Arn Hryn 4^II

Herskip ‘warships’

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herskip (noun n.): warship

notes

[1] herskip ‘warships’: About half of the skaldic instances of this word are in the works of Arnórr (Jesch 2001a, 123).

vannt ‘You made’

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2. vinna (verb): perform, work

af ‘from’

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af (prep.): from

harða ‘the most’

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harða (adv.): very

stinnum ‘firm’

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stinnr (adj.): stiff, firm

hlunni ‘launcher’

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hlunnr (noun m.; °-s, dat. -i; -ar): roller

notes

[2] hlunni ‘launcher’: Hlunnr is a roller or, more usually, as a collective term, the slipway of hardwood rollers used to launch ships or drag them ashore (see Jesch 2001a, 170).

geyst ‘surge’

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2. geysa (verb): surge

í ‘into’

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í (prep.): in, into

Salt ‘’

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salt (noun n.; °-s): sea, salt

notes

[2] it Eystra Salt ‘the Baltic’: Lit. ‘the Eastern Salt’. The details of Magnús’s journey are discussed in Schreiner 1927-9.

it ‘the’

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2. inn (art.): the

notes

[2] it Eystra Salt ‘the Baltic’: Lit. ‘the Eastern Salt’. The details of Magnús’s journey are discussed in Schreiner 1927-9.

Eystra ‘Baltic’

notes

[2] it Eystra Salt ‘the Baltic’: Lit. ‘the Eastern Salt’. The details of Magnús’s journey are discussed in Schreiner 1927-9.

skjǫldungr ‘king’

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skjǫldungr (noun m.): king

notes

[3] skjǫldungr ‘king’: Lit. ‘descendant of Skjǫldr’. A son of Óðinn and mythical ruler of Jylland (Jutland; SnE 2005, 6). Arnórr uses the heiti five times, always in reference to Magnús. He may have intended the Dan. associations of the word to flatter Magnús as the rightful ruler of Denmark, especially since the term was also much favoured by the skalds of Knútr inn ríki (Cnut the Great, Frank 1994, 194).

stétt ‘you boarded’

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stétta (verb): step, board

á ‘’

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3. á (prep.): on, at

skǫrum ‘by its jointed planks’

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skǫr (noun f.; °skarar; skarir): hair, planking

hvéldan ‘curved’

notes

[3] hvéldan ‘curved’: Hvéldr (or hveldr), here applied to húfr ‘hull’, is not otherwise known in ON. Sigfús Blöndal 1920-4 contains two ModIcel. citations, though both are from Sveinbjörn Egilsson’s translations of Homer, and in one of them the adj. qualifies skipa ‘ships’. Hvéldr is apparently related to hvél ‘wheel’, and although an ON verb *hvéla ‘shape like a wheel’ is not recorded, cf. modern kvela (New Norw.) and, possibly, kvelva (Vest-Agder dialect) ‘arch’ (Heggstad 1930: hvéldr; Torp 1963 on the other hand derives kvelva from ON hvelfa ‘overturn’). The length of the vowel in hvél/hvel is discussed, with references, in Fritzner IV: hvel.

skeiðar ‘the warship’s’

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1. skeið (noun f.; °-ar; -r/-ar/-ir): ship

húf ‘hull’

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húfr (noun m.; °dat. -i): hull

notes

[4] húf ‘hull’: Húfr denotes the hull of a ship (as in Arn Magndr 2) or the central body of the ship as distinct from the bow and stern (as in the phrase húfr ok halsar ‘hull and stems’), but it may already in OIcel. have developed a particular reference to the strakes at the level of the water-line and, internally, of the decking. This latter sense works especially well in the present context of stepping onboard (Jesch 2001a, 144).

með ‘with’

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með (prep.): with

girzku ‘Russian’

