Sturl Hryn 16^II

Ærin, var, sem elding færi
(inn um borð) á lægi norðan,
(öldum varp) er húfum helduð,
hilmis kundr, til jörmungrundar.
Víða þurðu vísa ferðar
veglig flaust und búnu segli;
geiga létuð gyltar sýjur,
grundar vörðr, at Eyrarsundi.

Var, sem ærin elding færi norðan á lægi, {kundr hilmis}, er helduð húfum til jörmungrundar; varp öldum inn um borð. Veglig flaust vísa ferðar þurðu víða und búnu segli; {vörðr grundar}, létuð gyltar sýjur geiga at Eyrarsundi.

It was as if a great flash of lightning travelled from the north across the sea, {son of the ruler} [= Hákon], when you brought the hulls to the vast land; waves were thrown in over the gunwale. Magnificent ships of the leader of the troop raced far and wide under the adorned sail; {defender of the land} [KING], you let gilded ships drift to Øresund.

Mss: F(118vb), E(191v), G(1ra), 81a(119vb), 8(70v), Flat(183rb) (Hák)

Readings: [1] Ærin: Errin 81a, Flat;    færi: væri E    [2] inn um: so all others, innan F;    borð: so all others, borðs F;    á lægi: ‘alegi’ E, ‘al ægi’ G, ‘a legí’ 8, ‘ꜳ legi’ Flat    [3] öldum: öllum E, G;    húfum: ‘hofum’ G    [4] kundr: kunnr G;    til: om. E, G;    jörmungrundar: ‘juarmun nordan’ G, jarmangrundar 81a, danskrar grundar Flat    [5] Víða: so E, G, Flat, Vinda F, 81a, 8;    þurðu: þorðu E, 81a, 8, ‘snuddu’ Flat;    ferðar: ferðir G    [6] ‑lig: ‑ligt 81a    [7] geiga: geisa 81a;    létuð: leituð E, létu 81a;    gyltar: gyldar 81a, Flat;    sýjur: ‘sygiur’ E, Flat    [8] Eyrarsundi: Eyrasundi E, Flat, heyra G

Editions: Skj AII, 106, Skj BII, 117, Skald II, 62; F 1871, 555, E 1916, 653, Hák 1910-86, 664, Hák 1977-82, 176, Flat 1860-8, III, 199.

Context: King Hákon sailed with 315 ships from Öckerö south through Øresund.

Notes: [2] inn um borð ‘in over the gunwale’: F has the reading innanborðs ‘inside the gunwale’. It seems more natural that the waves were thrown over the gunwale, rather than thrown about inside it, so the reading of the other mss has been chosen here, as in Skj B and Skald. Konráð Gíslason (1895-7, I, 80) followed the reading of F, innanborðs ‘inside the gunwale’, but says in his notes that the reading of the other mss is better. — [2] lægi ‘sea’: The scribes of F, 81a and G write ‘lægi’ but the scribes of E, Flat and 8 write ‘legi’. The long vowels [æ] and [œ] coalesced shortly before 1250. Many Icelandic scribes wrote <æ> for [e] in the C13-14th following the example of Norw. scribes (Stefán Karlsson 2000, 52, 175). Norw. influence on the orthography is clearly evident in both F and E. Lægi could therefore be the dat. of lögr (m. sg.) ‘sea’ or lœgir (m. sg.) ‘sea’, originally probably meaning ‘the still one’ or ‘the quiet one’ (ÍO). — [3] öldum varp ‘waves were thrown’: The verb is used impersonally with öldum (f. dat. pl.) as the object. — [4] jörmungrundar ‘vast land’: Flat has the reading danskrar grundar ‘the Danish lands’, which is accurate as the fleet was heading to Halland (which was under Dan. rule), but it is clearly a lectio facilior. The prefix jörmun- implies something vast or great and occurs in words such as Jǫrmungandr ‘the Midgard serpent’ (CVC). See also the inscription on the Karlevi stone (Run Öl1/7^VI). — [5] þurðu víða ‘raced far and wide’: 81a has the reading þorðu vinda ‘dared to turn’ which is possible but clearly secondary. G is the only ms. which has the reading þurðu víða ‘raced far and wide’. F also has þurðu, E, 81a and 8 þorðu ‘dared’, and Flat has snuddu, 3rd pers. pl. pret. indic. of the verb snyðja ‘speed’. Þurðu is the pret. of the verb þyrja ‘sweep, rush along’. — [7] geiga ‘drift’: It seems strange that the ships that were racing are now drifting rather aimlessly to and fro. Konráð Gíslason thought geiga might mean svífa ‘drift, float’, describing the movement of the ships on the water (Konráð Gíslason 1895-7, I, 81; CVC). The reading in 81a, geisa ‘rush’, is a more natural continuation of the previous couplet where the fleet rushes on towards Halland, but the other ms. witnesses show that it is secondary, and it leaves the l. without internal rhyme (also note the rhyme -eig- : -ýj-; see ANG §251). For geiga, see also Note to Sturl Hákkv 32/8. — [7] sýjur (f. nom. sg. sÿja) ‘ships’: This lit. means ‘suture’, referring to the method of joining the boards, súð (f. nom. sg.), by lashing them together. Súð and sýja are both used as pars pro toto for ‘ship’.

