Arn Magndr 3^II

Gekk á Svíþjóð søkkvi
Sveins, es fremð vann eina;
fýstisk Ôleifs austan
afkart sonar hjarta.
Nôtt beið ok dag dróttins
dygg ferð Jaðarbyggva;
fýst bað gram* í geystu
gífrs veðri sér hlífa.

{Søkkvi Sveins}, es vann fremð eina, gekk á Svíþjóð; afkart hjarta {sonar Ôleifs} fýstisk austan. Dygg ferð Jaðarbyggva beið dróttins nôtt ok dag; fýst í {geystu veðri gífrs} bað gram* hlífa sér.

{The queller of Sveinn} [= Magnús], who performed nothing but triumph, marched into Sweden; the prodigious heart {of the son of Óláfr} [= Magnús] was urging from the east. The worthy host of the people of Jæren awaited their liege night and day; urgently, in {[their] troubled gale of the troll-woman} [MIND], they begged the prince to protect them.

Mss: Hr(3vb) (H-Hr)

Readings: [1] Svíþjóð: ‘suíod suíþiod’ Hr    [7] gram*: gramr Hr    [8] veðri: veðr Hr

Editions: Skj AI, 338-9, Skj BI, 311-12, Skald I, 158, NN §2020; Fms 6, 22-3 (Mgóð ch. 10), Fms 12, 126; Whaley 1998, 187-9.

Context: Cf. sts 1 and 2. Continuing his journey westwards, Magnús goes ashore and prepares to take the overland route north into Norway.

Notes: [1] Svíþjóð ‘Sweden’: The ms. ‘suíod suíþiod’ is clearly a case of scribal dittography. — [1-2] søkkvi Sveins ‘the queller of Sveinn [= Magnús]’: Lit. ‘sinker of Sveinn’. A highly specific kenning, which neatly anticipates the flight of Sveinn Álfífuson from Norway on the arrival of Magnús, reported in st. 4. Similarly, sonar leifs ‘of the son of Óláfr’ in ll. 3-4 may presage Magnús’s recovery of his father’s realm in st. 4. — [4] afkart ‘prodigious’: For the various meanings of this adj., see Anon Pl 27/6^VII. That the vowel of ‑kart in the present st. is short is suggested by the rhyme afkart : hjarta, and this may be supported by the rhyme of afkárr/afkarr on fjarri in Pl 27/6^VII and of launkarr on fjar- in Bjhít Lv 5/8^V (cf. Note to st. 5/1 afkárlig, and see further Whaley 1998, 188 on the short vowel). — [7, 8] fýst bað gram* hlífa sér ‘urgently, they begged the prince to protect them’: (a) Fýst is taken here as the n. form of the p. p. fýstr, lit. ‘impelled, encouraged,’ used adverbially, hence ‘urgently’. Dygg ferð Jaðarbyggva ‘the worthy host of the people of Jæren’ is construed as being the implied subject of bað ‘begged’ as well as the explicit subject of beið ‘awaited’, and gram ‘prince’ as the object of bað; sér refers back to ferð. The emendation of gramr to gram is justifiable on the grounds that the scribe of Hr frequently alters the text when puzzled by its syntax. (b) Kock (NN §2020) construed ll. 7-8 similarly, but read fýst as f. nom. sg. of fýstr, qualifying ferð, hence ‘eager host’. (c) Finnur Jónsson’s solution in Skj B was to construe: gramr bað fýst ... hlífa sér ‘the prince bade [his own] zeal be his defence’, but this seems semantically difficult. — [7-8] í geystu veðri gífrs ‘in [their] troubled gale of the troll-woman [MIND]’: Geystr, lit. ‘made to rush, rushing, aroused’, can mean ‘disturbed, troubled, upset’ in a figurative sense (see Fritzner: geystr 2); it can also mean ‘powerful’, as when applied to the wolf’s greed in Skarp Lv 5/7^V. Veðri (ms. ‘vedr’) is a small emendation necessary to metre and syntax. The dat. case is indicated by the prep. í and the n. dat. sg. adj. geystu. Kennings on the pattern ‘wind of the troll-woman’ can refer either to ‘mind, thought’ or to ‘courage’ (as in Gsind Hákdr 8^I). See also Stúfr Stúfdr 1/3. Given the possible meanings of geystr and veðr gífrs, the phrase as a whole could refer (a) to the gramr ‘prince’ (Magnús) and mean ‘in his raging, mighty spirit’, or (b) to the ferð Jaðarbyggva ‘the host of the people of Jæren’ and mean ‘in their troubled thoughts’. It was suggested above that ferð is likely to be the implied subject of bað in l. 7. Í geystu veðri gífrs then yields the best sense if it is construed with (the understood) ferð, and this analysis is followed here (as also Skald and NN).

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. Whaley, Diana, ed. and trans. 1998. The Poetry of Arnórr jarlaskáld: An Edition and Study. Westfield Publications in Medieval Studies 8. Turnhout: Brepols.
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. Internal references
9. Jonna Louis-Jensen and Tarrin Wills (eds) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Plácitusdrápa 27’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 198.
10. Alison Finlay (ed.) 2022, ‘Bjarnar saga Hítdœlakappa 6 (Bjǫrn Hítdœlakappi Arngeirsson, Lausavísur 5)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross, Kari Ellen Gade and Tarrin Wills (eds), Poetry in Sagas of Icelanders. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 5. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 67.
11. Russell Poole (ed.) 2012, ‘Guthormr sindri, Hákonardrápa 8’ 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. 168.
12. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Stúfr inn blindi Þórðarson kattar, Stúfsdrápa 1’ 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. 351.
13. R. D. Fulk (ed.) 2022, ‘Njáls saga 21 (Skarpheðinn Njálsson, Lausavísur 5)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross, Kari Ellen Gade and Tarrin Wills (eds), Poetry in Sagas of Icelanders. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 5. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1246.