Þorm Lv 24^I

Emka rjóðr, en rauðum
ræðr grǫnn Skǫgul manni
hauka setrs in hvíta;
hyggr fár of mik sáran.
Hitt veldr mér, at meldrar
morðvenjanda Fenju
djúp ok danskra vápna
Dags hríðar spor svíða.

Emka rjóðr, en {grǫnn Skǫgul in hvíta {setrs hauka}} ræðr rauðum manni; fár hyggr of mik sáran. Hitt veldr mér, at {djúp spor {hríðar Dags ok danskra vápna} svíða {morðvenjanda {meldrar Fenju}}.

I am not ruddy, but {the slender, white Skǫgul <valkyrie> {of the seat of hawks}} [ARM > WOMAN] gives orders to a red [blood-stained] man; few think about me, wounded. This is the cause to me [of my pallor], that {the deep tracks {of the blizzard of Dagr <legendary king> and of Danish weapons}} [BATTLE > WOUNDS] cause pain to {the killing-accustomed one {of the flour of Fenja <giantess>}} [GOLD > GENEROUS MAN = Þormóðr].

Mss: Holm2(69v), 972ˣ(542va), J2ˣ(229v), 321ˣ(262), 73aˣ(204v), Holm4(65ra), 61(126vb), 325V(82vb), 325VII(39r), Bb(200va), Flat(126ra), Tóm(157r) (ÓH); Kˣ(476r) (Hkr); Hb(89v), 142ˣ(107), 566aˣ(32r), papp4ˣ(130r-v) (Fbr); DG8(102r) (ÓHLeg)

Readings: [1] Emka: einka ek 972ˣ, 321ˣ, Tóm;    rjóðr en rauðum: rjóðr en rjóða 321ˣ, rjóðr né rauðum Holm4, rjóðr en rjóðum Bb, rauðr en rjóðum Flat, rauðr né rjóðum 142ˣ, 566aˣ, rjóðr né rjóða DG8    [2] ræðr: ræði 73aˣ;    grǫnn: grǫn J2ˣ, Flat, 142ˣ, 566aˣ, ‘gun’ 73aˣ, 325V, grann Holm4, gran 325VII;    Skǫgul: kona DG8;    manni: mani 73aˣ    [3] hauka setrs: so 61, 325VII, Flat, Tóm, Kˣ, 142ˣ, 566aˣ, DG8, hauklátrs Holm2, 972ˣ, hauka látrs J2ˣ, 321ˣ, Holm4, 325V, Bb, ‘hꜹkal atrz’ 73aˣ;    in: ok 321ˣ, ‘hui’ 325VII, um DG8;    hvíta: heitinn 321ˣ, heilum Bb, hættinn DG8    [4] hyggr fár of (‘hyggr far vm’): hyggsk fár um 321ˣ, hugfár um Flat, 142ˣ, 566aˣ    [5] Hitt: þat DG8;    at: ef J2ˣ, er 321ˣ, en DG8;    meldrar: ‘mielldrar’ 325VII, mæra DG8    [6] morðvenjanda: morðvenjandi Holm2, 972ˣ, J2ˣ, Holm4, 61, 325VII, Flat, Tóm, Kˣ, 142ˣ, 566aˣ, ‘modrveniande’ 321ˣ, ‘morðvenandi’ 73aˣ, 325V, margs deyjanda Bb, móteggjaðra DG8    [7] djúp: draupnis 321ˣ, 61, Bb, DG8, drep 73aˣ, ‘diop’ 325V, djúpt Flat, 566aˣ;    danskra: dýrra 321ˣ, DG8, dýra 61, Bb    [8] Dags: so 972ˣ, 73aˣ, Holm4, 61, 325V, 325VII, Bb, Flat, Tóm, 142ˣ, DG8, dal‑ Holm2, dals Kˣ;    spor: ‘spior’ 972ˣ, ‘svor’ DG8;    svíða: om. Flat, 142ˣ, 566aˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 288, Skj BI, 266, Skald I, 137, NN §§714, 1991 anm. 2; Fms 5, 91-2, Fms 12, 103, ÓH 1941, I, 584 (ch. 234), Flat 1860-8, II, 366; Hkr 1777-1826, II, 376, VI, 115, Hkr 1868, 497-8 (ÓHHkr ch. 247), Hkr 1893-1901, I, 502, IV, 172, ÍF 6, 276, ÍF 27, 391, Hkr 1991, II, 538 (ÓHHkr ch. 234); ÓHLeg 1849, 73, 120, ÓHLeg 1922, 88, ÓHLeg 1982, 202-5; Hb 1892-6, 416, Fbr 1852, 112, Fbr 1925-7, 215-16, ÍF 6, 275 (ch. 24), Loth 1960a, li-lii, 158 (ch. 17), ÍS II, 843, 850-1 (ch. 24); Gaertner 1907, 312, 348-9, Finnur Jónsson 1932-3, 77-8.

