Anon Ól 3I
Kate Heslop (ed.) 2012, ‘Anonymous Poems, Poem about Óláfr Tryggvason 3’ 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. 1064.
Fór ‘went’
(not checked:)
fara (verb; ferr, fór, fóru, farinn): go, travel
notes
[1] fór í braut á báru ‘went away on the wave’: This appears to suggest that Óláfr walked on the water. Given the poor state of the text and the fact that gekk ‘walked’ rather than fór ‘went, travelled’ might have been expected, this remains uncertain, and such a claim would be unique to this poem: ÓT (1958-2000, II, 231) only has engi uissi með hveriu moti hann for ꜳ land ‘no-one knew by what means he got to land’. Nevertheless, walking on water seems likely since it would match and justify the second helmingr and would allude to the Gospel story of Jesus walking on the Sea of Galilee (Matt. XIV. 22-33), with which the Þorkell episode shares several elements: Jesus/Óláfr is praying alone on land at night, while his companions are on a boat; Jesus/Óláfr walks on the water; Peter/Þorkell has to be rescued from the water by Jesus/Óláfr. A further possibility is that he was carried by an angel, as is reported elsewhere of Óláfr (cf. Flat 1860-8, I, 464).
í ‘’
(not checked:)
í (prep.): in, into
notes
[1] fór í braut á báru ‘went away on the wave’: This appears to suggest that Óláfr walked on the water. Given the poor state of the text and the fact that gekk ‘walked’ rather than fór ‘went, travelled’ might have been expected, this remains uncertain, and such a claim would be unique to this poem: ÓT (1958-2000, II, 231) only has engi uissi með hveriu moti hann for ꜳ land ‘no-one knew by what means he got to land’. Nevertheless, walking on water seems likely since it would match and justify the second helmingr and would allude to the Gospel story of Jesus walking on the Sea of Galilee (Matt. XIV. 22-33), with which the Þorkell episode shares several elements: Jesus/Óláfr is praying alone on land at night, while his companions are on a boat; Jesus/Óláfr walks on the water; Peter/Þorkell has to be rescued from the water by Jesus/Óláfr. A further possibility is that he was carried by an angel, as is reported elsewhere of Óláfr (cf. Flat 1860-8, I, 464).
braut ‘away’
(not checked:)
1. braut (noun f.; °dat. -/-u; -ir): path, way; away
notes
[1] fór í braut á báru ‘went away on the wave’: This appears to suggest that Óláfr walked on the water. Given the poor state of the text and the fact that gekk ‘walked’ rather than fór ‘went, travelled’ might have been expected, this remains uncertain, and such a claim would be unique to this poem: ÓT (1958-2000, II, 231) only has engi uissi með hveriu moti hann for ꜳ land ‘no-one knew by what means he got to land’. Nevertheless, walking on water seems likely since it would match and justify the second helmingr and would allude to the Gospel story of Jesus walking on the Sea of Galilee (Matt. XIV. 22-33), with which the Þorkell episode shares several elements: Jesus/Óláfr is praying alone on land at night, while his companions are on a boat; Jesus/Óláfr walks on the water; Peter/Þorkell has to be rescued from the water by Jesus/Óláfr. A further possibility is that he was carried by an angel, as is reported elsewhere of Óláfr (cf. Flat 1860-8, I, 464).
á ‘on’
(not checked:)
3. á (prep.): on, at
notes
[1] fór í braut á báru ‘went away on the wave’: This appears to suggest that Óláfr walked on the water. Given the poor state of the text and the fact that gekk ‘walked’ rather than fór ‘went, travelled’ might have been expected, this remains uncertain, and such a claim would be unique to this poem: ÓT (1958-2000, II, 231) only has engi uissi með hveriu moti hann for ꜳ land ‘no-one knew by what means he got to land’. Nevertheless, walking on water seems likely since it would match and justify the second helmingr and would allude to the Gospel story of Jesus walking on the Sea of Galilee (Matt. XIV. 22-33), with which the Þorkell episode shares several elements: Jesus/Óláfr is praying alone on land at night, while his companions are on a boat; Jesus/Óláfr walks on the water; Peter/Þorkell has to be rescued from the water by Jesus/Óláfr. A further possibility is that he was carried by an angel, as is reported elsewhere of Óláfr (cf. Flat 1860-8, I, 464).
báru ‘the wave’
(not checked:)
1. bára (noun f.; °-u; -ur): wave
notes
[1] fór í braut á báru ‘went away on the wave’: This appears to suggest that Óláfr walked on the water. Given the poor state of the text and the fact that gekk ‘walked’ rather than fór ‘went, travelled’ might have been expected, this remains uncertain, and such a claim would be unique to this poem: ÓT (1958-2000, II, 231) only has engi uissi með hveriu moti hann for ꜳ land ‘no-one knew by what means he got to land’. Nevertheless, walking on water seems likely since it would match and justify the second helmingr and would allude to the Gospel story of Jesus walking on the Sea of Galilee (Matt. XIV. 22-33), with which the Þorkell episode shares several elements: Jesus/Óláfr is praying alone on land at night, while his companions are on a boat; Jesus/Óláfr walks on the water; Peter/Þorkell has to be rescued from the water by Jesus/Óláfr. A further possibility is that he was carried by an angel, as is reported elsewhere of Óláfr (cf. Flat 1860-8, I, 464).
