Einarr skálaglamm Helgason (Eskál)
10th century; volume 1; ed. Edith Marold;
1. Hákonardrápa (Hákdr) - 1
2. Vellekla (Vell) - 37
3. Lausavísur (Lv) - 3
III. Haraldsdrápa blátannar (Hardr) - 2
V. Lausavísur in Egils saga (Lv) - 2
Little is certain about the life of Einarr skálaglamm ‘Tinkle-scales’ Helgason (Eskál), except that he came from a noble family from western Iceland. They were descendants of Bjǫrn austrœni ‘the Easterner’, i.e. ‘the Norwegian’, son of Ketill flatnefr ‘Flat-nose’. According to Ldn (ÍF 1, 123), Einarr’s mother was Niðbjǫrg, daughter of an Irish king. Einarr’s brother Ósvífr was the father of Guðrún Ósvífsdóttir, the heroine of Laxdœla saga. A few anecdotes link Einarr to Egill Skallagrímsson. Egils saga (Eg, ÍF 2, 268-73) tells of Einarr visiting Egill and the two talking at length about poetry. The meeting led to a long friendship, which is reflected in similarities between the two skalds’ poetry (de Vries 1964-7, I, 176). A valuable shield given to Egill by Einarr inspired Egill to compose a Skjaldardrápa or shield poem honouring the gift, of which only the first stanza has survived (Egill SkjalddrV).
Einarr must have lived c. 940-c. 990. He presumably spent much of his life at the court of Hákon jarl Sigurðarson in Norway, for whom he composed Vellekla (Eskál Vell) and another poem, Hákonardrápa (Eskál Hákdr). Two stanzas (Eskál HardrIII) that possibly stem from one or more Haraldsdrápur in honour of Haraldr blátǫnn ‘Blue-tooth’ Gormsson indicate that he might have spent time at the Danish court, perhaps as a companion of Hákon jarl. Skáldatal (SnE 1848-87, III, 256, 266, 280) mentions Einarr only as one of Hákon jarl’s skalds. Besides these poems, three lausavísur are preserved in Jvs, Fsk, Flat and Eg. The first two are part of a typical skald anecdote about court poetry and its reward, and are preserved in versions that differ sufficiently for them to be printed in both SkP I (Eskál Lv 1a and Lv 2a) and SkP V (Eskál Lv 1bV (Eg 124) and Lv 2bV (Eg 125)). The third (Eskál Lv 3) concerns the death of Þorleifr skúma Þorkelsson (Þskúm), an Icelandic retainer of Hákon jarl, at the battle of Hjǫrungavágr (Liavågen, c. 985).
According to Jvs (1969, 178-9), Einarr’s nickname skálaglamm ‘Tinkle-scales’ refers to a pair of precious and magically resounding scales (OIcel. skálar/skálir) with which Hákon jarl rewarded him for Vell (see Introduction to Eskál Lv 1-3). This explanation (apparently accepted in Finnur Jónsson 1907, 284) may, however, be a later etymological invention, and skálaglamm could instead derive from OIcel. skáli ‘hall, free-standing house’ either as part of a sky-, breast- or shield-kenning (Lie 1975, 643), or more likely as a ‘loud sound (glamm) in the hall’, in reference to his art of recitation. Jvs (1969, 178) also tells that Einarr earlier had the nickname Skjaldmeyjar-Einarr ‘Einarr of the shield-maiden’. Skjaldmeyjar are armed women who took part in battles (cf. Akv 16), but nothing is known about how Einarr got this nickname. According to Ldn and Jvs, Einarr drowned in Breiðafjörður on a voyage home (Ldn, ÍF 1, 123; Jvs 1969, 205); they add a legend according to which his scales (Jvs), or his shield and his coat (Ldn), wash ashore, inspiring the names of the islands Skáleyjar, Skjaldey and Feldarhólmr.
