Hfr Óldr 1I
Diana Whaley (ed.) 2012, ‘Hallfreðr vandræðaskáld Óttarsson, Óláfsdrápa 1’ 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. 392.
Svá ‘Thus’
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svá (adv.): so, thus
frák ‘I have learned’
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1. fregna (verb): hear of
hitt ‘this’
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2. inn (art.): the
at ‘that’
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4. at (conj.): that
hôvan ‘’
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3. hár (adj.; °-van; compar. hǽrri, superl. hǽstr): high
hôva ‘high’
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3. hár (adj.; °-van; compar. hǽrri, superl. hǽstr): high
[1] hôva: so 310, hôvan FskBˣ, 51ˣ, FskAˣ
hǫrg ‘shrine’
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hǫrgr (noun m.; °; -ar): cairn, shrine < hǫrgbrjótr (noun m.)
notes
[2] hǫrgbrjótr ‘the shrine-destroyer’: An unusual expression depicting Óláfr specifically as a Christian ruler, a purger of heathendom; cf. végrimmr ‘temple-fierce, fierce against heathen temples’ in l. 8. Hǫrgbrjótr could be regarded, as here, as a kenning-like cpd, or as an actual kenning (so Meissner 363), albeit an unusual one.
brjótr ‘destroyer’
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brjótr (noun m.): breaker < hǫrgbrjótr (noun m.)
notes
[2] hǫrgbrjótr ‘the shrine-destroyer’: An unusual expression depicting Óláfr specifically as a Christian ruler, a purger of heathendom; cf. végrimmr ‘temple-fierce, fierce against heathen temples’ in l. 8. Hǫrgbrjótr could be regarded, as here, as a kenning-like cpd, or as an actual kenning (so Meissner 363), albeit an unusual one.
í ‘in’
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í (prep.): in, into
stað ‘a place’
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1. staðr (noun m.; °-ar/-s; -ir): place
mǫrgum ‘many’
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2. margr (adj.; °-an): many
opt ‘often’
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opt (adv.): often
kom ‘came’
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koma (verb; kem, kom/kvam, kominn): come
notes
[3, 4] kom at heipta blóði ‘came to the blood of strife’: Although heipta occurs in no ms., it could have been the starting point for the existing readings: ‘hamna’ (normalised hafna) in FskBˣ, for which a possible meaning is suggested below; the uninterpretable ‘hæfta’ in FskAˣ; and dat. pl. heiptum ‘strife’ in 310, which makes good sense but leaves blóði ‘blood’ (l. 4) stranded and sits uncomfortably with its preceding þars. (a) The construal adopted here is favoured by Finnur Jónsson in Fsk 1902-3 and in LP: heipt 1; also by Bjarni Einarsson in ÍF 29. (b) In Skj B Finnur takes at with blóði, hence opt kom hrafn at blóði ‘the raven often got blood’, while translating heiptum as med fjendtligt sind ‘with hostile mind’ and taking it with hlóð ‘heaped’ (l. 4) and the clause built around it. However, if the dat. reading heiptum were correct the immediately preceding prep. at would govern it rather than the more distant blóði (cf. Kuhn 1983, 120-2 on proclitic prepositions). (c) Kock (Skald and NN §473) reads hafna ... blóði ‘crews’ blood’.
hrafn ‘the raven’
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hrafn (noun m.; °hrafns; dat. hrafni; hrafnar): raven
þars ‘’
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þars (conj.): where
notes
[3, 4] kom at heipta blóði ‘came to the blood of strife’: Although heipta occurs in no ms., it could have been the starting point for the existing readings: ‘hamna’ (normalised hafna) in FskBˣ, for which a possible meaning is suggested below; the uninterpretable ‘hæfta’ in FskAˣ; and dat. pl. heiptum ‘strife’ in 310, which makes good sense but leaves blóði ‘blood’ (l. 4) stranded and sits uncomfortably with its preceding þars. (a) The construal adopted here is favoured by Finnur Jónsson in Fsk 1902-3 and in LP: heipt 1; also by Bjarni Einarsson in ÍF 29. (b) In Skj B Finnur takes at with blóði, hence opt kom hrafn at blóði ‘the raven often got blood’, while translating heiptum as med fjendtligt sind ‘with hostile mind’ and taking it with hlóð ‘heaped’ (l. 4) and the clause built around it. However, if the dat. reading heiptum were correct the immediately preceding prep. at would govern it rather than the more distant blóði (cf. Kuhn 1983, 120-2 on proclitic prepositions). (c) Kock (Skald and NN §473) reads hafna ... blóði ‘crews’ blood’.
