Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Sigvatr Þórðarson, Bersǫglisvísur 2’ 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, pp. 14-15.
Vask með gram, þeims gumnum
goll bauð dróttinhollum
— nafn fekk hann — en hrǫfnum
hræ, þess konungs ævi.
Fullkerska sák falla
(fráneygjum sonr grônum
gaf margan val vargi)
verðung (konungs sverðum).
Vask með gram, þeims bauð dróttinhollum gumnum goll en hrǫfnum hræ, ævi þess konungs; hann fekk nafn. Sák fullkerska verðung falla; sonr konungs gaf grônum fráneygjum vargi margan val sverðum.
I was with the lord, who gave gold to his loyal men and carrion to the ravens, throughout the lifetime of that king; he gained fame. I saw the most valiant troop fall; the son of the king gave many a slain warrior to the grey, keen-eyed wolf by means of swords.
Mss: H(4r), Hr(5vb) (H-Hr); Flat(190ra) (Flat)
Readings: [3] nafn: so Flat, vápn H, Hr [4] hræ þess: ‘hræþus’ Flat [5] ‑kerska: kerskum H, ‘keskum’ Hr, ‘‑koskum’ Flat [6] ‑eygjum: ‑eggjum Flat; sonr: son all [8] ‑ung: ‘‑und’ Flat; konungs: konungr Flat
Editions: Skj AI, 251, Skj BI, 234-5, Skald I, 121-2, NN §§1113A, 2259, 2338B, 2463E; Fms 6, 38-9 (Mgóð ch. 22); Flat 1860-8, III, 267, Mork 1928-32, 26, Andersson and Gade 2000, 104, 466 (MH); Jón Skaptason 1983, 138, 286-7.
Notes: [All]: The king referred to in the st. is Óláfr Haraldsson (S. Óláfr), Magnús’s father. Sigvatr had been his court poet, marshal and emissary. — [4] ævi þess konungs ‘throughout the lifetime of that king’: Skj B takes this nominal phrase with the preceding cl. and reads: en ævi þess konungs fekk hrǫfnum hræ ‘and the lifetime of that king gave carrion to the ravens’. That interpretation is very awkward syntactically (see NN §2259). — [5] fullkerska (f. acc. sg.) ‘most valiant’: Fullkerskum (m. or n. dat. sg. or dat. pl.) has been emended to f. acc. sg. to agree with verðung ‘troop’. Kock (NN §§1113A, 2463) retains the dat. and posits a meaning of the verb falla + dat. ‘be killed by sby’ (lit. ‘fall for sby’; so also Jón Skaptason 1983). Kock’s argument, based on a controversial passage in Beowulf (ll. 168-70), is not persuasive (see Beowulf 2008, 126-7 n. 168f). — [6] fráneygjum ‘keen-eyed’: Cf. Fáfn 5/4 (NK 181). Most earlier eds adopt the Flat variant fráneggjum ‘keen-edged’ (hap. leg.) which is taken with sverðum ‘swords’ (l. 8). This is also possible but would appear to be a lectio facilior. — [6] sonr (m. nom. sg.) ‘son’: The later form son (m. nom. sg.) ‘son’ has been replaced here by the more archaic form.
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