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Vellekla (‘Lack of Gold’)
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Eskál VellI
Edith Marold with the assistance of Vivian Busch, Jana Krüger, Ann-Dörte Kyas and Katharina Seidel, translated from German by John Foulks 2012, ‘ Einarr skálaglamm Helgason, Vellekla’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 280. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1181> (accessed 23 May 2022)
stanzas: 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
Skj: Einarr Helgason skálaglamm: 3. Vellekla, o. 986 (AI, 122-31, BI, 117-24); stanzas (if different): 2 |
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37
SkP info: I, 311 |
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| 23 — Eskál Vell 23I
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lemmatised words
This information has not been reviewed and should not be referred to. af (prep.) ‘from...’ — 23/8 var
andr (noun m.) [°; andrar] ‘ski...’ — ǫndur 23/8
1annarr (pron.) [°f. ǫnnur, n. annat; pl. aðrir] ‘(an)other, second...’ — annan 23/4
3at (prep.) ‘at, to...’ — 23/3, 23/8
3á (prep.) ‘on, at...’ — 23/8 var
biðja (verb) [°biðr; bað, báðu; beðinn (beiþ- Martin¹ 573, bỏþ- HákEirsp 661, cf. ed. intr. xl)] ‘ask for, order, pray...’ — bað 23/5
bjóða (verb) [°býðr; bauð, buðu; boðinn (buð- Thom¹ 5²n.)] ‘offer, order, invite...’ — bauð 23/5 var
2en (conj.) ‘but, and...’ — 23/2
fall (noun n.) [°-s; *-] ‘fall...’ — 23/4
flagð (noun n.) ‘troll-woman...’ — flagðs 23/6
frægr (adj.) [°-jan/-an; compar. -ri, superl. -jastr/-astr/-str] ‘famous, renowned...’ — 23/2 var, frægt 23/2
fylki (noun n.) ‘county...’ — 23/7
fyr (prep.) ‘for, over, because of, etc....’ — 23/1, 23/5 var
1gera (verb) ‘do, make...’ — gerðisk 23/3, gjǫrðask 23/3 var
1gramr (noun m.) ‘ruler...’ — 23/2
hlíf (noun f.) [°-ar; -ar] ‘shield, defence...’ — hlífar 23/6
hlummnarfi (noun m.) — 23/5 var
hlummr (noun m.) [°; -ar] ‘oar-handle...’ — hlumm 23/5 var
hlunnnarfi (noun m.) — 23/5 var
hlunnr (noun m.) [°-s, dat. -i; -ar] ‘roller...’ — hlunn 23/5 var
hlymnarfi (noun m.) — 23/5
hlymr (noun m.) ‘din...’ — Hlym 23/5
1hverfa (verb) ‘turn, disappear...’ — 23/5
Jalkr (noun m.) ‘[Jálkr]...’ — Jalks 23/7
land (noun n.) [°-s; *-] ‘land...’ — landi 23/8
leggja (verb) ‘put, lay...’ — lagði 23/6
maðr (noun m.) ‘man, person...’ — mann 23/4
mannfall (noun n.) — 23/4
meiri (adj. comp.) [°meiran; superl. mestr] ‘more, most...’ — mest 23/3
1morð (noun n.) [°-s; -] ‘killing, battle...’ — morði 23/1 var, morði 23/3
myrðir (noun m.) ‘killer...’ — myrði 23/1
Narfi (noun m.) ‘Narfi...’ — 23/5
nár (noun m.) [°-s; -ir] ‘corpse...’ — nar 23/5 var
3ok (conj.) ‘and, but; also...’ — 23/6
síðan (adv.) ‘later, then...’ — 23/2
styrr (noun m.) [°dat. -] ‘battle...’ — styr 23/4
varp (noun n.) [°; dat. *-um] ‘°net; kast (med fiskenet); fangst; bølge...’ — †fꜹrf† 23/8, vǫrp 23/8 var
2vera (verb) ‘be, is, was, were, are, am...’ — var 23/7 var
1verða (verb) ‘become, be...’ — Varð 23/1
2við (prep.) ‘with, against...’ — 23/4, 23/7
Vinðr (noun m.) [°; vinðr/-ir] ‘the Wends...’ — Vinða 23/1
víðfrægr (adj.) ‘far-renowned...’ — 23/2 var, víðfrægt 23/2
víðr (adj.) ‘far...’ — víð 23/2
víg (noun n.) [°-s; -] ‘battle...’ — víga 23/1 var
þǫrf (noun f.) [°þarfar; þarfar/þarfir] ‘need...’ — 23/8 var
ǫndurr (noun m.) [°-s] ‘front, onset...’ — ǫndurt 23/7
ǫndverðr (adj.) ‘early, beginning...’ — ǫndvert 23/7 var
unlemmatised variants — fladz (23); forf (23); ǫndr (23); ǫndut (23); ǫndyrt (23); rarfi (23) |
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