Arn Frag 2III
Diana Whaley (ed.) 2017, ‘Arnórr jarlaskáld Þórðarson, Fragments 2’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 4.
Svalg ‘swallowed’
(not checked:)
1. svelgja (verb): swallow
at ‘’
(not checked:)
3. at (prep.): at, to
átt ‘off’
(not checked:)
2. átt (noun f.; °; -ir (acc. sg. attvnna AnnaReyk 410⁹)): lineage < áttbogi (noun m.): [offspring]
[1] átt‑: at Tˣ, C
kennings
Ógóðr áttbogi ylgjar‘The evil offspring of the she-wolf ’
= WOLF
The evil offspring of the she-wolf → WOLF
bogi ‘spring’
(not checked:)
bogi (noun m.; °-a; -ar): bow < áttbogi (noun m.): [offspring]
kennings
Ógóðr áttbogi ylgjar‘The evil offspring of the she-wolf ’
= WOLF
The evil offspring of the she-wolf → WOLF
ylgjar ‘of the she-wolf’
(not checked:)
ylgr (noun f.; °acc. -i): she-wolf
kennings
Ógóðr áttbogi ylgjar‘The evil offspring of the she-wolf ’
= WOLF
The evil offspring of the she-wolf → WOLF
ógóðr ‘The evil’
(not checked:)
ógóðr (adj.): [evil]
kennings
Ógóðr áttbogi ylgjar‘The evil offspring of the she-wolf ’
= WOLF
The evil offspring of the she-wolf → WOLF
en ‘and’
(not checked:)
2. en (conj.): but, and
var ‘’
(not checked:)
2. vera (verb): be, is, was, were, are, am
notes
[2, 3] varð at rauðum ‘turned to red’: The variant varð rather than var ‘was’ is needed to produce the construction verða at plus dat. adj. in the sense ‘turn to, become’; cf. Arn Þorfdr 24/1II Bjǫrt verðr sól at svartri ‘The bright sun will turn to black’.
blóði ‘with blood’
(not checked:)
blóð (noun n.; °-s): blood
gráðugr ‘’
(not checked:)
gráðugr (adj.; °gráðugan/gráðgan; superl. gráðugastr/gráðgastr): [greedy, to greedy]
grœnn ‘the green’
(not checked:)
2. grœnn (adj.; °superl. grǿnastr/grǿnstr): green
af ‘’
(not checked:)
af (prep.): from
notes
[2, 3] varð at rauðum ‘turned to red’: The variant varð rather than var ‘was’ is needed to produce the construction verða at plus dat. adj. in the sense ‘turn to, become’; cf. Arn Þorfdr 24/1II Bjǫrt verðr sól at svartri ‘The bright sun will turn to black’.
rauðum ‘red’
(not checked:)
rauðr (adj.; °compar. -ari): red
notes
[2, 3] varð at rauðum ‘turned to red’: The variant varð rather than var ‘was’ is needed to produce the construction verða at plus dat. adj. in the sense ‘turn to, become’; cf. Arn Þorfdr 24/1II Bjǫrt verðr sól at svartri ‘The bright sun will turn to black’.
granauknum ‘’
brandvǫxnum ‘’
(not checked:)
brandvaxinn (adj./verb p.p.)
grandauknum ‘a wound-swollen’
(not checked:)
grandaukinn (adj.): [a wound-swollen]
[4] grandauknum: ‘brandvoxnvm’ U, granauknum C
notes
[4] grandauknum ‘wound-swollen’: The cpd (nom. sg.) grandaukinn, which qualifies nár ‘corpse’, is unique, and its meaning uncertain. (a) Grand normally has the sense ‘harm, injury’ (emotional, spiritual or physical). Compounded with aukinn, it could mean ‘swollen with wounds’ (cf. Bjbp Jóms 31/2I bólginn ná ‘swollen corpse’) or conceivably ‘increased (in number) by injury/disaster’. (b) Kock (NN §2522) suggested that grand could mean ‘sand’, cf. ON grand ‘grain’ as in ekki grand ‘not a grain, not a morsel’, grandi n. ‘strip of beach’ and New Norw. grande ‘sand-bank, sand-bar’. Grandaukinn ‘increased, swollen with grand’ could then imply that the dead men had taken in sand and become bloated by it. Bodies are described as lying on sand in ÞjóðA Magn 2/5-6, 8II and Bǫlv Hardr 4/5-8II; ÞSjár Þórdr 3/5-8I says that slain warriors lying in the shallows had sand in their mouths, and Arnórr himself pictures ‘sandy corpses’ being driven ashore in Arn Magndr 15/1-2II. However, in the absence of stronger evidence for grand in the sense ‘sand’, (a) seems the safer solution.
ná ‘corpse’
(not checked:)
nár (noun m.; °-s; -ir): corpse
blandinn ‘mingled’
(not checked:)
2. blanda (verb; °blendr; blett, blendu; blandinn): mix, blend (strong)
Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses
The helmingr is quoted in Skm (SnE) within a sequence of skaldic fragments illustrating heiti for ‘wolf’, in this case ylgr.
The B text is so badly damaged that to note the many illegible places would be unhelpful, and it is therefore represented in the Readings by the transcript in 744ˣ. The helmingr is printed as st. 5 of Arnórr’s erfidrápa ‘memorial drápa’ for Haraldr harðráði ‘Hard-rule’ Sigurðarson (Arn HardrII) in SnE 1848-87, III, 572 (where n. 3 appears as though it refers to this stanza, but does not) and Skj. However, the rather lurid description of the aftermath of a sea-battle could have originated in any of several poems by Arnórr, and the helmingr is therefore best treated as a fragment.
Stanza/chapter/text segment
Use the buttons at the top of the page to navigate between stanzas in a poem.
Information tab
- text: if the stanza has been published, the edited text of the stanza and translation are here; if it hasn't been published an old edition (usually Skj) is given for reference
- sources: a list of the manuscripts or inscriptions containing this stanza, with page and line references and links (eye button) to images where available, and transcription where available
- readings: a list of variant manuscript readings of words in the main text
- editions and texts: a list of editions of the stanza with links to the bibliography; and a list of prose works in which the stanza occurs, allowing you to navigate within the prose context
- notes and context: notes not linked to individual words are given here, along with the account of the prose context for the stanza, where relevant
Interactive tab
The text and translation are given here, with buttons to toggle whether the text is shown in the verse order or prose word order. Clicking on indiviudal words gives dictionary links, variant readings, kennings and notes, where relevant.
Full text tab
This is the text of the edition in a similar format to how the edition appears in the printed volumes.
Chapter/text segment
This view is also used for chapters and other text segments. Not all the headings shown are relevant to such sections.