Arn Magndr 11^II

Svá hlóð siklingr hôvan
snarr af ulfa barri
(hrósak hugfulls vísa)
hrækǫst (fira* ævi),
at áleggjar Yggjar
allnôttfǫrull máttit,
— ǫld lá vítt — þótt vildi,
vífs marr yfir klífa.

Snarr siklingr hlóð svá hôvan hrækǫst af {barri ulfa}—hrósak ævi hugfulls vísa fira*—, at {allnôttfǫrull marr {vífs {Yggjar {áleggjar}}}} máttit klífa yfir, þótt vildi; ǫld lá vítt.

The keen sovereign heaped up so high a corpse-mound of {wolves’ barley} [CORPSES]—I praise the life of the mettlesome leader of men—that, {ever prowling by night, the steed {of the wife {of the Yggr <= Óðinn> {of the river-limb}}}} [ROCK > GIANT > GIANTESS > WOLF] could not scale it, though he longed to; men were strewn widely.

Mss: H(9r), Hr(9rb) (H-Hr); Flat(191va) (Flat)

Readings: [1] siklingr: siklings Flat    [2] af: ór Flat;    barri: ‘baurre’ Flat    [3] hrósak: hrósik Hr    [4] fira* ævi: firar æfi H, Hr, ‘fíra ræfe’ Flat    [5] Yggjar: yggja H, Hr, hyggjar Flat    [6] ‑fǫrull: so Hr, ‑fǫrut H, Flat;    máttit (‘mattið’): mttuð Hr, Flat    [7] þótt vildi: en valdi Hr    [8] vífs: so Flat, víf H, Hr;    marr: már Hr, mark Flat

Editions: Skj AI, 341, Skj BI, 313-14, Skald I, 159, NN §821; Fms 6, 68 (Mgóð ch. 34), Fms 12, 133; Flat 1860-8, III, 281-2, Andersson and Gade 2000, 122, 470 (MH); Whaley 1998, 203-5.

Context: In H-Hr, Magnús fells the fleeing Wends until the corpses are piled up like waves on either hand, then the st. is cited. In Flat, st. 11 follows st. 10 and Arn Hryn 13.

Notes: [4] fira* ‘of men’: (a) The simple emendation of firar (m. nom. pl.) ‘men’ to gen. pl. fira yields vísa fira ‘leader of men’, a phrase with abundant parallels, and this solution is preferred here. Alternatively, fira could be taken with siklingr in l. 1 (so Skj B) or with hrækǫst (Kock, NN §821), although the latter would yield the extremely tautologous hrækǫst fira af barri ulfa, lit. ‘corpse-heap of men of wolves’ barley [CORPSES]’. (b) Firar ‘men’ in the mss could be an apostrophe to the skald’s audience (so Sveinbjörn Egilsson in SHI 6, 63), but such a bare apostrophe would be unusual at best. — [5, 8] marr vífs Yggjar áleggjar ‘the steed of the wife of the Yggr <= Óðinn> of the river-limb [ROCK > GIANT > GIANTESS > WOLF]’: Yggjar is probably the original reading underlying mss ‘yggia’ and ‘hyggiar’. The Óðinn-heiti Yggr (‘Terrible’) is a satisfactory base-word to a kenning for ‘giant’ since although it is not precisely paralleled, other giant-kennings contain the names of gods: fjall-Gautr ‘mountain-Gautr <= Óðinn>’, ÚlfrU Húsdr 6/2^III, and grjót-Móði ‘stone-Móði <= Þórr’s son>’, Ólhv Frag 7/2^III.

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. Fms = Sveinbjörn Egilsson et al., eds. 1825-37. Fornmanna sögur eptir gömlum handritum útgefnar að tilhlutun hins norræna fornfræða fèlags. 12 vols. Copenhagen: Popp.
4. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
6. Andersson, Theodore M. and Kari Ellen Gade, trans. 2000. Morkinskinna: The Earliest Icelandic Chronicle of the Norwegian Kings (1030-1157). Islandica 51. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press.
7. Whaley, Diana, ed. and trans. 1998. The Poetry of Arnórr jarlaskáld: An Edition and Study. Westfield Publications in Medieval Studies 8. Turnhout: Brepols.
8. Flat 1860-8 = Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and C. R. Unger, eds. 1860-8. Flateyjarbók. En samling af norske konge-sagaer med indskudte mindre fortællinger om begivenheder i og udenfor Norge samt annaler. 3 vols. Christiania (Oslo): Malling.
9. SHI = Sveinbjörn Egilsson, ed. 1828-46. Scripta historica islandorum de rebus gestis veterum borealium, latine reddita et apparatu critico instructa, curante Societate regia antiquariorum septentrionalium. 12 vols. Copenhagen: Popp etc. and London: John & Arthur Arch.
10. Internal references
11. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Flateyjarbók’ 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=44> (accessed 25 April 2024)
12. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Hulda-Hrokkinskinna’ 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. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=84> (accessed 25 April 2024)
13. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Magnúss saga góða ok Haralds harðráða’ 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. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=147> (accessed 25 April 2024)
14. Tarrin Wills (ed.) 2017, ‘Óláfr hvítaskáld Þórðarson, Fragments 7’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 307.
15. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Arnórr jarlaskáld Þórðarson, Hrynhenda, Magnússdrápa 13’ 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, pp. 198-200.
16. Edith Marold (ed.) 2017, ‘Úlfr Uggason, Húsdrápa 6’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 415.