Kate Heslop (ed.) 2017, ‘Skúli Þorsteinsson, Poem about Svǫlðr 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. 361.
[1] vakik ‘I wake up’: For vakik in the sense ‘I wake up, I awaken’, see Anon Bjark 1/5 (vaki ‘wake’, imp.).
[1] þars leizk ekka vel ‘where sorrow thrived’: Lit. ‘where it seemed good to sorrow’; leizk is 3rd pers. sg. pret. indic. of lítask ‘look, seem, appear’ with ekka ‘sorrow’ as the dat. object in an impersonal construction. The last three words in l. 1 are corrupt in several mss. Skj B follows C but emends ms. ‘hellz’ to heltk and vel ‘well’ to val ‘falcon’, giving þats heltk val víðis gallópnis vel ‘that I fed the falcon of the sea of the eagle [BLOOD > RAVEN/EAGLE] well’. Kock suggests Vakðak velleiðs ekka ‘I woke sorrow of the gold-isthmus [SHIELD > BATTLE]’, but the shield-kenning is not convincing.
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vel (adv.): well, very
[1] vel leizk (‘vel læiz’): so A, ‘velleiz’ R, ‘vell eiz’ Tˣ, ‘vellis’ U, ‘vel le᷎zt’ B, ‘vel hellz’ C
[1] þars leizk ekka vel ‘where sorrow thrived’: Lit. ‘where it seemed good to sorrow’; leizk is 3rd pers. sg. pret. indic. of lítask ‘look, seem, appear’ with ekka ‘sorrow’ as the dat. object in an impersonal construction. The last three words in l. 1 are corrupt in several mss. Skj B follows C but emends ms. ‘hellz’ to heltk and vel ‘well’ to val ‘falcon’, giving þats heltk val víðis gallópnis vel ‘that I fed the falcon of the sea of the eagle [BLOOD > RAVEN/EAGLE] well’. Kock suggests Vakðak velleiðs ekka ‘I woke sorrow of the gold-isthmus [SHIELD > BATTLE]’, but the shield-kenning is not convincing.
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leita (verb): seek, look for, attack
[1] vel leizk (‘vel læiz’): so A, ‘velleiz’ R, ‘vell eiz’ Tˣ, ‘vellis’ U, ‘vel le᷎zt’ B, ‘vel hellz’ C
[1] þars leizk ekka vel ‘where sorrow thrived’: Lit. ‘where it seemed good to sorrow’; leizk is 3rd pers. sg. pret. indic. of lítask ‘look, seem, appear’ with ekka ‘sorrow’ as the dat. object in an impersonal construction. The last three words in l. 1 are corrupt in several mss. Skj B follows C but emends ms. ‘hellz’ to heltk and vel ‘well’ to val ‘falcon’, giving þats heltk val víðis gallópnis vel ‘that I fed the falcon of the sea of the eagle [BLOOD > RAVEN/EAGLE] well’. Kock suggests Vakðak velleiðs ekka ‘I woke sorrow of the gold-isthmus [SHIELD > BATTLE]’, but the shield-kenning is not convincing.
[1] þars leizk ekka vel ‘where sorrow thrived’: Lit. ‘where it seemed good to sorrow’; leizk is 3rd pers. sg. pret. indic. of lítask ‘look, seem, appear’ with ekka ‘sorrow’ as the dat. object in an impersonal construction. The last three words in l. 1 are corrupt in several mss. Skj B follows C but emends ms. ‘hellz’ to heltk and vel ‘well’ to val ‘falcon’, giving þats heltk val víðis gallópnis vel ‘that I fed the falcon of the sea of the eagle [BLOOD > RAVEN/EAGLE] well’. Kock suggests Vakðak velleiðs ekka ‘I woke sorrow of the gold-isthmus [SHIELD > BATTLE]’, but the shield-kenning is not convincing.
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víðir (noun m.): ocean
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3. ok (conj.): and, but; also
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síðan (adv.): later, then
[3, 4] þá hlýðir greppr vel góðu spjalli ‘then the poet listens well to the good tale’: Skj B follows C for hlýði (3rd pers. sg. pres. subj.) and A for því (n. dat. sg.) and emends greppr (nom.) to grepps (gen.): hlýði því góðu spjalli grepps ‘may [people] listen to that good tale of the poet’.
[3, 4] þá hlýðir greppr vel góðu spjalli ‘then the poet listens well to the good tale’: Skj B follows C for hlýði (3rd pers. sg. pres. subj.) and A for því (n. dat. sg.) and emends greppr (nom.) to grepps (gen.): hlýði því góðu spjalli grepps ‘may [people] listen to that good tale of the poet’.