Context: In ÓH, excluding Flat, and Hkr, an unidentified person attending to the wounded from the battle at Stiklastaðir (Stiklestad) asks Þormóðr why he is so pale, and why he does not have his wounds bound, and he replies. In Flat, Þormóðr has just pulled an arrow from his heart, its barbs covered with particoloured flesh. In ÓHLeg, a woman (see Context to Lv 25) asks simply what sort of wound he has. In Fbr, the woman asks questions like those in ÓH.

Notes: [All]: An alternate version of this vísa appears in Hb, and in the list of eds above, those from Hb 1892-6 to ÍS are based on the Hb version. Papp4ˣ also (it appears not to have been recognized) has a text of the stanza, which in one place gives a better reading than Hb and thus supports an emendation to Hb suggested by earlier eds. Hb, however, remains all in all the better text, and so it is the basis for the following edn:

Emka rauðr, né rauðum ræðr grǫnn kona manni; járn stendr fast it forna fenstígi mér benja.

Þat veldr mér, in mæra marglóðar nú tróða, Draupnis dýrra vápna Dags hríðar spor svíða.

Readings: [1] rauðum: rjóðum papp4ˣ [3] fast: so papp4ˣ, farst Hb [4] -stígi: -stíga papp4ˣ [5] Þat: Þó papp4ˣ; mæra: meira papp4ˣ [7] Draupnis: ‘drepnis’ papp4ˣ [8] svíða: om. papp4ˣ. Prose order: Emka rauðr, né ræðr grǫnn kona rauðum manni; it forna járn stendr fast benja fenstígi mér. Þat veldr mér nú, in mæra tróða marglóðar Draupnis: spor dýrra vápna hríðar Dags svíða. Translation: ‘I am not red, nor does the slender woman give orders to a ruddy man; the ancient iron [arrow] sticks fast in my path of the fen of wounds [(lit. fen-path of wounds) BLOOD > HEART]; this is the cause to me now, glorious staff of the ocean-ember of Draupnir <ring> [GOLD > WOMAN]: the tracks of valued weapons of the blizzard of Dagr <legendary king> [BATTLE > WOUNDS] are painful.’ Notes: This alternate version of the stanza seems to be a copyist’s attempt to improve a corrupt stanza, and the translation offered here is not to be regarded as asserting that the stanza makes sense. Draupnis (l. 7), the name of a mythical gold ring from which further rings drip (cf. Þorm Lv 2/2^V (Fbr 9)), adds nothing to the kenning to which it is attached, since marglóðar ‘ocean-ember’ by itself means ‘gold’, and similarly hríðar Dags ‘of the blizzard of Dagr’ = ‘of battle’ is superfluous. — [1-4]: This and the following Notes relate to the main text above. The obscurities of this helmingr, especially the two references to ‘red’ (rjóðr ... rauðum) and the variants en/né in l. 1, have given rise to various interpretations by scribes and eds, and much depends on which ms. readings are adopted. (a) In the interpretation offered here, the text of ÓH is adopted, including the conj. en ‘but’. Rauðum ‘red’ is assumed to mean that the poet is blood-stained. Such a usage is admittedly unparalleled (though roðinn ‘reddened’ is often used this way: see LP: rjóða 2), but this analysis provides the contrast implied by en (I am not ruddy, but I am nonetheless ‘red’), and it helps make sense of hitt in l. 5, which is emphatic. It seems likeliest that the stanza known to both Snorri and the author of Fbr collocated rjóðr ‘ruddy’, rather than rauðr ‘red’, with emka ‘I am not’, since in both the stanza is a response to the question why the poet is so pale. (b) Skj B, by contrast, adopts né ‘and not’, and interprets the first three lines to mean ‘I am not red; neither does the white, slender woman have a red-cheeked man’, and this is the reading also of Skald. (c) A further possibility is to take the ‘red man’ in the second clause as a rueful reference to someone other than the speaker, probably a man who is ‘red’ in complexion, healthy and uninjured (so