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girzkr (adj.): Greek; Russian

notes

[4] girzku reiði ‘Russian tackle’: The adj. girzkr can mean ‘Greek, Byzantine’, but it also occurs as a doublet of gerzkr with the sense ‘Russian, from Garðar’, as, probably, in st. 9/8, where Hr reads ‘girzkum’ and Flat ‘gerzskum’ (see also Fritzner: girzkr). ‘Russian’ may be more appropriate here since Magnús is sailing from Russia. Ms. skrúði ‘ornamentation’ would add a supernumary member to the alliterative sequence on sk- and would fail to produce aðalhending with skeiðar. Emendation to the synonymous reiði seems justifiable especially since st. 9/1 affords a definite instance of the scribe of Hr (or its archetype) displacing the original rhyme-word by a synonym. The emendation was first proposed by Konráð Gíslason (1877, 54). Reiði can refer either to the whole of a ship’s equipment or else specifically to the rigging; see Fritzner: reiði and Jesch 2001a, 165. Jesch (2001a, 165) points out that, while it may be that Russian tackle was special, the Norwegians who fetched Magnús from Russia (Garðar) may simply have needed to re-rig their ship for the return voyage.

reiði ‘tackle’

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3. reiði (noun n.; °-s): tackle, rigging

[4] reiði: skrúði Hr

notes

[4] girzku reiði ‘Russian tackle’: The adj. girzkr can mean ‘Greek, Byzantine’, but it also occurs as a doublet of gerzkr with the sense ‘Russian, from Garðar’, as, probably, in st. 9/8, where Hr reads ‘girzkum’ and Flat ‘gerzskum’ (see also Fritzner: girzkr). ‘Russian’ may be more appropriate here since Magnús is sailing from Russia. Ms. skrúði ‘ornamentation’ would add a supernumary member to the alliterative sequence on sk- and would fail to produce aðalhending with skeiðar. Emendation to the synonymous reiði seems justifiable especially since st. 9/1 affords a definite instance of the scribe of Hr (or its archetype) displacing the original rhyme-word by a synonym. The emendation was first proposed by Konráð Gíslason (1877, 54). Reiði can refer either to the whole of a ship’s equipment or else specifically to the rigging; see Fritzner: reiði and Jesch 2001a, 165. Jesch (2001a, 165) points out that, while it may be that Russian tackle was special, the Norwegians who fetched Magnús from Russia (Garðar) may simply have needed to re-rig their ship for the return voyage.

Vafðir ‘You wavered’

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2. vefja (verb): wrap

notes

[5] vafðir lítt ‘you wavered little’: (a) So too Skj B (du betænkte dig ikke). The verb vefja commonly has the meaning ‘fold, wrap (material etc.)’. When used, as here, of human subjects the sense is usually ‘become embroiled’ (in some difficult affair). From this it is not far to the sense ‘hesitate, waver’, and this is supported by SnSt Ht 64/1^III. Under this interpretation the st. contrasts the immovable courage of Magnús with the turbulence of the sea. (b) Foote suggests that vefja ‘wrap’ here has the specific nautical sense ‘take in sail, reef’, which is attractive and contextually plausible but not supported by usage elsewhere (Foote 1978, 63 and n. 26; followed by Jesch 2001a, 174, who points out that the references in the st. to tackle and masts, and the fact that the noun vefr can mean ‘sail’ ‘mak[es] a connection with “sail” … almost inevitable’). (c) A further possibility is the 2nd pers. sg. pret. indic. of váfa ‘swing, hang’, for which a figurative use ‘waver, be uncertain’ is attested (LP: váfa 3), though not with a personal subject.

lítt ‘little’

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lítill (adj.; °lítinn): little

notes

[5] vafðir lítt ‘you wavered little’: (a) So too Skj B (du betænkte dig ikke). The verb vefja commonly has the meaning ‘fold, wrap (material etc.)’. When used, as here, of human subjects the sense is usually ‘become embroiled’ (in some difficult affair). From this it is not far to the sense ‘hesitate, waver’, and this is supported by SnSt Ht 64/1^III. Under this interpretation the st. contrasts the immovable courage of Magnús with the turbulence of the sea. (b) Foote suggests that vefja ‘wrap’ here has the specific nautical sense ‘take in sail, reef’, which is attractive and contextually plausible but not supported by usage elsewhere (Foote 1978, 63 and n. 26; followed by Jesch 2001a, 174, who points out that the references in the st. to tackle and masts, and the fact that the noun vefr can mean ‘sail’ ‘mak[es] a connection with “sail” … almost inevitable’). (c) A further possibility is the 2nd pers. sg. pret. indic. of váfa ‘swing, hang’, for which a figurative use ‘waver, be uncertain’ is attested (LP: váfa 3), though not with a personal subject.

en ‘but’

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2. en (conj.): but, and

vendir ‘masts’

