Anon (HSig) 8^II

Skóð lætr skína rauðan
skjǫld, es dregr at hjaldri;
brúðr sér Aurnis jóða
ófǫr konungs gǫrva.
Sviptir sveiflankjapta
svanni holdi manna;
ulfs munn litar innan
óðlôt kona blóði;
ok óðlôt kona bloði.

Skóð lætr rauðan skjǫld skína, es dregr at hjaldri; {brúðr {jóða Aurnis}} sér gǫrva ófǫr konungs. Svanni sviptir holdi manna sveiflankjapta; óðlôt kona litar munn ulfs innan blóði; ok óðlôt kona bloði.

The troll-woman lets the red shield shine when it draws close to battle; {the bride {of Aurnir’s <giant’s> brood}} [GIANTS > GIANTESS] sees the king’s destined defeat at hand. The woman tosses men’s flesh to the grinding jaw; the raving female reddens the wolf’s mouth within with blood; and the raving female with blood.

Mss: Kˣ(576r), 39(30va-b), F(52ra), E(25v), J2ˣ(293r-v) (Hkr); FskAˣ(294) (Fsk); Mork(18v) (Mork); Flat(203rb) (Flat); H(73r), Hr(52va) (H-Hr); Hb(69r-v) (Hem)

Readings: [1] Skóð: ‘Skæð’ FskAˣ, ‘Sked’ Flat;    skína: om. 39;    rauðan: rauðar F    [2] es (‘er’): enn F, FskAˣ, Hr;    dregr: so 39, E, FskAˣ, Mork, Flat, H, Hr, dregsk Kˣ, J2ˣ, drengr F    [3] brúðr: breiðr FskAˣ    [4] ófǫr: ‘ófęrr’ E, ‘ofur’ Flat    [5] Sviptir: svipt hefr FskAˣ, svipt er í Mork, sviptir í H, Hr;    sveiflankjapta: ‘svæifland gæfta’ FskAˣ, svarðar kjapta Mork, H, Hr, sér skipta Flat, sámleitr kjǫptum Hb    [6] holdi: blóði E, Hb    [7] munn: munnr FskAˣ;    litar: ‘lítad’ Hr    [8] óðlôt: ‘olat’ Mork, ‘oddlꜳt’ Flat    [9] ok óðlôt kona bloði: om. FskAˣ, Mork, Flat, abbrev. as ‘oð. ko. b.’ H, ‘oðla. ko. b.’ Hr, ‘oðlat k. b.’ Hb;    ok: om. J2ˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 430, Skj BI, 400, Skald I, 198; ÍF 28, 177 (HSig ch. 81), F 1871, 243, E 1916, 91; ÍF 29, 277-8 (ch. 62); Mork 1867, 112, Mork 1928-32, 266, Andersson and Gade 2000, 264, 480 (MH); Flat 1860-8, III, 389 (MH); Fms 6, 403-4 (HSig ch. 114); Hb 1892-6, 338, Fellows Jensen 1962, 45 (Hem).

Context: The st. is recited by a troll-woman who appears in a dream to one of King Haraldr Sigurðarson’s men on the journey to England in 1066. She rides on a wolf which has a corpse in its mouth. When it has finished eating, she continues to throw corpses into its mouth, and it swallows them all (so Hkr, Fsk, H-Hr). Mork and Flat simply state that she is sighted on a cliff during the expedition to England.

