Note to Sigv Nesv 14I
[8] fjǫlrekks ‘of the man with many warriors’: Amongst the variant readings, this can be identified as the most likely original (cf. CPB), a cpd of fjǫl- ‘many’ and rekkr ‘man, warrior’. Although a hap. leg., it represents a natural extension from the familiar cpd fjǫlmennr ‘with many men, with a large following’, also fjǫlgestr ‘with many guests’. Its use here as a substantival adj. may have led to confusion in transmission. Fjǫlrekks is further supported by the fact that ÓHLeg (1982, 72) seems to draw upon st. 14 (though without citing it) in a version that contained this word when it mentions that Óláfr gained fiolmenne ‘a numerous following’ by distributing largesse to the Upplendingar. The first element folk in the reading of K (and 61) and adopted by Finnur Jónsson (Hkr 1893-1901; Skj B; LP: folkrekr ‘people’s ruler’) appears to be a secondary development from fjǫl (Poole 2005d, 180-1 and cf. the comments on K in the Note to ll. 6-7 above).
References
- Bibliography
- Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
- LP = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1931. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis: Ordbog over det norsk-islandske skjaldesprog oprindelig forfattet af Sveinbjörn Egilsson. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Møller.
- CPB = Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and F. York Powell, eds. 1883. Corpus poeticum boreale: The Poetry of the Old Northern Tongue from the Earliest Times to the Thirteenth Century. 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon. Rpt. 1965, New York: Russell & Russell.
- Hkr 1893-1901 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1893-1901. Heimskringla: Nóregs konunga sǫgur af Snorri Sturluson. 4 vols. SUGNL 23. Copenhagen: Møller.
- Poole, Russell. 2005d. ‘The Nesjavísur of Sigvatr Þórðarson’. MS 15, 171-98.
- Internal references
- (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Óláfs saga helga (Legendary)’ 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. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=31> (accessed 25 April 2024)