heiptum ‘’
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heift (noun f.; °-ar; -ir): hatred, enmity
hæfta ‘’
hamna ‘’
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1. hafna (verb): abandon, reject
heipta ‘of strife’
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heift (noun f.; °-ar; -ir): hatred, enmity
[3] heipta: ‘hamna’ FskBˣ, 51ˣ, ‘hæfta’ FskAˣ, heiptum 310
notes
[3, 4] kom at heipta blóði ‘came to the blood of strife’: Although heipta occurs in no ms., it could have been the starting point for the existing readings: ‘hamna’ (normalised hafna) in FskBˣ, for which a possible meaning is suggested below; the uninterpretable ‘hæfta’ in FskAˣ; and dat. pl. heiptum ‘strife’ in 310, which makes good sense but leaves blóði ‘blood’ (l. 4) stranded and sits uncomfortably with its preceding þars. (a) The construal adopted here is favoured by Finnur Jónsson in Fsk 1902-3 and in LP: heipt 1; also by Bjarni Einarsson in ÍF 29. (b) In Skj B Finnur takes at with blóði, hence opt kom hrafn at blóði ‘the raven often got blood’, while translating heiptum as med fjendtligt sind ‘with hostile mind’ and taking it with hlóð ‘heaped’ (l. 4) and the clause built around it. However, if the dat. reading heiptum were correct the immediately preceding prep. at would govern it rather than the more distant blóði (cf. Kuhn 1983, 120-2 on proclitic prepositions). (c) Kock (Skald and NN §473) reads hafna ... blóði ‘crews’ blood’.
hlóð ‘piled up’
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2. hlaða (verb): heap, pile
val ‘corpse’
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1. valr (noun m.; °dat. -i; -ir): corpse, the slain < valkǫstr (noun m.): corpse-pile
kǫstu ‘heaps’
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kǫstr (noun m.; °dat. kesti; kestir, acc. kǫstu): pile < valkǫstr (noun m.): corpse-pile
blóði ‘the blood’
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blóð (noun n.; °-s): blood
notes
[3, 4] kom at heipta blóði ‘came to the blood of strife’: Although heipta occurs in no ms., it could have been the starting point for the existing readings: ‘hamna’ (normalised hafna) in FskBˣ, for which a possible meaning is suggested below; the uninterpretable ‘hæfta’ in FskAˣ; and dat. pl. heiptum ‘strife’ in 310, which makes good sense but leaves blóði ‘blood’ (l. 4) stranded and sits uncomfortably with its preceding þars. (a) The construal adopted here is favoured by Finnur Jónsson in Fsk 1902-3 and in LP: heipt 1; also by Bjarni Einarsson in ÍF 29. (b) In Skj B Finnur takes at with blóði, hence opt kom hrafn at blóði ‘the raven often got blood’, while translating heiptum as med fjendtligt sind ‘with hostile mind’ and taking it with hlóð ‘heaped’ (l. 4) and the clause built around it. However, if the dat. reading heiptum were correct the immediately preceding prep. at would govern it rather than the more distant blóði (cf. Kuhn 1983, 120-2 on proclitic prepositions). (c) Kock (Skald and NN §473) reads hafna ... blóði ‘crews’ blood’.
enn ‘’
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2. enn (adv.): still, yet, again
létsk ‘’
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láta (verb): let, have sth done
Jamta ‘of the Jamtr’
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jamtr (noun m.; °; -): jamtr
kindr ‘’
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kind (noun f.; °-ar; -r): offspring, race
kindar ‘’
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kind (noun f.; °-ar; -r): offspring, race
kindum ‘’
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kind (noun f.; °-ar; -r): offspring, race
kindir ‘the kin’
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kind (noun f.; °-ar; -r): offspring, race
[5] kindir: kindar FskBˣ, 51ˣ, kindr FskAˣ, kindum 53, 54, Bb
vandliga ‘’
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vandliga (adv.): carefully < allvandliga (adv.): very carefully
valdastr ‘’
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valdr (adj.): power < 2. allvaldr (adj.): very powerful
valdr ‘ruler’
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valdr (noun m.): ruler < allvaldr (noun m.): mighty ruler
[6] ‑valdr í styr: ‑valdastr Bb, ‑vandliga Flat; ‑valdr: ‘[…]’ FskBˣ, ‑valdr or valda 62
í ‘in’
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í (prep.): in, into
[6] ‑valdr í styr: ‑valdastr Bb, ‑vandliga Flat; í: om. FskBˣ
styr ‘the mêlée’
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styrr (noun m.; °dat. -): battle
[6] ‑valdr í styr: ‑valdastr Bb, ‑vandliga Flat
falla ‘to fall’
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falla (verb): fall
opt ‘’
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opt (adv.): often
hann ‘he’
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hann (pron.; °gen. hans, dat. honum; f. hon, gen. hennar, acc. hana): he, she, it, they, them...