[3, 4] þá hlýðir greppr vel góðu spjalli ‘then the poet listens well to the good tale’: Skj B follows C for hlýði (3rd pers. sg. pres. subj.) and A for því (n. dat. sg.) and emends greppr (nom.) to grepps (gen.): hlýði því góðu spjalli grepps ‘may [people] listen to that good tale of the poet’.
[3, 4] þá hlýðir greppr vel góðu spjalli ‘then the poet listens well to the good tale’: Skj B follows C for hlýði (3rd pers. sg. pres. subj.) and A for því (n. dat. sg.) and emends greppr (nom.) to grepps (gen.): hlýði því góðu spjalli grepps ‘may [people] listen to that good tale of the poet’.
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2. gjallr (adj.): resounding < gallópnir (noun m.)
[4] gallópnis ‘of the eagle’: Lit. ‘of the shrill-crier’. An eagle-heiti, from gallr ‘ringing, resounding’ (a variant of gjallr) and ópnir ‘crier’ (AEW: gallr). It also appears in Eil Þdr 3/6, 7 by tmesis (i. e. as gall- and ‑ópnis), and in the þulur. For a discussion, see Note to Þul Ara 1/1.
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ópnir (noun m.): [crier, eagle] < gallópnir (noun m.)
[4] ‑ópnis: so Tˣ, A, C, ‘‑opns’ R, ‘ofnis’ U, ‘ofniss’ B
[4] gallópnis ‘of the eagle’: Lit. ‘of the shrill-crier’. An eagle-heiti, from gallr ‘ringing, resounding’ (a variant of gjallr) and ópnir ‘crier’ (AEW: gallr). It also appears in Eil Þdr 3/6, 7 by tmesis (i. e. as gall- and ‑ópnis), and in the þulur. For a discussion, see Note to Þul Ara 1/1.
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vel (adv.): well, very
[3, 4] þá hlýðir greppr vel góðu spjalli ‘then the poet listens well to the good tale’: Skj B follows C for hlýði (3rd pers. sg. pres. subj.) and A for því (n. dat. sg.) and emends greppr (nom.) to grepps (gen.): hlýði því góðu spjalli grepps ‘may [people] listen to that good tale of the poet’. — [4] vel ‘well’: The repetition of this word (cf. l. 1) is perhaps clumsy, and Faulkes (SnE 1998, I, 146) proposes emendation to val, dat. sg. of valr ‘falcon’. The alternative construal he proposes is, however, metrically suspect as it involves tripartition of an odd A-line. Alternative interpretations are still less satisfactory, involving as they do either more extensive emendation (Skj B) or the postulation of implausible kennings (Skald).
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vel (adv.): well, very
[3, 4] þá hlýðir greppr vel góðu spjalli ‘then the poet listens well to the good tale’: Skj B follows C for hlýði (3rd pers. sg. pres. subj.) and A for því (n. dat. sg.) and emends greppr (nom.) to grepps (gen.): hlýði því góðu spjalli grepps ‘may [people] listen to that good tale of the poet’. — [4] vel ‘well’: The repetition of this word (cf. l. 1) is perhaps clumsy, and Faulkes (SnE 1998, I, 146) proposes emendation to val, dat. sg. of valr ‘falcon’. The alternative construal he proposes is, however, metrically suspect as it involves tripartition of an odd A-line. Alternative interpretations are still less satisfactory, involving as they do either more extensive emendation (Skj B) or the postulation of implausible kennings (Skald).
[3, 4] þá hlýðir greppr vel góðu spjalli ‘then the poet listens well to the good tale’: Skj B follows C for hlýði (3rd pers. sg. pres. subj.) and A for því (n. dat. sg.) and emends greppr (nom.) to grepps (gen.): hlýði því góðu spjalli grepps ‘may [people] listen to that good tale of the poet’.
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This helmingr is the last in a series of five verse quotations exemplifying eagle-heiti in SnE, here gallópnir ‘shrill-crier’ (see Note to l. 4).
The sense of the half-stanza as interpreted here is that the poet awakens from a dream about his past martial exploits (‘where sorrow thrived’) and begins to think about these events (‘listens to the tale of blood’) and to compose his poem. Alternative readings (all of which involve emendation) include those of Skj B, which interprets the helmingr as expressing regret for lost prowess and calling for a hearing, Kock (NN §768), who sees a typical résumé of blood-spilling and gold-winning, and Faulkes (SnE 1998), who interprets the helmingr as counterpointing the warrior’s trepidation before the battle with the raven’s glee.
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