Note to ÞjóðA Magn 7^II

[3] Freyr víga ‘Freyr <god> of battles [WARRIOR]’: The pairing of a warrior- or man-kenning with an alliterating woman-kenning vef-Gefn ‘weaving-Gefn’ (l. 4), and their references to the sibling deities Freyr and Freyja, may be deliberate. As an apostrophe to an unidentified man, Freyr víga is unique in this set of Þjóðólfr sts, and is part of the evidence that they do not belong with Þjóðólfr’s Magnfl (see Introduction). The H-Hr reading Freys is favoured by some eds. (a) Finnur Jónsson takes it with menn (l. 1), hence menn Freys víga ‘the warrior’s men’, i.e. Magnús’s men (Hkr 1893-1901 and Skj B), but the syntax is severely dislocated on that reading and the rhyme of Freyr : vr- (or víg- : vg-) is lacking. (b) Kock adopts vgu, the H-Hr variant on vru in l. 3, and takes it with þríar stefnur (l. 4) to read víga Freys sízt vgu þríar stefnur ‘since they fought three warrior’s encounters’ (Skald; NN §867). (c) It could alternatively be taken in apposition to Sveins (l. 2), but this seems unlikely when Sveinn (Úlfsson) is not the focus of the st.

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. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. Hkr 1893-1901 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1893-1901. Heimskringla: Nóregs konunga sǫgur af Snorri Sturluson. 4 vols. SUGNL 23. Copenhagen: Møller.
6. Internal references
7. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Hulda-Hrokkinskinna’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=84> (accessed 23 April 2024)
9. Diana Whaley 2009, ‘ Þjóðólfr Arnórsson, Magnússflokkr’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 61-87. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1443> (accessed 23 April 2024)