Íslenskt mál og almenn málfræði - 01.01.2021, Side 15

of the first four metrical positions6 and also occupy one of the first two
sentence positions.7 If the clause is subordinated, the first sentence posi-
tion8 must contain a connective (a particle that connects clauses, some-
times a combination of a pronoun and a conjunction, for instance: hann
es ‘he who’).9 Section 3 gives many examples of clause-lines. They are eas-
ily recognized by a finite verb or by a connective at their beginning.
Word order within a half-stanza is usually convoluted. Parts of clauses
are separated, sometimes words are split as well (in tmesis). The begin-
ning of the first clause, however, is always at the beginning of the half-
stanza. These features of half-stanzas were already present and regular in
the earliest known dróttkvætt type of poetry.
Hans Kuhn, in 1933, noted and discussed the above-described use of
verbs and connectives in dróttkvætt. He related it to a verb-second princi-
ple (V2), a well-known feature of Germanic languages, see Þórhallur
Eyþórsson (1997 and 2009) and Kristján Árnason (2002 and 2009); see
Haukur Þorgeirsson (2012) for a recent discussion of the V2 word order
and Eddic poetry. Hans Kuhn did not define the concept of a clause-line,
but I believe that he, and later scholars, would agree that every dróttkvætt
half-stanza begins with such a line. These lines can, and often do, appear
as line number three of a half-stanza.
Haustlǫng is a dróttkvætt-poem by Þjóðólfr ór Hvini. Scholars take the
meter of Haustlǫng to be undeveloped regarding rhyme in odd lines. The
following is how Finnur Jónsson describes it:10
Haustlǫng 15
6 A finite verb in a main clause must not alliterate, unless it is line-initial, and the verb-
placement depends on the rhythm, see Þorgeir Sigurðsson (2016). These details are not
discussed here.
7 At most, one constituent may precede the verb. The constituent (occupying one sen-
tence position) may fill up to three metrical positions and be more than one word.
8 Only after year 1000 could a connective be in the second sentence position at the
beginning of a half-stanza. An example from the 11th century: Sigvatr Þórðarson, Erfi -
drápa Ólafs Helga 27.5 sult, þás silfri hjaltat. Such lines are never without a rhyme (my
observation).
9 A clause can have a connective in the first sentence position and a finite verb in the
second. In this article it does not affect any arguments whether such clauses are classified
as subordinated clauses or as main clauses.
10 My translation: From a metrical perspective, the poem has an antiquated position.
The even lines do certainly have — or had — full-rhyme, and the last rhyme is always in the
penultimate syllable of the line; but rhyme-free odd lines are present in such a number that
it must be assumed that the poet thought he could furnish them as he wished, with or with-
out rhyme. However, some of the odd lines that now have no rhyme might be distorted.