ÍF 6). Reference to a red-haired man, by contrast with the black-haired Þormóðr (Lv 8^V (Fbr 26)), is suggested by Finnur Jónsson (Hb 1892-6; Finnur Jónsson 1932-3), but judging from the prose contexts none of the saga authors perceived a reference to a red-haired man here. — [3] setrs hauka ‘of the seat of hawks [ARM]’: It is probably best, with Skj B and Skald, to prefer this reading to the variant látrs hauka ‘nest of hawks’, since it is attested in all three textual traditions, while the latter is found only in some mss of ÓH. Moreover, it is paralleled in Sigmund Lv 1/1^V (Nj 15), while látr ‘lair’, or here ‘nest’, is otherwise used almost exclusively in kennings for ‘gold’. It should be noted, however, that the reading adopted here produces a rhyme setrs : hvíta, and nowhere else does Þormóðr rhyme a short vowel and a long one in an open syllable. But that perhaps explains why the reading was altered in some mss of ÓH. — [4] fár hyggr of mik sáran ‘few think about me, wounded’: The line may possibly be understood as a gloss on rauðum ‘red’, the import being ‘(I am red because) I am wounded, though some may not have noticed’. — [5, 6] mér; morðvenjanda ‘to me; the killing-accustomed one’: Morðvenjandi is lit. ‘one who becomes accustomed to killing’, here in the sense of a man who is hard on gold because liberal with it. Both words are dat. (-venjanda by emendation), and both refer to Þormóðr. Skj B reverses their syntactic functions, construing the former with svíða ‘cause pain’ and the latter with veldr ‘is the cause’: see also Finnur Jónsson (1924a, 323-4), and cf. NN §714. If venjandi is retained, it must be regarded as vocative (though that produces no very good sense), and it is probably for that reason that Snorri in Hkr describes Þormóðr here as replying to someone other than the woman binding wounds, who is mentioned also in Hkr (see Finnur Jónsson 1932-3). — [5, 6] meldrar Fenju ‘of the flour of Fenja [GOLD]’: For the legend behind this gold-kenning, see Note to Eyv Lv 8/5-7.  — [7] ok danskra vápna ‘and of Danish weapons’: The phrase forms, with Dags ‘of Dagr’, the cpd determinant of a battle-kenning. Danskra ‘Danish’ could constitute evidence that Danes fought against Óláfr in the battle (so Finnur Jónsson 1932-3, 78), or only that Óláfr’s opponents had assistance from Knútr, on whose behalf the king’s opponents fought (so Gordon 1957, 240). Kock’s danska (vápna) ‘of Danish (weapons)’ (Skald; NN §714) may be an error, since danska is not in any ms. and gen. pl. -ra would be expected; and cf. NN §1991 anm. 2. — [8] hríðar Dags ‘of the blizzard of Dagr <legendary king> [BATTLE]’: Finnur Jónsson (1932-3) and Gordon (1957, 239) take this to be a reference to Dagr Hringsson (see Lv 22), as this is apparently how Snorri understood it, for twice he refers to the fiercest part of the battle as Dagshríð (hríð being a phase in a battle), in the context of narrating Dagr’s manoeuvres (ÍF 27, 386, 389). This is implausible, for hríðar Dags would appear to be a normal heroic kenning, and Þormóðr can hardly mean that he was wounded in a shower of missiles launched by one of the leaders on the king’s (and his own) side. Von See (1977b, 467-71) shows that this misunderstanding of the helmingr was already common by Snorri’s day. ÍF 27, 391 n. accepts Snorri’s testimony about Dagshríð but, recognizing the improbability that the term could then have been used by Þormóðr, adopts the unlikely reading dals hríðar ‘bow’s blizzard’ from Kˣ (cf. dal- in Holm2). — [8] svíða ‘cause pain’: According to Fbr, Þormóðr died before pronouncing this final word, which was supplied by Haraldr Sigurðarson (see Note to Lv 22/1). This is why the word is missing in most Fbr mss.

