Note to BjRagn Lv 3^VIII (Ragn 28)

[5-8]: Line 6 presents a problem in that the ms. lacks a word beginning with <s> that would supply the head-stave determining the s- alliteration in l. 5 (and would bring the number of syllables in the line to six). (a) The CPB eds and Rafn (FSN) supply seggi by emendation in l. 6 and read seggi hvar vér létum, disregarding ms. ok and presumably taking seggi, acc. pl. of seggr m. ‘man, warrior (-companion)’ as the direct object of létum ‘(we) left’, to give the meaning ‘where we left warriors behind’ (CPB translates simply ‘where we fought’). This would imply that ll. 5-6 and ll. 7-8 each consist of a self-contained syntactic unit. (b) Olsen (Ragn 1906-8, 213-14), on the other hand, followed here by Eskeland (Ragn 1944), Guðni Jónsson (FSGJ) and Ebel (Ragn 2003), supplies by emendation sára, gen. pl. of sár n. ‘wound’ at the beginning of l. 6, also disregarding ok in that line, taking sára ‘of wounds’ as the determinant in a kenning with dögg f. ‘dew’ in l. 8 as its base-word, i.e. ‘dew of wounds [BLOOD]’, and leaving l. 7 as syntactically free-standing. This would imply that létum ‘(we) left behind’ in l. 6 could alternatively be translated as ‘(we) let flow’, with sára … dögg ‘the dew of wounds’, i.e. ‘blood’ as its object. (c) Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) and Kock (Skald) retain ms. ok in l. 6 and supply by emendation sé ‘(let him) see’ (as does also Örnólfur Thorsson (Ragn 1985), with Modern Icelandic spelling sjái), 3rd pers. sg. pres. subj. of sjá ‘see’ (so also the present ed.). Finnur and Kock differ, however, in their view of the object of létum. (d) Finnur sees dreyra, acc. sg. of dreyri m. ‘blood’, as its object, to be taken together with ór skýlihöggum ‘from oblique axe-strokes’ in l. 8. He brackets off þar fær hann dauðs manns in l. 7 as well as dögg in l. 8 and assumes an unusual kenning, to give ‘there he (the raven) will find the dew of a dead man [BLOOD]’. (e) Kock (NN §§1276, 1462), on the other hand, finds that the relative simplicity of the Ragn stanzas in general makes Finnur’s reading of ll. 6-8 unlikely. Drawing attention to Krm 12/2-3, which appear to speak of brown dew, i.e. blood, splashing down from swords (Hrunði dögg af sverðum | brún ‘Brown dew splashed down from swords’), he regards dögg ‘dew’ when juxtaposed with ór skýlihöggum ‘from axe-strokes’ (cf. Krm’s af sverðum ‘from swords’) as yielding the meaning ‘blood’ and takes it as the object of létum, leaving l. 7 as syntactically independent. Örnólfur Thorsson (Ragn 1985) clearly follows Kock here translating létum dögg as okkur blæddi ‘we bled’. (f) Finnur’s reading of the lines is on balance the one preferred here, mainly on the grounds that it allows for a more effective poetic expression for blood, dauðs manns … dögg ‘a dead man’s dew [BLOOD]’, than either the dauðs manns dreyra ‘a dead man’s blood’ of l. 7 or the unqualified dögg ‘dew’ of l. 8 that Kock’s reading would require.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
3. FSN = Rafn, Carl Christian, ed. 1829-30. Fornaldar sögur nordrlanda. 3 vols. Copenhagen: Popp.
4. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
6. 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.
7. FSGJ = Guðni Jónsson, ed. 1954. Fornaldar sögur norðurlanda. 4 vols. [Reykjavík]: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan.
8. Ragn 1906-8 = Olsen 1906-8, 111-222.
9. Ragn 1944 = Eskeland, Severin, ed. and trans. 1944. Soga om Ragnar Lodbrok med Kråka-kvædet. Norrøne bokverk 16. 2nd ed. Oslo: Det Norske Samlaget. [1st ed. 1914].
10. Ragn 1985 = Örnólfur Thorsson 1985, 101-53.
11. Ragn 2003 = Ebel, Uwe, ed. 2003. Ragnars saga loðbrókar. Texte des skandinavischen Mittelalters 4. Vol. II of Ebel 1997-2003.
12. Internal references
13. 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Ragnars saga loðbrókar’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 616. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=81> (accessed 25 April 2024)
14. Rory McTurk 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Krákumál’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 706. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1020> (accessed 25 April 2024)