Russell Poole (ed.) 2012, ‘Óláfr inn helgi Haraldsson, Lausavísur 3’ 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. 520.
Segið þat Karla, es komið þangat,
nýtum þegni fyr norðan haf,
at fleira skal í fǫrum vinna
an hylda hval hvǫssum knífi.
Segið þat Karla, nýtum þegni, fyr norðan haf, es komið þangat, at skal vinna fleira í fǫrum an hylda hval hvǫssum knífi.
‘Say this [lit. that] to Karli, a handy lad, north across the sea, when you get there, that [he] must do more on his travels than butcher whale with a sharp knife.’
This stanza is included in a dialogue between Óláfr and one of his skalds (named as Óttarr svarti in ÓHLeg, as Sigvatr Þórðarson in the versions of ÓH). The skald tells of his dealings with one Karli, an up-country farmer (located in Iceland in the Sigvatr versions), saying that he has spent some hours with Karli’s wife in a cave overlooking Karli’s homestead. He recites a stanza about this incident (Ótt Lv 3). The king smiles and replies with the present stanza.
The verse insult directed at cowardly stay-at-homes in this stanza finds parallels, for instance, in Anon Liðs 3, and see Note to l. 7 below.
Text is based on reconstruction from the base text and variant apparatus and may contain alternative spellings and other normalisations not visible in the manuscript text. Transcriptions may not have been checked and should not be cited.
Sægið þer þat karla, er þer komið þangat, nytum þegne fir norðan | haf, at flæira skal, ifarum vinna, en hyllda hval, hvassum knivi . |
(DW)
segið þér Karla,
ef hann kemr þangat,
nýtum þegni
fyr norðan haf,
at fleira skal
í fǫrum vinna
an hylda hval
hvǫssum knífi.
segið þér Karla,
ef hann kemr þangat,
nýtum þegni
fyrna norðan haf,
at fleira skal
í fǫrum vinna
an hylda hval
hvǫssum knífi.
segi þér Karla,
ef hann kemr þangat,
nýtum þegni
fyr norðan haf,
at fleira skal
í fǫrum vinna
an hylda hval
hvǫssum knífi.
segi þér Karla,
er kemr þangat,
nýtum þegni
fyr norðan haf,
at fleira skal
í fǫrum vinna
an hylda hval
hvǫssum knífi.
segi þat Karla,
er hann kemr þangat,
nýtum þegni
fyr norðan haf,
at fleira skal
í fǫrum vinna
an hylda hval
hvǫssum knífi.
Use the buttons at the top of the page to navigate between stanzas in a poem.
The text and translation are given here, with buttons to toggle whether the text is shown in the verse order or prose word order. Clicking on indiviudal words gives dictionary links, variant readings, kennings and notes, where relevant.
This is the text of the edition in a similar format to how the edition appears in the printed volumes.
This view is also used for chapters and other text segments. Not all the headings shown are relevant to such sections.