Hallv Knútdr 6^III

Englandi ræðr yngvi
einn — hefsk friðr at beinni —
bǫðrakkr bœnar nǫkkva
barkrjóðr ok Danmǫrku.
Ok hefr (odda Leiknar)
jalm-Freyr und sik malma
(hjaldrǫrr haukum þverrir
hungr) Nóregi þrungit.

Yngvi, {bǫðrakkr {{nǫkkva bœnar} bark}rjóðr}, ræðr einn Englandi ok Danmǫrku; friðr hefsk at beinni. Ok {{malma jalm-}Freyr} hefr þrungit und sik Nóregi; hjaldrǫrr þverrir hungr {haukum {Leiknar odda}}.

The king, {the battle-bold reddener {of the bark {of the ship of prayer}}} [(lit. ‘bark-reddener of the ship of prayer’) BREAST > MAIL-SHIRT > WARRIOR], alone rules England and Denmark; peace commences the more easily. And {the Freyr <god> {of the noise of weapons}} [(lit. ‘noise-Freyr of weapons’) BATTLE > WARRIOR] has forced under him Norway; the battle-eager one diminishes hunger {for the hawks {of the Leikn <giantess> of spears}} [VALKYRIE > RAVENS/EAGLES].

Mss: Kˣ(429r) (Hkr); Holm2(57r), 325V(67vb-68ra), J2ˣ(207r), 321ˣ(212), Bæb(2vb), 61(115vb), 68(56v), 325XI 2 g(3va-b), Holm4(54vb), 325VII(31r), Flat(118vb), Tóm(146r) (ÓH)

Readings: [1] ræðr: réð Holm2, 325V, J2ˣ, 321ˣ, Bæb, 61, 68, 325XI 2 g, 325VII, Flat, Tóm    [2] einn: þeim 325VII;    hefsk: hófsk 325V, J2ˣ, 321ˣ, 61, 325VII, Flat, Tóm;    at: ok 325VII;    beinni: beini 325V, 325VII, Flat, beinn 321ˣ, beimi Tóm    [3] bǫð‑: band 321ˣ;    bœnar: ‘brꜹtar’ J2ˣ, ‘bodar’ 61;    nǫkkva: nakkvat 325V, ‘nockvar’ 321ˣ, nǫkkut 61, ‘nacca’ 325VII, ‘nockuat’ Flat, ‘nauckuat’ Tóm    [4] bark‑: ‘bꜹrk’ J2ˣ, ‘brack’ 321ˣ, brak‑ 325VII;    ok: í J2ˣ, 325XI 2 g, Tóm, á 61    [5] odda: varða 61    [6] jalm‑: alm‑ J2ˣ, Bæb, 325VII, ‘jalmer’ 321ˣ;    Freyr: fyr 321ˣ, ‑rjóðr Bæb, frægr 61;    malma: malmi 325V, hjalma 61    [7] hjaldrǫrr: ‘hlialldr’ 325VII;    haukum: hauka J2ˣ, Bæb, ‘[…]’ 325XI 2 g, aukum Tóm;    þverrir: ‘[…]’ 325XI 2 g, þverrar Tóm    [8] hungr Nóregi þrungit: ‘[…]’ 325XI 2 g;    hungr: ‘hungs’ J2ˣ, hungrs Bæb;    Nóregi: ‘storer’ 321ˣ;    þrungit: ‘þravm þrvngit’ 325V, þrungin 61, þrunginn Holm4

Editions: Skj AI, 318, Skj BI, 294, Skald I, 149-50, NN §2265B; Hkr 1893-1901, II, 400, ÍF 27, 311 (ÓHHkr ch. 173); ÓH 1941, I, 477 (ch. 167), Flat 1860-8, II, 307 ; Frank 1994b, 120, Jesch 2000, 247.

Context: The stanza is quoted in ÓH and Hkr following Knútr’s 1028 conquest of Norway orrostulaust ‘without a battle’.

