Anon (Knýtl) 1^II

Stundum vér til stikka;
styrr vex í Danmǫrku;
esat Sveins synir sáttir
at sinn fǫður dauðan.
Haraldr skal vígi verja
— þás vel tamiðr stikki —
jǫrð af œrnu magni
fyr ellifu brœðrum.

Vér stundum til stikka; styrr vex í Danmǫrku; synir Sveins esat sáttir at dauðan fǫður sinn. Haraldr skal verja jǫrð vígi af œrnu magni fyr ellifu brœðrum; þás stikki vel tamiðr.

We are pondering a poem; strife grows in Denmark; Sveinn’s sons are not reconciled after their father’s death. Haraldr must protect the land in battle with plenty of power against eleven brothers; now the poem is suitably prepared.

Mss: JÓ(52-54), 20dˣ(23r-v), 873ˣ(21r), 20b I(2r), 180b(34r) (Knýtl)

Readings: [1] Stundum: so 20b I, 180b, Stundu JÓ, 20dˣ, 873ˣ    [4] fǫður: feðr 20b I

Editions: Skj AI, 427, Skj BI, 397, Skald I, 196, NN §§2095, 2324, 2741; JÓ 1741, 52-5, ÍF 35, 144-5 (ch. 27).

Context: The st. describes the dissent between Sveinn Úlfsson’s sons after his death (1074/76).

Notes: [1] vér stundum til stikka ‘we are pondering a poem’: Stunda til e-s lit. means ‘look for sth., long for sth.’ (see Fritzner: stunda, stunda til). — [1] stikka ‘poem’: Used here as a generic term for ‘poem’ (see LP: stikki; NN §§2095, 2324). In Ht stikkalag ‘needle metre’ (?) is the name of a metre in which the main stave in the even ll. occurs further back than position 1 (SnE 1999, 38, 145). That is the case in the present st., which conforms structurally to SnSt Ht 67^III háttlausa ‘lack of form’ (SnE 1999, 29). See also Anon Harst. — [3] esat (3rd pers. sg. pres. ind.) ‘are not’: Lit. ‘is not’. We should have expected a pl. form of the verb (erut ‘are not’; see NN §2741), especially since it directly precedes the subject (see NS §66 Anm. 3). All the mss have the sg., however, and similar constructions are attested in poetry (see ÍF 2, 231 n. c and Egill Lv 41/6^V). — [3] synir Sveins ‘Sveinn’s sons’: For Sveinn Úlfsson, see ‘Royal Biographies’ in Introduction to this vol. — [4] at dauðan fǫður sinn ‘after their father’s death’: Lit. ‘after their dead father’. — [5] Haraldr: Haraldr hein ‘Hone’ Sveinsson (r. 1074-80). — [6] þás ‘now’: For this meaning, see LP: þá 2. — [6] vel tamiðr ‘suitably prepared’: Lit. ‘well-tamed’. — [8] fyr ellifu brœðrum ‘against eleven brothers’: These are the sons of Sveinn Úlfsson, being Knútr helgi ‘the Saint’ (r. 1080-6), Óláfr hungr ‘Hunger’ (r. 1086-95), Sveinn, Eiríkr inn góði ‘the Good’ (r. 1095-1103), Sigurðr, Benedikt, Bjǫrn, Guthormr, Eymundr, Nikulás (r. 1103-34) and Úlfr (or Ubbi). See ÍF 35, 135 and n. 1. See also Saxo 2005, II, 11, 7, 1, pp. 18-19.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
3. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 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. 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.
6. NS = Nygaard, Marius. 1906. Norrøn syntax. Kristiania (Oslo): Aschehoug. Rpt. 1966.
7. ÍF 2 = Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar. Ed. Sigurður Nordal. 1933.
8. ÍF 35 = Danakonunga sǫgur. Ed. Bjarni Guðnason. 1982.
9. SnE 1999 = Snorri Sturluson. 1999. Edda: Háttatal. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. Rpt. with addenda and corrigenda. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
10. 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.
11. Internal references
12. 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 27 April 2024)
13. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Háttatal’ 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=165> (accessed 27 April 2024)
14. Matthew Townend 2009, ‘ Anonymous, Haraldsstikki’ 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. 807-8. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1081> (accessed 27 April 2024)
15. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2022, ‘Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar 71 (Egill Skallagrímsson, Lausavísur 41)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross, Kari Ellen Gade and Tarrin Wills (eds), Poetry in Sagas of Icelanders. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 5. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 291.
16. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Snorri Sturluson, Háttatal 67’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1179.