[7] hann: ‘[…]t’ FskBˣ, opt 51ˣ
at ‘’
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4. at (conj.): that
æ ‘’
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2. æ (adv.): always, forever
víða ‘’
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1. víða (adv.): widely
vígg ‘’
vé ‘heathen temples’
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1. vé (noun n.): house, sanctuary < végrimmr (adj.)
[8] végrimmr: so F, 61, 53, 54, Bb, 62, ‘[…]’ FskBˣ, ‘vegrunr’ 51ˣ, veggrimmr Kˣ, FskAˣ, J1ˣ, Flat, víggrimmr 310
notes
[8] végrimmr ‘fierce against heathen temples’: Although Kˣ and other mss read veg-, perhaps ‘path’ or ‘honour’, this makes little sense compounded with grimmr ‘fierce’, and vé- ‘heathen temple’ is to be preferred. This reading is found in F and supported by ‘vegrimr’ in papp18ˣ and J2ˣ, both of which are transcripts of the vellum K at this point; it may also find some support in the 51ˣ reading ‘vegrunr’. Significant in its rarity, végrimmr matches hǫrgbrjótr ‘shrine-destroyer’ in l. 2 (which falls in a different stanza in the Hkr-ÓT arrangement of the poem), fleetingly portraying Óláfr in his role as militant missionary. Syntactically, the adj. could conceivably be taken to qualify hann ‘he’ in l. 7, but the present arrangement, which leaves the intercalated clause in ll. 7, 8 more terse, seems stylistically preferable and is favoured by earlier eds.
runnr ‘’
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runnr (noun m.; °dat. -i/-; -ar): bush, tree < vegrunnr (noun m.)
grimmr ‘fierce against’
[8] végrimmr: so F, 61, 53, 54, Bb, 62, ‘[…]’ FskBˣ, ‘vegrunr’ 51ˣ, veggrimmr Kˣ, FskAˣ, J1ˣ, Flat, víggrimmr 310
notes
[8] végrimmr ‘fierce against heathen temples’: Although Kˣ and other mss read veg-, perhaps ‘path’ or ‘honour’, this makes little sense compounded with grimmr ‘fierce’, and vé- ‘heathen temple’ is to be preferred. This reading is found in F and supported by ‘vegrimr’ in papp18ˣ and J2ˣ, both of which are transcripts of the vellum K at this point; it may also find some support in the 51ˣ reading ‘vegrunr’. Significant in its rarity, végrimmr matches hǫrgbrjótr ‘shrine-destroyer’ in l. 2 (which falls in a different stanza in the Hkr-ÓT arrangement of the poem), fleetingly portraying Óláfr in his role as militant missionary. Syntactically, the adj. could conceivably be taken to qualify hann ‘he’ in l. 7, but the present arrangement, which leaves the intercalated clause in ll. 7, 8 more terse, seems stylistically preferable and is favoured by earlier eds.
þat ‘that’
[8] á þat: ‘[…]’ FskBˣ
snimma ‘early’
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snemma (adv.): early
Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses
See Introduction.
FskBˣ is used as main ms. for ll. 1-4, which are lacking in Hkr and ÓT, while Kˣ is used as main ms. for ll. 5-8 since FskBˣ has several small lacunae there, resulting from a large tear at the foot of fol. 32v. The arrangement of helmingar in Fsk and 310 is followed here, as throughout this edn, since that arrangement seems likely to be closer to the original; see Introduction. In Hkr and ÓT, ll. 5-8 form a stanza with st. 2/1-4.
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