Svart Skauf 2VIII
Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Svartr á Hofstöðum, Skaufhala bálkr 2’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 956.
Því ‘It was for that reason that’
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því (adv.): therefore, because
notes
[1] því ‘it was for that reason’: Kölbing (1876) takes this as an interrogative (= hví ‘why’), which is possible in later Icelandic (after 1400, see Björn K. Þórólfsson 1925, 46), but less likely in view of the adv.-conj. combination því … að lit. ‘therefore … because’.
voru ‘were’
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2. vera (verb): be, is, was, were, are, am
nítján ‘nineteen’
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nítján (num. cardinal): [nineteen]
niðjar ‘offspring’
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1. niðr (noun m.; °-s; niðjar/niðir, acc. niði): son, kinsman, relative
skaufhala ‘of Tassel-tail’
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skaufhali (noun m.): skaufhali
[2] skaufhala: so Rask87ˣ, ‘skaufala’ 603
notes
[3] jafningja hunds ‘a dog’s equal’: Jafningjar hans (m. nom. pl.) ‘his equals’ (so Rask87ˣ) must be a lectio facilior. See the similar expression (hunds jafningi) in st. 19/4.
jafningja ‘equal’
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jafningi (noun m.; °-ja/-a; -jar/-ar): equal, match
[3] jafningja: jafningjar Rask87ˣ
notes
[3] jafningja hunds ‘a dog’s equal’: Jafningjar hans (m. nom. pl.) ‘his equals’ (so Rask87ˣ) must be a lectio facilior. See the similar expression (hunds jafningi) in st. 19/4.
heldr ‘rather’
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heldr (adv.): rather
en ‘than’
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2. en (conj.): but, and
tuttugu ‘twenty’
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tuttugu (num. cardinal): twenty
þar ‘there’
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þar (adv.): there
sannaðiz ‘came true’
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2. sanna (verb): prove
forn ‘the old’
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forn (adj.; °compar. -ari, superl. -astr): ancient, old
[5] forn: so Rask87ˣ, fyrða 603
mæli ‘saying’
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mæli (noun n.): words
að ‘because’
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4. at (conj.): that
oft ‘often’
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opt (adv.): often
notes
[7-8] oft verðr örgum vant eins á tög ‘the wicked one often lacks one from ten’: Guðbrandur Vigfússon (CPB II, 610) explains this as a proverb: ‘… nineteen is a favourite number in popular tales; a dangerous river has just taken ‘nineteen’ victims, and is waiting for the last; Mount Hecla has had ‘nineteen’ eruptions, and the like’. The ‘wicked one’ most likely refers to Satan here although örgum (nom. argr ‘wicked, cowardly’) could also be dat. pl. Amory (1973, 4) paraphrases this as ‘with cowards there is always one missing out of every ten men’.
verðr ‘’
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1. verða (verb): become, be
notes
[7-8] oft verðr örgum vant eins á tög ‘the wicked one often lacks one from ten’: Guðbrandur Vigfússon (CPB II, 610) explains this as a proverb: ‘… nineteen is a favourite number in popular tales; a dangerous river has just taken ‘nineteen’ victims, and is waiting for the last; Mount Hecla has had ‘nineteen’ eruptions, and the like’. The ‘wicked one’ most likely refers to Satan here although örgum (nom. argr ‘wicked, cowardly’) could also be dat. pl. Amory (1973, 4) paraphrases this as ‘with cowards there is always one missing out of every ten men’.
örgum ‘the wicked one’
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2. argr (adj.; °compar. -ari, superl. -astr): maleficient, wicked, perverted
notes
[7-8] oft verðr örgum vant eins á tög ‘the wicked one often lacks one from ten’: Guðbrandur Vigfússon (CPB II, 610) explains this as a proverb: ‘… nineteen is a favourite number in popular tales; a dangerous river has just taken ‘nineteen’ victims, and is waiting for the last; Mount Hecla has had ‘nineteen’ eruptions, and the like’. The ‘wicked one’ most likely refers to Satan here although örgum (nom. argr ‘wicked, cowardly’) could also be dat. pl. Amory (1973, 4) paraphrases this as ‘with cowards there is always one missing out of every ten men’.
eins ‘one’
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1. einn (num. cardinal; °f. ein, n. eitt; pl. einir; superl. debil. -asti(Anna238(2001) 155³²)): one; alone
notes
[7-8] oft verðr örgum vant eins á tög ‘the wicked one often lacks one from ten’: Guðbrandur Vigfússon (CPB II, 610) explains this as a proverb: ‘… nineteen is a favourite number in popular tales; a dangerous river has just taken ‘nineteen’ victims, and is waiting for the last; Mount Hecla has had ‘nineteen’ eruptions, and the like’. The ‘wicked one’ most likely refers to Satan here although örgum (nom. argr ‘wicked, cowardly’) could also be dat. pl. Amory (1973, 4) paraphrases this as ‘with cowards there is always one missing out of every ten men’.
vant ‘lacks’
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2. vanr (adj.): lacking
notes
[7-8] oft verðr örgum vant eins á tög ‘the wicked one often lacks one from ten’: Guðbrandur Vigfússon (CPB II, 610) explains this as a proverb: ‘… nineteen is a favourite number in popular tales; a dangerous river has just taken ‘nineteen’ victims, and is waiting for the last; Mount Hecla has had ‘nineteen’ eruptions, and the like’. The ‘wicked one’ most likely refers to Satan here although örgum (nom. argr ‘wicked, cowardly’) could also be dat. pl. Amory (1973, 4) paraphrases this as ‘with cowards there is always one missing out of every ten men’.
á ‘from’
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3. á (prep.): on, at
notes
[7-8] oft verðr örgum vant eins á tög ‘the wicked one often lacks one from ten’: Guðbrandur Vigfússon (CPB II, 610) explains this as a proverb: ‘… nineteen is a favourite number in popular tales; a dangerous river has just taken ‘nineteen’ victims, and is waiting for the last; Mount Hecla has had ‘nineteen’ eruptions, and the like’. The ‘wicked one’ most likely refers to Satan here although örgum (nom. argr ‘wicked, cowardly’) could also be dat. pl. Amory (1973, 4) paraphrases this as ‘with cowards there is always one missing out of every ten men’.
tög ‘ten’
(not checked:)
tigr (noun m.; °-ar/-s(DN II (1309) 80¹², etc.); -ir, acc. -u): a ten of, a decade; a ten of, a decade
notes
[7-8] oft verðr örgum vant eins á tög ‘the wicked one often lacks one from ten’: Guðbrandur Vigfússon (CPB II, 610) explains this as a proverb: ‘… nineteen is a favourite number in popular tales; a dangerous river has just taken ‘nineteen’ victims, and is waiting for the last; Mount Hecla has had ‘nineteen’ eruptions, and the like’. The ‘wicked one’ most likely refers to Satan here although örgum (nom. argr ‘wicked, cowardly’) could also be dat. pl. Amory (1973, 4) paraphrases this as ‘with cowards there is always one missing out of every ten men’.
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[5-6]: Earlier eds (except Páll Eggert Ólason 1947) retain the 603 reading þar [CPB þat] sannadiz fyrða | fornmæli ‘there the old saying of men came true’, which results in two unmetrical lines (l. 5 is hypermetrical and l. 6 is hypometrical). It is not clear why CPB replaces þar ‘there’ with þat ‘that’.
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