stefja-mel

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(gen. pl. stefja), n.

1) term, time fixed; viku s., a week’s notice;

2) refrain (in the central portion of a drápa).

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n. (root stafi), gen. pl. stefja, dat. stefjum, a summons, term, time fixed, (= stefna); viku-stef, a week’s notice, Eg. 274; var kveðit á viku stef, 394; þriggja nátta stef, a summons with three days’ notice, Grág. i. 385; bardaga stef, Al. 54.

II. a stave in a lay, burden, refrain; hann orti Hafgerðinga-drápu, þat er þetta stef í,—‘Minar bið ek,’ etc., Landn. 106; kvæðit, ok er þetta stefit í, Ísl. ii. 222; Þórarinn orti þá stef, ok setti í kvæðit, … ok er þetta stefit, Ó. H. 180, Eb. i. 210. In the old poems, called drapa, the middle part had a burden; this part was called ‘stef’ or stefja-bálkr, m. the ‘stave-balk,’ stave-section, Ó. H. 180; and consisted of several equal sets of verses, called stefja-mel or stefja-mál, n. stave-measure; the number of stanzas to each ‘stave-set’ varies in different poems (3, 4, 5, 7); the number of the sets also varies according to the length of the poem, e. g. if the stave-section were of twenty-one stanzas it would fall into seven ‘sets’ (3 x 7); if of twenty, into five (4 x 5); er rétt at setja kvæðit með svá mörgum stefjamelum sem vill, Edda (Ht.) i. 686; hef ek þar lokit stefjum, here the staves end; hefja upp stef, and so on, see the remarks s. v. slæmr. The stave or burden usually stands at the end of each ‘set;’ the burden might even be distributed among the stanzas of the stefjamel, as may be seen in the Togdrápa on king Canute in Ó. H., or in the poem Rek-stefja or Banda-dápa (Hkr. i. and Scripta Hist. Island, iii.)