Anon Ól 4^I

Valdr nam vígs á kveldi
vitr um kóng að sitja;
þá lá hoskr í hvílu
hildingr í lyftingu.
Skjöldungr ekki skyldi
skreyttum glaðr af Naðri,
þess að Þorkell vissi
þrekstrangr, mega ganga.

{Vitr valdr vígs} nam að sitja um kóng á kveldi; þá lá hoskr hildingr í hvílu í lyftingu. Glaðr skjöldungr skyldi ekki mega ganga af skreyttum Naðri, þess að þrekstrangr Þorkell vissi.

{The astute ruler of battle} [WARRIOR = Þorkell] lay in wait for the king in the evening; at that time the wise ruler was lying in bed in the after-deck. The joyous prince ought not to be able to get off the adorned Naðr (‘Adder’), so far as mightily strong Þorkell knew.

Mss: 61(71r) (ÓT)

Editions: Skj AII, 462, Skj BII, 495, Skald II, 270, NN §2667; Finnur Jónsson 1884-91, 115, 118-19, ÓT 1958-2000, III, xxxiii, AM 61 1982, 23-4.

Notes: [All]: The wording of the stanza is close to that of ÓT (1958-2000, II, 232). — [1, 2] nam að sitja ‘lay in wait’: Nam is merely an auxiliary here (see LP: 1. nema 10).  — [2] kóng ‘the king’: The monosyllabic contracted form of konungr ‘king’, not current before the C14th (Finnur Jónsson 1884-91, 123; ANG §160, Anm.) is metrically necessary here, and probably also in st. 6/7. — [6] Naðri ‘Naðr (“Adder”)’: Óláfr’s famous ship Ormr inn langi ‘the Long Serpent’, named more directly in st. 6/2; see also Notes to Hfr ErfÓl 10/1 and Anon Óldr 19/6. — [7] vissi ‘knew’: Finnur Jónsson (1884-91, 119; Skj B) reads vissit ‘did not know’, hence ‘in such a way that Þorkell did not know’ or ‘without Þorkell knowing’, and this is followed by Kock (Skald) and by Ólafur Halldórsson in AM 61 1982, 24, though his 1958-2000 edn has vissi. But the reading vissi coupled with þess að in the sense ‘insofar as, so far as’ (see Fritzner: þess 2) seems to fit better with the tone of light irony at Þorkell’s expense, almost reporting his (mistaken) thoughts, in both these stanzas and ÓT’s prose.

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. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. 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.
6. ANG = Noreen, Adolf. 1923. Altnordische Grammatik I: Altisländische und altnorwegische Grammatik (Laut- und Flexionslehre) unter Berücksichtigung des Urnordischen. 4th edn. Halle: Niemeyer. 1st edn. 1884. 5th unrev. edn. 1970. Tübingen: Niemeyer.
7. 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.
8. AM 61 1982 = Ólafur Halldórsson, ed. 1982. The Great Sagas of Olaf Tryggvason and Olaf the Saint: AM 61 fol. EIM 14. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
9. ÓT 1958-2000 = Ólafur Halldórsson, ed. 1958-2000. Saga Óláfs Tryggvasonar en mesta. 3 vols. EA A 1-3. Copenhagen: Munksgaard (Reitzel).
10. Finnur Jónsson. 1884-91. ‘5. Nogle skjaldevers om Olaf Tryggvessen, marginalier fra AM 61, fol.’. In Kålund et al. 1884-91, 114-26.
11. Internal references
12. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta’ 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=60> (accessed 28 April 2024)
13. Kate Heslop (ed.) 2012, ‘Anonymous Poems, Óláfs drápa Tryggvasonar 19’ 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. 1050.
14. Kate Heslop (ed.) 2012, ‘Hallfreðr vandræðaskáld Óttarsson, Erfidrápa Óláfs Tryggvasonar 10’ 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. 415.