Ólhelg Lv 1I/5 — Sygnir ‘The Sygnir’
Fyll horn, kona; fell af hesti
Rannveigar sonr, þars riðu drengir.
Kunnut Sygnir á sǫðuldýrum
fullvel fara; fœr mér ok þér.
Fyll horn, kona; sonr Rannveigar fell af hesti, þars drengir riðu. Sygnir kunnut fara fullvel á sǫðuldýrum; fœr mér ok þér.
Fill the horn, woman; Rannveig’s son [= Halldórr] fell from his horse where the fine fellows were riding. The Sygnir do not know how to travel very well on saddle-beasts [HORSES]; bring [it] to me and to you.
readings
[5] Sygnir: seggir 73aˣ, 71ˣ, 76aˣ
notes
[5] Sygnir: The people of Sogn, a district in western Norway. The variant reading seggir ‘men’ is an obvious lectio facilior. The basis for the insult is perhaps that the people of Sogn, a region of very steep terrain where the main transport routes were by sea, were regarded as more handy with boats than horses. Óláfr’s origins, by contrast, appear to have lain in the flatter regions to the east. Ethnic identifications are prevalent in verse insults and may have formed a staple ingredient in court entertainment; cf. the þáttr of the Icelander Sneglu-Halli (Snegl, Mork 1928-32, 234-47; cf. Fraser 2005).