GullásÞ Víðdr 1^II

Hart ríðr hildar birti
hjalmrunnr í folkgunni
Jóans ættstuðill einart
allfróðr í styr þjóða.

{Hjalmrunnr} ríðr {birti hildar} hart í folkgunni, {allfróðr ættstuðill Jóans}, einart í styr þjóða.

{The helmet-tree} [WARRIOR] swings {the brightness of battle} [SWORD] hard in the pitched battle, {the all-wise kin-pillar of Jón} [= Víðkunnr], steadily, in the war of nations.

Mss: 518ˣ(1v)

Readings: [1] ríðr: ‘ride’ 518ˣ;    birti: ‘berte’ 518ˣ    [2] hjalmrunnr: hjalm 518ˣ;    ‑gunni: gunna 518ˣ    [3] ‑stuðill: stuðull 518ˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 453, Skj BI, 421, Skald I, 208, NN §§919, 1151; ÍF 11, 342 (GullÁsuÞ).

Context: At the behest of Ása, Þórðr composes and recites the poem to Víðkunnr to gain his good grace. The latter is well pleased with the poem and rewards Þórðr with a gold ring.

Notes: [All]: The helmingr is corrupt almost beyond reconstruction. — [1] ríðr (3rd pers. sg. pres. indic.) ‘swings’: Previous eds emend ‘ride’ to rýðr ‘reddens’. That reading makes less sense in view of the adv. hart ‘hard’. For the phrase ríða sverð ‘swing the sword’, see Fritzner: ríða 1. Ríða can also mean ‘ride’, but ‘swing’ is the primary meaning (see AEW: ríða 1). — [2]: In the ms. this l. lacks one syllable as well as internal rhyme. In the present edn -runnr ‘tree’ has been added to provide the missing syllable and the aðalhending (see NN §1151). Skj B and ÍF 11 make no attempt to reconstruct the l. — [2] í folkgunni ‘in the pitched battle’: Cf. OE folcgefeoht, which is used to refer to a pitched battle between two armies, as opposed to a skirmish involving marauding bands. Folkgunnr could also mean a battle or war fought between different factions of the population (see Note to Sigv Berv 1/3), but that makes less sense in the context. — [3] Jóans ‘of Jón’: For the disyllabic form of this name, see Note to Anon (Mberf) 2/5. — [4] í styr þjóða ‘in the war of nations’: Skj B interprets this as ‘in the men’s battle’ (i mændenes kamp) and Kock (NN §§919, 1151) as ‘in the tumult of hosts’ (uti skarornas tumult). Because the only pitched battle that Viðkunnr is known to have participated in was Magnús berfœttr’s last battle against the Irish in Ulster (1103), þjóðir (gen. pl. þjóða) is taken here to mean ‘nations’ (see Fritzner: þjóð 3).

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. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. AEW = Vries, Jan de. 1962. Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 2nd rev. edn. Rpt. 1977. Leiden: Brill.
6. Fritzner = Fritzner, Johan. 1883-96. Ordbog over det gamle norske sprog. 3 vols. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske forlagsforening. 4th edn. Rpt. 1973. Oslo etc.: Universitetsforlaget.
7. ÍF 11 = Austfirðinga sǫgur. Ed. Jón Jóhannesson. 1950.
8. Internal references
9. (forthcoming), ‘ Anonymous, Gull-Ásu-Þórðar þáttr’ 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, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=20> (accessed 19 May 2024)
10. Kari Ellen Gade and Diana Whaley (eds) 2009, ‘Anonymous Lausavísur, Lausavísur from Magnúss saga berfœtts 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. 829-30.
11. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Sigvatr Þórðarson, Bersǫglisvísur 1’ 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. 12-14.