, some poetry on Baldr, which had influenced the Finnish
poems on Lemminkainen, a Swedish variant of Prymskvida having
some connection with Estonian legends conceming the thunder god,
Sigurbr poems explaining the Sigurbr iconography of Swedish stone
carvings etc. In conclusion he stressed that only the matter and not the
form of this poetry was accessible to reconstruction, however. Concern-
ing the form of the various poems, he stated that not more than a general
similarity to the Old Norwegian poems might be assumed (Schiick and
Warburg 1926: 154-87).
In his survey of dating criteria Schiick mentioned among other things
the custom of cutting turf for fuel as one of the arguments for the dating
of Rigsjrula.62 This particular argument, which had been used earlier by
Gubbrandur Vigfusson (Corp. Poet. Bor. 1883, vol. 1: lix), is hardly an
important one in itself - Finnur Jonsson (1917: 168) remarked that turf
cutting was known both in Iceland and in Norway around 900 and
mojligen år vasentligen dansk. Till den tidigare islandska gruppen forlagger jag Voluspa,
Lokasenna, Sigrdrifumal, Vafthrudnismal, Grimnismal, Harbardsljod, den forstå sången
om Helge Hundingsbane, Brot af Sigurdarkvida, Gudrunarkvida onnur, Atlakvida och
Hamdismal. Till epigonpoesien bora enligt min mening hanforas: Vegtamskvida, Hymis-
kvida, Alvissmal, Hyndluljod, Gripisspa, Gudrunarkvida hin fyrsta, Sigurdarkvida hin
Jsridja, Helreid Brynhildar, Gudrunarkvida hin Jtridja, Oddrunargratr, Svipdagsmal, Atla-
mal och Gudrunarhvot. - En sarstallning intar Rigsfmla. Den ursprungliga dikten hårror
nog från eddadiktningens blomstringstid, men som det vill synas, foreligger dikten nu
blott i en yngre islandsk bearbetning” (Schiick and Warburg 1926: 151-52).
61 “Danir ok Sviar kunnu at segja hér af margar spgur, en sumt hafa (teir fært f kvæbi sin
er fieir skemmta rikum mgnnum.” - Cf. ed. Bertelsen 1905-11: 2.
62 “I Rigs[rula omtalas torfskaming såsom en af tralamas sysselsattningar; nu vet man att
Torf-Einarr jarl var den forste som uppfann torfbranslet, och i foljd haraf kan dikten svår-
ligen vara aldre an 900-talets borjan” (Schiick 1890: 24). Alexander Bugge presumed that
Torf-Einarr just introduced an ancient Gaelic custom (A. Bugge 1905: 256).