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. Fms = Sveinbjörn Egilsson et al., eds. 1825-37. Fornmanna sögur eptir gömlum handritum útgefnar að tilhlutun hins norræna fornfræða fèlags. 12 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. 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.
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. ÓH 1941 = Johnsen, Oscar Albert and Jón Helgason, eds. 1941. Saga Óláfs konungs hins helga: Den store saga om Olav den hellige efter pergamenthåndskrift i Kungliga biblioteket i Stockholm nr. 2 4^to med varianter fra andre håndskrifter. 2 vols. Det norske historiske kildeskriftfond skrifter 53. Oslo: Dybwad.
9. ÓHLeg 1982 = Heinrichs, Anne et al., eds and trans. 1982. Olafs saga hins helga: Die ‘Legendarische Saga’ über Olaf den Heiligen (Hs. Delagard. saml. nr. 8^II). Heidelberg: Winter.
10. ÍF 6 = Vestfirðinga sǫgur. Ed. Björn K. Þórólfsson and Guðni Jónsson. 1943.
11. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
12. Hkr 1893-1901 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1893-1901. Heimskringla: Nóregs konunga sǫgur af Snorri Sturluson. 4 vols. SUGNL 23. Copenhagen: Møller.
13. Hkr 1991 = Bergljót S. Kristjánsdóttir et al., eds. 1991. Heimskringla. 3 vols. Reykjavík: Mál og menning.
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. ÓHLeg 1922 = Johnsen, Oscar Albert, ed. 1922. Olafs saga hins helga efter pergamenthåndskrift i Uppsala Universitetsbibliotek, Delagardieske samling nr. 8^II. Det norske historiske kildeskriftfond skrifter 47. Kristiania (Oslo): Dybwad.
16. Gordon, E. V. 1957. An Introduction to Old Norse. 2nd edn rev. A. R. Taylor. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
17. See, Klaus von. 1977b. ‘Skaldenstrophe und Sagaprosa: Ein Beitrag zum Problem der mündlichen Überlieferung in der altnordischen Literatur’. MS 10, 58-82. Rpt. in von See 1981a, 461-85.
18. Gaertner, K. H. 1907. ‘Zur Fóstbrœðra saga. I. Teil: Die vísur’. BGDSL 32, 299-446.
19. Loth, Agnete, ed. 1960a. Membrana regia deperdita. EA A 5. Copenhagen: Munksgaard.
20. Fbr 1925-7 = Björn K. Þórólfsson, ed. 1925-7. Fóstbrœðra saga. Copenhagen: Jørgensen.
21. Finnur Jónsson. 1932-3. ‘Þórmóðr Kolbrúnarskald’. APS 7, 31-82.
22. Fbr 1852 = Konráð Gíslason, ed. 1852. Fóstbrœðra saga. Copenhagen: Berling.
23. Hkr 1777-1826 = Schöning, Gerhard et al., eds. 1777-1826. Heimskringla edr Noregs konunga-sögor. 6 vols. Copenhagen: Stein.
24. Hkr 1868 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1868. Heimskringla eller Norges kongesagaer af Snorre Sturlassøn. Christiania (Oslo): Brøgger & Christie.
25. ÓHLeg 1849 = Keyser, R. and C. R. Unger. eds. 1849. Olafs saga hins helga: En kort saga om kong Olaf den Hellige fra anden halvdeel af det tolfte aarhundrede. Efter et gammelt pergaments-haandskrift i Universitets-bibliotheket i Upsala. Christiania (Oslo): Feilberg & Landmark.
26. ÍS = Bragi Halldórsson et al., eds. 1987. Íslendinga sögur og þættir. 3 vols. Reykjavík: Svart á hvítu.
27. Finnur Jónsson. 1924a. ‘Skjaldekvadenes forståelse’. ANF 40, 320-31.
28. Internal references
29. (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 18 April 2024)
30. (forthcoming), ‘ Anonymous, Fóstbrœðra saga’ 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. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=7> (accessed 18 April 2024)
31. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Óláfs saga helga (Legendary)’ 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=31> (accessed 18 April 2024)
32. (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 18 April 2024)
33. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Óláfs saga helga’ 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=53> (accessed 18 April 2024)
34. (forthcoming), ‘ Heimskringla, Óláfs saga helga (in Heimskringla)’ 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=152> (accessed 18 April 2024)
35. Russell Poole (ed.) 2012, ‘Eyvindr skáldaspillir Finnsson, Lausavísur 8’ 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. 226.
36. R. D. Fulk (ed.) 2022, ‘Fóstbrœðra saga 9 (Þormóðr Kolbrúnarskáld, Lausavísur 2)’ 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. 497.
37. R. D. Fulk (ed.) 2022, ‘Fóstbrœðra saga 26 (Þormóðr Kolbrúnarskáld, Lausavísur 8)’ 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. 524.
38. R. D. Fulk (ed.) 2022, ‘Njáls saga 15 (Sigmundr Lambason, Lausavísur 1)’ 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. 1239.