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vǫndr (noun m.; °vandar, dat. vendi/vǫnd; vendir, acc. vǫndu/vendi): rod, want, mast

bifðusk ‘shuddered’

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2. bifa (verb; °-að-): shudder, tremble

varta ‘the prow’

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varta (noun f.; °; *-ur): [prow, gate]

[6] varta: ‘verda’ or ‘virda’ Hr

notes

[6] varta ‘prow’: Ms. ‘vda’ with superscript ‘r’ above the ‘v’ could be expanded to normalised verða or virða, but the known senses of these do not fit the context. The syntax seems to demand a nom. sg. noun. Varta is the most widely accepted suggestion (first made in CPB II, 592). Varta occurs in Þul Skipa 8/6^III (with variant vortr) among heiti for parts of a ship. It occupies the same metrical l. there as brandar ‘(decorated) prows’, and Falk (1912, 45) held that varta too meant ‘prow’. This conjecture yields good sense in the present context, and it is perhaps supported by the occurrence of ON varta ‘wart’ and geirvarta ‘nipple (of a man)’. A word meaning ‘wart, nipple’ could, because of its reference to a projection, have developed the metaphorical sense ‘prow’, and other anatomical terms have nautical applications, e.g. hals ‘neck, part of the forecastle’, hlýr ‘cheek, bows’, or brjóst ‘breast’, which means ‘prow’ in Refr Ferðv 3/4^III. See further Whaley 1998, 151 n. 6.

hrǫkk ‘jolted’

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1. hrøkkva (verb): coil

en ‘and’

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2. en (conj.): but, and

niðr ‘’

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3. niðr (adv.): down

nam ‘started’

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1. nema (verb): to take

søkkva ‘to plunge’

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1. søkkva (verb): sink, strong intrans.

geystisk ‘surged on’

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2. geysa (verb): surge

hlýr ‘the bow’

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2. hlýr (noun n.; °-s; -): cheek, bow

en ‘and’

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2. en (conj.): but, and

hristi* ‘shook’

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hrista (verb): shake

[7] hristi*: ‘hristiz’ Hr

notes

[7] hristi* ‘shook’: Ms. ‘hristiz bara’, normalised hristizk bára ‘the billow shook’ (intransitive) is an adequate reading, but it leaves búnar grímur ‘adorned figure-heads’ (l. 8) outside the syntax of the helmingr. The simplest solution, adopted here, is to emend to hristi, transitive ‘shook’, so that bára is the subject, and búnar grímur object, to the verb (as proposed in Nj 1875-8, II 159). The ‑z in ms. hristiz may be an error influenced by the preceding reflexives, ms. ‘bífduzst’ (l. 5) and ‘geystiz’ (l. 7); or it may represent an attempt to make the syntax of the l. complete, regardless of the syntax of the helmingr. This would be characteristic of the compiler of H-Hr (Louis-Jensen 1977, 152).

bára ‘the billow’

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1. bára (noun f.; °-u; -ur): wave

notes

[7-8] bára, stokkin hrími ‘the billow, flecked with rime’: The alternative construction, with stokkin hrími ‘flecked with rime’ qualifying varta ‘prow’ (l. 6), is adopted in Skj B but rejected by Kock, NN §811.

hrími ‘with rime’

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hrím (noun n.; °-s; -): rime frost

notes

[7-8] bára, stokkin hrími ‘the billow, flecked with rime’: The alternative construction, with stokkin hrími ‘flecked with rime’ qualifying varta ‘prow’ (l. 6), is adopted in Skj B but rejected by Kock, NN §811.

stokkin ‘flecked’

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1. støkkva (verb): (str.) leap, spring; scatter

notes

[7-8] bára, stokkin hrími ‘the billow, flecked with rime’: The alternative construction, with stokkin hrími ‘flecked with rime’ qualifying varta ‘prow’ (l. 6), is adopted in Skj B but rejected by Kock, NN §811.

búnar ‘the adorned’

grímur ‘figure-heads’

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gríma (noun f.; °-u): night, darkness; mask

[8] grímur: ‘grimr’ Hr

notes

[8] grímur ‘figure-heads’: Ms. ‘grimr’; the form grímur is established by both sense and metre, and is probably to be regarded as an emendation, since Hr does not normally use desyllabified spellings in <ur> that would allow <r> to be read as a back-spelling for <ur>.