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Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Anon Ól 5I

Kate Heslop (ed.) 2012, ‘Anonymous Poems, Poem about Óláfr Tryggvason 5’ 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. 1066.

Anonymous PoemsPoem about Óláfr Tryggvason
456

Varð ei varr fyrr sverða
valdr, en steyft var Baldri
baugs af byrjar faxa
braut á sildar lautir.
Þar var í lund af landi
lastvarr kominn harri;
‘seggr, gjalt,’ sonr kvað Tryggva,
‘svinnr, forvitni þinnar.’

{Valdr sverða} varð ei varr fyrr en {Baldri baugs} var steyft braut af {faxa byrjar} á {lautir sildar}. Þar var harri, lastvarr í lund, kominn af landi; ‘gjalt, svinnr seggr,’ kvað {sonr Tryggva}, ‘forvitni þinnar.’

{The ruler of swords} [WARRIOR = Þorkell] did not become aware until {the Baldr <god> of the ring} [MAN = Þorkell] was toppled down off {the steed of the breeze} [SHIP] into {the hollows of the herring} [SEA]. There was the lord, faultless in temperament, come from the land; ‘pay, clever fellow,’ said {Tryggvi’s son} [= Óláfr], ‘for your curiosity.’

Mss: 61(72r) (ÓT)

Editions: Skj AII, 462, Skj BII, 495, Skald II, 270; Finnur Jónsson 1884-91, 115, 119-20, ÓT 1958-2000, III, xxxiii, AM 61 1982, 22-5.

Notes: [1-4]: The man- and warrior-kennings both refer to Þorkell. Judging from the prose sources he seems to have been sitting at the landward end of the gang-plank facing Ormr inn langi, hoping to catch sight of Óláfr leaving the ship. This event is also mentioned in HSt Rst 29. — [4] lautir sildar ‘the hollows of the herring [SEA]’: Finnur Jónsson (1884-91, 123) thinks this ‘post-classical’ kenning is another sign the poem was composed in the C14th, but it has C11th parallels (see Meissner 96-7). — [5, 6] lastvarr í lund ‘faultless in temperament’: Previous eds have taken lund as lundr m. ‘grove of trees’, choosing to see in this phrase a further allusion to the prose sources, according to which Óláfr receives angelic visitors in a rjóðr ‘forest clearing’ (ÓT 1958-2000, II, 235 specifies a fagrt hús ‘beautiful house’ in this clearing). Finnur Jónsson (1884-91, 120; Skj B) emends í ‘in’ to ór ‘out of’ and reads lastvarr harri var kominn þar ór lund af landi ‘the faultless lord had come there out of the grove from the land’, but even with emendation the juxtaposition of two prepositional phrases in ór lund af landi is awkward; nor are a grove and a clearing quite the same thing, to say nothing of ÓT’s fagrt hús. The present interpretation as lund f. ‘mind, temperament’ receives some additional support from the closely similar line ÞjóðA Sex 5/1II, where við lund seems to mean ‘with purpose’, though the helmingr from which it comes is incomplete.

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. Meissner = Meissner, Rudolf. 1921. Die Kenningar der Skalden: Ein Beitrag zur skaldischen Poetik. Rheinische Beiträge und Hülfsbücher zur germanischen Philologie und Volkskunde 1. Bonn and Leipzig: Schroeder. Rpt. 1984. Hildesheim etc.: Olms.
  5. 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.
  6. ÓT 1958-2000 = Ólafur Halldórsson, ed. 1958-2000. Saga Óláfs Tryggvasonar en mesta. 3 vols. EA A 1-3. Copenhagen: Munksgaard (Reitzel).
  7. Finnur Jónsson. 1884-91. ‘5. Nogle skjaldevers om Olaf Tryggvessen, marginalier fra AM 61, fol.’. In Kålund et al. 1884-91, 114-26.
  8. Internal references
  9. (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 29 March 2024)
  10. Rolf Stavnem (ed.) 2012, ‘Hallar-Steinn, Rekstefja 29’ 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. 930.
  11. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Þjóðólfr Arnórsson, Sexstefja 5’ 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, p. 117.
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