Sigv ErfÓl 22^I

Sumir trúðu á goð gumnar;
grein varð liðs á miðli;
folkorrostur fylkir
framráðr tjogu háði.
Frægr bað hann á hœgri
hǫnd kristit lið standa;
feðr Magnúss biðk fagna
flóttskjǫrrum goð dróttin.

Sumir gumnar trúðu á goð; varð grein á miðli liðs; framráðr fylkir háði tjogu folkorrostur. Frægr bað hann kristit lið standa á hœgri hǫnd; biðk goð dróttin fagna {flóttskjǫrrum feðr Magnúss}.

Some men believed in God; there was a division among the troop; the ambitious leader waged twenty major battles. Renowned, he asked the Christian troop to stand at [his] right hand; I pray the Lord God to welcome {the flight-shy father of Magnús} [= Óláfr].

Mss: Kˣ(488v) (Hkr); Holm2(72v), 325VI(40rb), 321ˣ(276), 73aˣ(212v), 61(129ra), 325V(87ra), 325VII(40v), Bb(204rb), Flat(127ra), Tóm(159v), 325XI 2 n(1v) (ÓH)

Readings: [1] trúðu: trú 325V;    gumnar: gunnar 61, ‘gumar’ Bb    [2] grein: ‘g[…]n’ 325XI 2 n;    varð: var Holm2, 325VI, 73aˣ, 61, 325V, Flat, Tóm;    á: í 325VI, 321ˣ, 61, Tóm, 325XI 2 n, om. 325V    [3] ‑orrostur: ‑orrostu Flat, Tóm;    fylkir: ‘fylkr’ 325V    [4] fram‑: frá 321ˣ;    ‑ráðr: ‑ráðs 73aˣ;    tjogu: tigu 325VI, 325VII, Flat, Tóm, tugu 73aˣ, tigum 61, ‘tavgv’ 325V, ‘togo’(?) 325XI 2 n    [5] bað: om. 61    [6] kristit: kristins 61, kristinn 325VII, ‘cri[…]’ 325XI 2 n;    lið: liðs 61, om. 325V, ‘lyð’ 325VII;    standa: ‘stand[…]’ 325XI 2 n    [7] Magnúss: Ôleifs Tóm;    biðk (‘bið ec’): bið Holm2;    fagna: ‘fagnnla’ Flat    [8] flótt‑: fljótt‑ 325VI, 321ˣ, Flat, Tóm, fljót‑ 61, 325V, ‘[…]ot’ 325XI 2 n;    ‑skjǫrrum: ‑skírum 325VI, 321ˣ, ‑skjótum 61, 325V, Tóm, mætum Flat;    dróttin: dróttni 325V, 325VII, Flat, dróttin or dróttni Tóm

Editions: Skj AI, 263, Skj BI, 244, Skald I, 126, NN §2312; Hkr 1893-1901, II, 523, IV, 176-7, ÍF 27, 410, Hkr 1991, II, 552 (ÓHHkr ch. 246); ÓH 1941, I, 609 (ch. 248), Flat 1860-8, II, 374; Jón Skaptason 1983, 177, 308.

Context: Óláfr is said to have been thirty-five years old when he died, according to Ari Þorgilsson, and to have fought twenty major battles.

Notes: [4] tjogu ‘twenty’: Finnur Jónsson (Hkr 1893-1901, IV) notes this as a Swed. form of the numeral and ascribes it to Sigvatr’s occasional use of fremmed sprogmateriale ‘foreign linguistic material’ (cf. also TGT 1884, 203), here presumably because two syllables fit the line more easily than the three of the normal OWN form tuttugu, found several times in, e.g., Anon Nkt^II. Sigvatr had been in Sweden: see, e.g., Sigv Austv. See also Note to st. 26/2 dœgn below. — [5-6] á hœgri hǫnd ‘at [his] right hand’: Óláfr clearly favours ‘the Christian troop’, i.e. those who ‘believed in God’ (as in l. 1). Finnur Jónsson (Hkr 1893-1901, IV) suggests this is an allusion to the parable of the sheep and the goats in Matthew XXV.31-46. — [7-8]: Fidjestøl (1982, 189-90) suggests that these two lines, which are relatively independent of the rest of the stanza, may have been the stef of the original poem.

References

1. Bibliography
2. TGT 1884 = Björn Magnússon Ólsen, ed. 1884. Den tredje og fjærde grammatiske afhandling i Snorres Edda tilligemed de grammatiske afhandlingers prolog og to andre tillæg. SUGNL 12. Copenhagen: Knudtzon.
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. Fidjestøl, Bjarne. 1982. Det norrøne fyrstediktet. Universitet i Bergen Nordisk institutts skriftserie 11. Øvre Ervik: Alvheim & Eide.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
9. Hkr 1893-1901 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1893-1901. Heimskringla: Nóregs konunga sǫgur af Snorri Sturluson. 4 vols. SUGNL 23. Copenhagen: Møller.
10. Hkr 1991 = Bergljót S. Kristjánsdóttir et al., eds. 1991. Heimskringla. 3 vols. Reykjavík: Mál og menning.
11. Jón Skaptason. 1983. ‘Material for an Edition and Translation of the Poems of Sigvat Þórðarson, skáld’. Ph.D. thesis. State University of New York at Stony Brook. DAI 44: 3681A.
12. Internal references
13. (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 21 May 2024)
14. Kari Ellen Gade 2009, ‘ Anonymous, Nóregs konungatal’ 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. 761-806. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1035> (accessed 21 May 2024)
15. R. D. Fulk 2012, ‘ Sigvatr Þórðarson, Austrfararvísur’ 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. 578. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1351> (accessed 21 May 2024)