Hrafnagaldur Óðins (Forspjallsljóð)

Edited with Introduction, Notes and Translation by Annette Lassen. "Hrafnagaldur Óðins" ("Odin's Raven-Galdr") or "Forspjallsljóð" ("Prelude Poem") is an Icelandic poem in the style of the "Poetic Edda". It is preserved only in late paper manuscripts. In his influential 1867 edition of the "Poetic Edda", Sophus Bugge reasoned that the poem was a 17th-century work, composed as an introduction to "Baldrs draumar". Since then it has not been included in editions of the "Poetic Edda" and not been extensively studied. But prior to Bugge's work the poem was considered a part of the "Poetic Edda" and included, for example, in the English translations of A. S. Cottle (1797) and Benjamin Thorpe (1866) as well as Karl Simrock's influential German translation (1851). In 1852, William and Mary Howitt characterized it as "amongst the most deeply poetical and singular hymns of the Edda". In 2002, Jónas Kristjánsson in the Icelandic daily "Morgunblaðið" argued in favor of an earlier dating than Bugge, perhaps to the 14th century, based on linguistic evidence and the seemingly corrupt state of the text. However, metrical, linguistic, and stylistic evidence all point towards a date in the 16th century at the earliest, and the scholarly consensus has rested on the seventeenth. Annette Lassen, in her preliminary assessment (2006) had stated conservatively that this poem should not be subject to greater skepticism than e.g. "Fjölsvinnsmál" and "Sólarljóð" (other Eddic poems thought to be of later authorship and exist only in paper manuscripts). But in her 2011 critical edition with accompanying translation, she states unequivocally that the poem "is a postmedieval poem" probably composed soon after "the rediscovery of the Codex Regius of the Elder Edda in 1643". Elsewhere she assigns a terminus post quem to when the Icelanders were familiarized with Erasmus's "Adagia" (1500), which she says must have been the conduit through which the poet learned the adage in nocte consilium which is adapted into the poem in st. 22. Another dating clue is the occurrence of the word "máltíd" st. 20, a Middle Low German loanword, used in Iceland after the middle of the 14th century, though the poem can "hardly be as old as that." PREFACE 6 INTRODUCTION 7 Previous Editions 8 Date and Historical context 9 Date 9 "Nótt skal nema nýræða til" 18 The Title "Hrafnagaldur Óðins"/"Forspjallsljóð" 21 Content and Style 23 Manuscript transmission 26 Description of the Manuscripts in Group A 28 Description of the Manuscripts in Group B 35 Description of C 64 Description of D 65 Description of E 67 Relationship of the Principal Manuscripts 70 Manuscripts Derived from Printed Books 71 Other Manuscripts 76 Lost Manuscripts 76 Significance of the Manuscript Transmission for the Reception of Eddic Poems 78 Treatment of the Text 81 Text AND TRANSLATION 82 COMMENTARY 95 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES 107 INDEX OF MANUSCRIPTS 113 INDEX OF NAMES 115 This anonymous poem in eddic style is shown in this edition to have probably originated in Skálholt in the mid seventeenth century. The main title probably meant 'Song of Óðinn's ravens', i.e. one of the reports said to have been brought to Óðinn from all over the world every evening