Anon (SnE) 12^III

This helmingr (Anon (SnE) 12) is transmitted in mss R (main ms.), Tˣ, A and C of Skm (SnE). It is anonymous in all mss, and Finnur Jónsson (Skj) assigns it to the tenth century. The date cannot be ascertained.

Erum á leið frá láði
liðnir Finnum skriðnu;
austr sék fjǫll af flausta
ferli geisla merluð.

Erum liðnir á leið frá láði skriðnu Finnum; af {ferli flausta} sék fjǫll austr merluð geisla.

We have set out to sea from the land traversed on ski by the Saami; from {the path of ships} [SEA] I see mountains in the east illuminated by a beam of light.

Mss: R(38r), Tˣ(39v), A(13r), B(6v), C(7v) (SnE)

Readings: [1] Erum: Verum C;    frá: fyr C    [2] liðnir: so Tˣ, A, liðnum R, C;    skriðnu: skriðnum C    [3] fjǫll: fold C;    af: á A, of C;    flausta: flausti C

Editions: Skj AI, 185, Skj BI, 174, Skald I, 93; SnE 1848-87, I, 496-7, II, 450, 599, III, 102, SnE 1931, 174, SnE 1998, I, 93.

Context: The helmingr is one of several illustrating various heiti for ‘sea’, here, leið.

Notes: [1] á leið ‘to sea’: Lit. ‘on the way’. According to Skm, this heiti denotes ‘sea’, but leið is otherwise attested only once in this sense (in SnSt Ht 34/3; see Fritzner: leið). Ferli flausta ‘the path of ships’ (ll. 3-4) is a kenning for ‘sea’, however, and it could be that Snorri nodded here. — [1, 2] frá láði skriðnu Finnum ‘from the land traversed on ski by the Saami’: This must be Finnmark (ON Finnmǫrk), a region of Norway inhabited by the Saami. The verb skríða (p. p. skriðinn) means ‘to ski, glide’, and in his preface to Gesta Danorum Saxo refers to the Saami as skritfinni lit. ‘skiing-Saami’ (Saxo 2005, I, 2, 9, pp. 82-3). On the Saami and skiing, see also Note to Keth Lv 3/4^VIII (Ket 5). — [3] austr ‘in the east’: The ship is travelling westwards, probably in the direction of Iceland. — [4] merluð ‘illuminated’: This is the p. p. (n. acc. pl.) of the verb merla ‘illuminate, sparkle, twinkle’, not otherwise attested in Old Norse (but cf. ModIcel. merla with the same meaning).

References

1. Bibliography
2. SnE 1848-87 = Snorri Sturluson. 1848-87. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar: Edda Snorronis Sturlaei. Ed. Jón Sigurðsson et al. 3 vols. Copenhagen: Legatum Arnamagnaeanum. Rpt. Osnabrück: Zeller, 1966.
3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. Fritzner = Fritzner, Johan. 1883-96. Ordbog over det gamle norske sprog. 3 vols. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske forlagsforening. 4th edn. Rpt. 1973. Oslo etc.: Universitetsforlaget.
5. SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
6. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
7. Saxo 2005 = Friis-Jensen, Karsten, ed. 2005. Saxo Grammaticus: Gesta Danorum / Danmarkshistorien. Trans. Peter Zeeberg. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Det danske sprog- og litteraturselskab & Gads forlag.
8. Internal references
9. Edith Marold 2017, ‘Snorra Edda (Prologue, Gylfaginning, Skáldskaparmál)’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols [check printed volume for citation].
10. (forthcoming), ‘ Snorri Sturluson, Skáldskaparmál’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=112> (accessed 20 April 2024)
11. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Lausavísur, Stanzas from Snorra Edda 12’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 524.
12. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Snorri Sturluson, Háttatal 34’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1141.
13. Beatrice La Farge (ed.) 2017, ‘Ketils saga hœngs 5 (Ketill hœngr, Lausavísur 3)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 556.
14. Not published: do not cite ()