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. CVC = Cleasby, Richard, Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and W. A. Craigie. 1957. An Icelandic-English Dictionary. 2nd edn. Oxford: Clarendon.
5. ANG = Noreen, Adolf. 1923. Altnordische Grammatik I: Altisländische und altnorwegische Grammatik (Laut- und Flexionslehre) unter Berücksichtigung des Urnordischen. 4th edn. Halle: Niemeyer. 1st edn. 1884. 5th unrev. edn. 1970. Tübingen: Niemeyer.
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. ÍO = Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon. 1989. Íslensk orðsifjabók. Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans.
8. F 1871 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1871. Fríssbók: Codex Frisianus. En samling af norske konge-sagaer. Christiania (Oslo): Malling.
9. E 1916 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1916. Eirspennill: AM 47 fol. Nóregs konunga sǫgur: Magnús góði – Hákon gamli. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske historiske kildeskriftskommission.
10. Hák 1977-82 = Mundt, Marina, ed. 1977. Hákonar saga Hákonarsonar etter Sth. 8 fol., AM 325VIII, 4° og AM 304, 4°. Oslo: Forlagsentralen. Suppl. by James E. Knirk, Rettelser til Hákonar saga Hákonarsonar etter Sth. 8 fol., AM 325VIII, 4° og AM 304, 4°. Norrøne tekster 2. Oslo: Norsk historisk kjeldeskrift-institutt, 1982.
11. Konráð Gíslason. 1895-7. Efterladte skrifter. 2 vols. I: Forelæsninger over oldnordiske skjaldekvad. II: Forelæsninger og videnskablige afhandlinger. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
12. Stefán Karlsson. 2000. Stafkrókar: Ritgerðir eftir Stefán Karlsson gefnar út í tilefni af sjötugsafmæli hans 2. desember 1998. Ed. Guðvarður Már Gunnlaugsson. RSÁM 49. Reykjavík: Stofnun Árna Magnússonar.
13. Hák 1910-86 = Kjær, Albert and Ludvig Holm-Olsen, eds. 1910-86. Det Arnamagnæanske haandskrift 81a fol. (Skálholtsbók yngsta) indeholdende Sverris saga, Bǫglungasǫgur, Hákonar saga Hákonarsonar. Oslo: Den norske historiske kildeskriftkommission and Kjeldeskriftfondet.
14. Internal references
15. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Sturla Þórðarson, Hákonarkviða 32’ 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. 722-3.
16. Not published: do not cite (Run Öl 1^VI)