Notes: [All]: On Knútr’s conquest, see further Bolton (2009). — [1] ræðr ‘rules’: Ms. Kˣ’s pres. tense is the minority form, with all ÓH mss except Holm4 showing pret. réð ‘ruled’. However, a tense-progression within the stanza from ræðr (first helmingr) to hefr þrungit ‘has forced’ (ll. 5, 8; second helmingr) makes more sense than one from réð to hefr þrungit. — [2] hefsk ‘commences’: Again, pres. and pret. tense alternate in the mss, though in this case the pres. tense is (just) the majority form. — [2] at beinni ‘the more easily’: Dat. sg. comp. of the adj. beinn ‘straight, direct’. For the use of at before a comp. adj. or adv., see CVC: at B.VIII, ONP: at IV.C.2. — [3] nǫkkva ‘of the ship’: Clearly, a number of scribes took this to be a form of the adj./pron. nakkvarr ‘someone’ in their attempt to construe the helmingr. For nǫkkvi ‘ship’, see Note to Þul Skipa 1/8. — [5-8]: Kock and Meissner (1931, II, 93) interpret the kennings in this second helmingr as odda Leiknar jalm-Freyr ‘the Freyr of the noise of the Leikn <giantess> of spears [VALKYRIE > BATTLE > WARRIOR]’ and haukar malma ‘hawks of weapons [RAVENS/EAGLES]’. This has the syntactic benefit of leading to only one intercalary phrase, not two, but the resultant kennings seem less satisfactory (see also NN §2265B). Other eds adopt the interpretation followed here. — [5] Leiknar ‘of the Leikn <giantess>’: A giantess-name (see LP: Leikn, McKinnell 2005, 112 and Note to Þul Trollkvenna 4/7) used here as the base-word in a kenning for ‘valkyrie’. — [6] jalm ‘of the noise’: This word has been re-interpreted by some scribes as almr ‘bow’, which gives an over-determined warrior-kenning, ‘the bow-Freyr of weapons’. — [6, 8] þrungit und sik ‘forced under him’: The locution also occurs in Þhorn Gldr 6/1, 4^I, Ótt Hfl 20/8^I, Arn Magndr 7/8^II and elsewhere (see LP: þryngva; see also Bolton 2009, 264-9 and McKinnell 2005, 155).  — [7] hjaldrǫrr ‘the battle-eager one’: This word can either be a substantivised adj. (with a short vowel in the second element) or a noun (hjaldrôrr ‘battle-performer’, with a long vowel in the second element). The adj. is adopted here, as also by ÍF 27 and Jesch (2000); Skj B, Skald and Frank (1994b) prefer the noun (as does LP: hjaldrôrr for this occurrence).

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. LP = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1931. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis: Ordbog over det norsk-islandske skjaldesprog oprindelig forfattet af Sveinbjörn Egilsson. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Møller.
6. CVC = Cleasby, Richard, Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and W. A. Craigie. 1957. An Icelandic-English Dictionary. 2nd edn. Oxford: Clarendon.
7. Jesch, Judith. 2000. ‘Knútr in Poetry and History’. In Dallapiazza et al. 2000, 243-56.
8. Flat 1860-8 = Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and C. R. Unger, eds. 1860-8. Flateyjarbók. En samling af norske konge-sagaer med indskudte mindre fortællinger om begivenheder i og udenfor Norge samt annaler. 3 vols. Christiania (Oslo): Malling.
9. ÓH 1941 = Johnsen, Oscar Albert and Jón Helgason, eds. 1941. Saga Óláfs konungs hins helga: Den store saga om Olav den hellige efter pergamenthåndskrift i Kungliga biblioteket i Stockholm nr. 2 4^to med varianter fra andre håndskrifter. 2 vols. Det norske historiske kildeskriftfond skrifter 53. Oslo: Dybwad.
10. ONP = Degnbol, Helle et al., eds. 1989-. A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose / Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog. 1-. Copenhagen: The Arnamagnæan Commission.
11. Kock, Ernst Albin and Rudolf Meissner, eds. 1931. Skaldisches Lesebuch. 2 vols. Rheinische Beiträge und Hülfsbücher zur germanischen Philologie und Volkskunde 17-18. Halle: Niemeyer.
12. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
13. Hkr 1893-1901 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1893-1901. Heimskringla: Nóregs konunga sǫgur af Snorri Sturluson. 4 vols. SUGNL 23. Copenhagen: Møller.
14. Bolton, Timothy. 2009. The Empire of Cnut the Great: Conquest and the Consolidation of Power in Northern Europe in the Early Eleventh Century. The Northern World 40. Leiden: Brill.
15. McKinnell, John. 2005. Meeting the Other in Norse Myth and Legend. Cambridge: Brewer.
16. Frank, Roberta. 1994b. ‘King Cnut in the Verse of his Skalds’. In Rumble 1994, 106-24.
17. Internal references
18. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Heimskringla’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=4> (accessed 2 May 2024)
19. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Óláfs saga helga’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=53> (accessed 2 May 2024)
20. (forthcoming), ‘ Heimskringla, Óláfs saga helga (in Heimskringla)’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=152> (accessed 2 May 2024)
21. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Trollkvenna heiti 4’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 729.
22. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Skipa heiti 1’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 861.
23. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Arnórr jarlaskáld Þórðarson, Magnússdrápa 7’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 216.
24. Matthew Townend (ed.) 2012, ‘Óttarr svarti, Hǫfuðlausn 20’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 766.
25. Edith Marold (ed.) 2012, ‘Þorbjǫrn hornklofi, Glymdrápa 6’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 85.