Svart Skauf 36^VIII

‘Nú tekr elli         að mier sækja;
má eg alls ekki         á mig treysta:
farinn fráleikur,         fitskór troðnir,
tenn sljófgaðar         en toppr ór enni.

‘Nú tekr elli sækja að mier; eg má alls ekki treysta á mig: fráleikur farinn, fitskór troðnir, tenn sljófgaðar en toppr ór enni.

‘Now old age begins to attack me; I cannot trust in myself at all: swiftness gone, skin-shoes downtrodden, teeth dulled and the tuft [fallen] from my forehead.

Mss: 603(82), Rask87ˣ(115r)

Readings: [2] að mier: á mig að Rask87ˣ    [3] alls: om. Rask87ˣ    [5] farinn: farinn er Rask87ˣ;    fráleikur: færleikur Rask87ˣ    [6] fitskór: ‘fitkor’ 603, fæturnar Rask87ˣ;    troðnir: troðnar Rask87ˣ    [7] tenn: tennur Rask87ˣ    [8] en: og Rask87ˣ;    toppr: ‘tæpp \er/’ Rask87ˣ

Editions: Kölbing 1876, 245, Jón Þorkelsson 1888, 234, CPB II, 384, Jón Þorkelsson 1922-7, 159, Páll Eggert Ólason 1947, 68.

Notes: [All]: The sentiments expressed in this stanza resemble Egill Skallagrímsson’s lament about old age; see Egill Lv 46^V (Eg 130). — [2] sækja að mier ‘attack me’: Að sœkja á mier ‘to attack me’ (Rask87ˣ) is also a possible reading. For the unusual placement of the alliteration on the proclitic prep. in position 1, see Note to st. 6/8. — [3] alls ‘at all’: The adv. is omitted in Rask87ˣ, which is syntactically and metrically possible. — [5] farinn ‘gone’: Rask87ˣ adds er ‘is’. This appears to be a later addition since the finite verbs are omitted with the past participles in ll. 6-7 as well. — [5] fráleikur ‘swiftness’: Færleikur ‘vigour’ (Rask87ˣ) is an equally good reading. For the excrescent [u], see Note to st. 13/5. — [6] fitskór ‘skin-shoes’: Shoes made from fit ‘the skin of an animal’s hoof or shank’ (see Fritzner: fitskór; ‘fitkor’ 603 is a scribal error). Fæturnar ‘the feet’ (Rask87ˣ) is clearly a lectio facilior, and unmetrical as well. — [7] tenn ‘teeth’: Tennur ‘teeth’ (Rask87ˣ) is a later form (see Björn K. Þórólfsson 1925, 28 and Bandle 1956, 261). — [8] toppr ór enni ‘the tuft [fallen] from my forehead’: See Rv Lv 4/2^II.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Bandle, Oskar. 1956. Die Sprache der Guðbrandsbiblía. BA 17. Copenhagen: Munksgaard.
3. Björn K. Þórólfsson. 1925. Um íslenskar orðmyndir á 14. og 15. öld og breytingar þeirra úr fornmálinu. Reykjavík: Fjelagsprentsmiðjan. Rpt. 1987. Rit um íslenska málfræði 2. Reykjavík: Málvísindastofnun Háskóla Íslands.
4. CPB = Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and F. York Powell, eds. 1883. Corpus poeticum boreale: The Poetry of the Old Northern Tongue from the Earliest Times to the Thirteenth Century. 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon. Rpt. 1965, New York: Russell & Russell.
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. Jón Þorkelsson [J. Thorkelsson]. 1888. Om digtningen på Island i det 15. og 16. århundrede. Copenhagen: Høst & søns forlag.
7. Kölbing, Eugen. 1876. Beiträge zur vergleichenden Geschichte der romantischen Poesie und Prosa des Mittelalters unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der englishen und nordischen litteratur. Breslau: Koebner.
8. Páll Eggert Ólason, ed. 1947. Kvæðasafn 1300-1600. Vol. 2 of Einar Ólafur Sveinsson et al., eds. Íslands þúsund ár. 4 vols. Reykjavík: Helgafell.
9. Internal references
10. Not published: do not cite (Egill^V)
11. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2022, ‘Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar 130 (Egill Skallagrímsson, Lausavísur 46)’ 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. 384.
12. Judith Jesch (ed.) 2009, ‘Rǫgnvaldr jarl Kali Kolsson, Lausavísur 4’ 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. 579-80.