Notes: [1] skóð ‘the troll-woman’: Both skóð (so Kˣ, 39, F, E, J2ˣ, Mork, H, Hr, Hb) and skœð (‘skæð’, ‘sked’; so FskAˣ, Flat) are hap. leg. — [2] dregr ‘it draws’: Used impersonally here. — [5-6] svanni sviptir holdi manna sveiflankjapta ‘the woman tosses men’s flesh to the grinding jaw’: (a) Sveiflankjapta (m. dat. sg.) is taken here as an indeclinable adj. (lit. ‘the one with the grinding jaw’; see ANG §434). For the meaning sviptir ‘tosses’, see Fritzner: svipta 1. (b) The Hkr and Fsk versions have been construed as follows by earlier eds: svanni sviptir (FskAˣ: hefr svipt) sveiflannkjapta (FskAˣ: sveiflandkjapta) holdi manna ‘the woman tears (has torn) men’s flesh with grinding jaws (lit. ‘grinding-jawing’)’. Sveiflankjapta is then interpreted as an indeclinable adj. qualifying svanni (m. nom. sg.) ‘woman’ (sveiflankjapta ‘grinding the jaws’; see LP: sveiflandkjapti). That interpretation is, however, at odds with the Hkr prose, and we should also have expected the m. nom. sg. ending -i rather than -a (see ANG §434). (c) The Mork variant (svipts holdi manna í svarðar kjapta ‘men’s flesh is tossed into the hairy jaws’; so also H and Hr) is secondary. — [8]: For the repetition of this l., see Note to Anon (HSig) 7/9 above.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Fms = Sveinbjörn Egilsson et al., eds. 1825-37. Fornmanna sögur eptir gömlum handritum útgefnar að tilhlutun hins norræna fornfræða fèlags. 12 vols. Copenhagen: Popp.
3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. 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.
5. Andersson, Theodore M. and Kari Ellen Gade, trans. 2000. Morkinskinna: The Earliest Icelandic Chronicle of the Norwegian Kings (1030-1157). Islandica 51. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press.
6. ANG = Noreen, Adolf. 1923. Altnordische Grammatik I: Altisländische und altnorwegische Grammatik (Laut- und Flexionslehre) unter Berücksichtigung des Urnordischen. 4th edn. Halle: Niemeyer. 1st edn. 1884. 5th unrev. edn. 1970. Tübingen: Niemeyer.
7. Flat 1860-8 = Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and C. R. Unger, eds. 1860-8. Flateyjarbók. En samling af norske konge-sagaer med indskudte mindre fortællinger om begivenheder i og udenfor Norge samt annaler. 3 vols. Christiania (Oslo): Malling.
8. 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.
9. Mork 1928-32 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1928-32. Morkinskinna. SUGNL 53. Copenhagen: Jørgensen.
10. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
11. F 1871 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1871. Fríssbók: Codex Frisianus. En samling af norske konge-sagaer. Christiania (Oslo): Malling.
12. E 1916 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1916. Eirspennill: AM 47 fol. Nóregs konunga sǫgur: Magnús góði – Hákon gamli. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske historiske kildeskriftskommission.
13. Fellows Jensen, Gillian, ed. 1962. Hemings þáttr Áslákssonar. EA B 3. Copenhagen: Munksgaard.
14. Hb 1892-6 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1892-6. Hauksbók udgiven efter de Arnamagnæanske håndskrifter no. 371, 544 og 675, 4° samt forskellige papirshåndskrifter. Copenhagen: Det kongelige nordiske oldskrift-selskab.
15. ÍF 29 = Ágrip af Nóregskonunga sǫgum; Fagrskinna—Nóregs konungatal. Ed. Bjarni Einarsson. 1985.
16. Mork 1867 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1867. Morkinskinna: Pergamentsbog fra første halvdel af det trettende aarhundrede. Indeholdende en af de ældste optegnelser af norske kongesagaer. Oslo: Bentzen.
17. Internal references
18. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Heimskringla’ 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=4> (accessed 25 April 2024)
19. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Flateyjarbók’ 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=44> (accessed 25 April 2024)
20. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Fagrskinna’ 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=56> (accessed 25 April 2024)
21. (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 25 April 2024)
22. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Morkinskinna’ 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=87> (accessed 25 April 2024)
23. (forthcoming), ‘ Heimskringla, Haralds saga Sigurðssonar’ 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=142> (accessed 25 April 2024)
24. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Magnúss saga góða ok Haralds harðráða’ 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=147> (accessed 25 April 2024)
25. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Anonymous Lausavísur, Lausavísur from Haralds saga Sigurðarsonar 7’ 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. 820-1.