Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Haraldr harðráði Sigurðarson, Gamanvísur 6’ 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. 41.
Fœddr vas ek, þars alma
Upplendingar bendu;
nú lætk við sker skolla
skeiðr búmǫnnum leiðar.
Vítt hef ek, sízt ýttum,
eygarð skotit barði;
þó lætr Gerðr í Gǫrðum
gollhrings við mér skolla.
Ek vas fœddr, þars Upplendingar bendu alma; nú lætk skeiðr, leiðar búmǫnnum, skolla við sker. Vítt hef ek skotit barði {eygarð}, sízt ýttum; þó lætr {Gerðr gollhrings} í Gǫrðum skolla við mér.
I was born where the Upplendingar bent the elm-bows; now I let my warships, loathsome to farmers, rock among skerries. Far and wide I have thrust the prow across {the island-enclosure} [SEA] since we [I] set out; yet {the Gerðr <goddess> of the gold ring} [WOMAN] in Russia ridicules me.
Mss: Mork(3r) (Mork); H(28v), Hr(21ra) (H-Hr); N B88(1) (ll. 1-3)
Readings: [1] Fœddr: alinn N B88; þars: þar H, Hr; alma: ‘amær’ N B88 [2] Upplendingar: ‘uplendkær’ N B88 [3] lætk (‘let ec’): verðk N B88; sker skolla: ‘[…]’ N B88 [5] ýttum: ‘ytum’ H [7] þó lætr Gerðr í Gǫrðum: abbrev. as ‘þ. l.’ Mork, ‘þo læ. ger. ig.’ H, ‘þo lætr .g. i. g.’ Hr [8] gollhrings við mér skolla: om. Mork, abbrev. as ‘goll við mer sk.’ H, ‘g. við mer skolla’ Hr
Editions: Skj AI, 358, Skj BI, 329, Skald I, 166, NN §2024A; Mork 1867, 16, Mork 1928-32, 86, Andersson and Gade 2000, 149, 473 (MH); Fms 6, 171 (HSig ch. 15).
Notes: [1-3]: The first three ll. are also recorded on the rune stick N B88, which is edited separately in SkP VI (Run B88VI). The variant readings are given in the present edn, because they have some bearing on the possible interpretations of the st. See also Note to Hharð Lv 2b/4. — [1]: The l. lacks internal rhyme (see st. 5/1 above), and Kock (NN §2024A) attempts to restore the rhyme by emending fœddr ‘born’ to alinn ‘born, raised’ or alma ‘bows’ to odda ‘spear- or sword-points’. The first emendation results in an unmetrical l. with three alliterative staves: alinn ‘born, raised’, ek ‘I’, alma ‘elm-bows’ (cf. Skald: Alinn vas ek, þars alma) and the second in a nonsensical construction (‘where the Upplendingar bent the spear- or sword-points’). However, N B88 also gives the reading alinn, and the only way to restore the metre would be to construe the l. as follows: Alinn vask þar, es alma lit. ‘I was raised [or: born] there, where the elm-bows’. The internal rhyme (al- : alm-) leads to the suspicion that this reading is secondary. — [2] Upplendingar ‘the Upplendingar’: Opplandene (Upplǫnd) comprised present-day Hedmark, Hadeland, Romerike, Gudbrandsdalen and Østerdalen in Norway. Haraldr’s father, Sigurðr sýr, was a petty king of that district. — [5] ýttum ‘set out’: For ýta in this intransitive meaning (‘set out, embark on a sea-voyage’), see Fritzner: ýta 2. — [6] eygarð (m. acc. sg.) ‘the island-enclosure [SEA]’: An acc. of place.
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