baug ‘The ring’
(not checked:)
baugr (noun m.; °dat. -i/-; -ar): ring < bauglestir (noun m.)
kennings
Bauglestir‘The ring-harmer ’
= GENEROUS MAN
The ring-harmer → GENEROUS MAN
lestir ‘harmer’
(not checked:)
lestir (noun m.): damager, destroyer < bauglestir (noun m.)
kennings
Bauglestir‘The ring-harmer ’
= GENEROUS MAN
The ring-harmer → GENEROUS MAN
af ‘from’
(not checked:)
af (prep.): from
notes
[2] af hesti ... ‘from the horse ...’: Hesti ‘horse’ is certain, and in the context is most likely to be the base-word of a ship-kenning. The determinant may be a sea-kenning incorporating bekkjar ‘of the bench’ as determinant (see LP: 2. bekkr 1 for examples), or possibly bekkjar alone in the sense ‘ship’ (LP: 2. bekkr 2). Af ‘from’ is less clear: Finnur Jónsson reads ‘a’, which he takes as a scribal error for af, but Ólafur Halldórsson (AM 61 1982, 23) thinks the ms. has a ligature of ‘a’ + ‘f’, i.e. af. Kock (NN §3346) suggests emendation to ráhesti (m. dat. sg.) ‘sailyard-horse’, hence á ráhesti báru ‘on the sailyard-horse of the waves [SHIP]’, but this (overdetermined) kenning is not justified, given the fragmentary state of the text, and neither is his reading in Skald of af for á (l. 1).
hesti ‘the horse’
(not checked:)
hestr (noun m.; °-s, dat. -i; -ar): horse, stallion
notes
[2] af hesti ... ‘from the horse ...’: Hesti ‘horse’ is certain, and in the context is most likely to be the base-word of a ship-kenning. The determinant may be a sea-kenning incorporating bekkjar ‘of the bench’ as determinant (see LP: 2. bekkr 1 for examples), or possibly bekkjar alone in the sense ‘ship’ (LP: 2. bekkr 2). Af ‘from’ is less clear: Finnur Jónsson reads ‘a’, which he takes as a scribal error for af, but Ólafur Halldórsson (AM 61 1982, 23) thinks the ms. has a ligature of ‘a’ + ‘f’, i.e. af. Kock (NN §3346) suggests emendation to ráhesti (m. dat. sg.) ‘sailyard-horse’, hence á ráhesti báru ‘on the sailyard-horse of the waves [SHIP]’, but this (overdetermined) kenning is not justified, given the fragmentary state of the text, and neither is his reading in Skald of af for á (l. 1).
†… ‘…’
(not checked:)
(non-lexical)
á ‘’
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3. á (prep.): on, at
… da …† ‘’
(not checked:)
(non-lexical)
bekkjar ‘of the bench’
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1. bekkr (noun m.; °-jar/-s, dat. -/-i; -ir): bench
her ‘the troop’
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herr (noun m.; °-s/-jar, dat. -; -jar, gen. -ja/herra): army, host < herrekkir (noun m.): [War-promoter]
kennings
herrekkir …‘the troop-emboldener ’
= RULER
the troop-emboldener → RULER
rekkir ‘emboldener’
(not checked:)
rekkir (noun m.): [emboldener] < herrekkir (noun m.): [War-promoter]
kennings
herrekkir …‘the troop-emboldener ’
= RULER
the troop-emboldener → RULER
Satt ‘true’
(not checked:)
2. sannr (adj.; °-an; compar. -ari, superl. -astr): true
var ‘It was’
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2. vera (verb): be, is, was, were, are, am
að ‘that’
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4. at (conj.): that
seggjum ‘to men’
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seggr (noun m.; °; -ir): man
þótti ‘seemed’
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2. þykkja (verb): seem, think
sáz ‘were to be seen’
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2. sjá (verb): see
þeingils ‘of the ruler’
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þengill (noun m.): prince, ruler
spor ‘footprints’
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spor (noun n.; °-s; -): track
eingi ‘no’
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2. engi (pron.): no, none
oft ‘often’
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opt (adv.): often
siez ‘seen’
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2. sjá (verb): see
Ólafs ‘Óláfr’s’
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Óláfr (noun m.): Óláfr
gifta ‘blessedness’
(not checked:)
1. gifta (noun f.): grace, fortune
notes
[7] gifta ‘blessedness’: Here, as usual in late skaldic poetry (and in much prose devoted to the missionary kings), this word has specifically Christian connotations and means ‘grace, blessing from God’ (see Baetke 1951, 47-54; Lange 1958a, 50-2); the objections raised by Hallberg (1973) to this interpretation are not pertinent to the skaldic material.
jöfurs ‘the prince’s’
(not checked:)
jǫfurr (noun m.): ruler, prince
ferð ‘journey’
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ferð (noun f.; °-ar; -ir/-arMork 196¹²)): host, journey
kynjum ‘miraculously’
verða ‘to turn out’
(not checked:)
1. verða (verb): become, be
Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses
The wording of the stanza is close to the prose (see Introduction), here especially to ÓTOdd (both have spor ‘footprint, track’), though this is presumably by chance as elsewhere the stanzas are much closer to ÓT. — [6-7]: The two intercalary sentences are paired to form an explanation of people’s conviction that Óláfr moved by supernatural means: while eingi spor sáz ‘no footprints were to be seen’, his blessedness siez oft ‘is often seen’.
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