Bjarni Frag 5III
Edith Marold (ed.) 2017, ‘Bjarni ...ason, Fragments 5’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 25.
introduction
This stanza (Bjarni Frag 5) is recorded in LaufE (mss 2368ˣ (main ms.) and 743ˣ), and it is also found in RE 1665(Jj), which has no independent value (copied from a LaufE Y ms.). The stanza seems to belong to the same narrative context as Frag 4. If so, the woman in the present stanza is the person who removes the tortured man from the erected wheel. Yet, this description of Sigurðr slembidjákn’s death does not agree with the prose sources (see Introduction above), according to which his arms and legs were broken by blows from axe-heads, whereupon he was beaten with whips and hanged (HarsonaHkr ch. 12, ÍF 28, 319-20; ÍF 24, 208-9). If it is assumed that he was hanged only, the woman could also have taken him down from the gallows.
text and translation
Ok liðhraustan leysti
Lofn, es herr vas sofnaðr,
landrifs lengi píndan
lagdýrs ofan stýri.
Ok {Lofn {landrifs}} leysti ofan {liðhraustan stýri {lagdýrs}}, lengi píndan, es herr vas sofnaðr.
‘And the Lofn <goddess> of the land-rib [STONE > WOMAN] released the troop-bold commander of the sea-beast [SHIP > SEAFARER], long tormented, from above when the army had fallen asleep. ’
notes and context
This helmingr is cited to exemplify that stones and terms for ‘stone’ can be used as determinants in woman-kennings.
readings
sources
Text is based on reconstruction from the base text and variant apparatus and may contain alternative spellings and other normalisations not visible in the manuscript text. Transcriptions may not have been checked and should not be cited.
-
GKS 2368 4°x (2368x) — 116/26 - 116/27
Ok liðhraustan leysti
images
Lofn, es †hertt† vas sofnaðr,
landrifs lengi píndan
lagdýrs ofan stýri. -
AM 743 4°x (743x) — 88v/12 - 88v/15
Ok liðhraustan leysti
images
Lofn, es herr vas sofnaðr,
landrifs lengi †pnndan†
lagdýrs ofan stýri.
editions and texts
Skj: Bjarni ason (el. a sk)., Brudstykker af digte 4: AI, 542, BI, 523, Skald I, 255, NN §3235; SnE 1848-87, II, 631, III, 195-6, LaufE 1979, 376.
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