Arn Magndr 5^II

Afkarlig varð jarla
orðgnótt, sús hlaut dróttinn;
fylgði efnð, þvís ylgjar
angrtælir réð mæla:
at framm í gný grimmum
grafnings und kló hrafni
fúss lézk falla ræsir
feigr eða Danmǫrk eiga.

Orðgnótt jarla, sús dróttinn hlaut, varð afkarlig; efnð fylgði, þvís {{angrtælir} ylgjar} réð mæla: at ræsir lézk fúss falla feigr und kló hrafni framm í {grimmum gný grafnings} eða eiga Danmǫrk.

The lordly wealth of words with which the liege was endowed was prodigious; his deeds matched what {{the grief-beguiler} [GLADDENER] of the she-wolf} [WARRIOR = Magnús] did say: that the prince said, glad, he would fall doomed under the claw of the raven, ahead in {the cruel clash of the graven shield} [BATTLE], or else possess Denmark.

Mss: Kˣ(506r), 39(15ra), F(39ra), E(6r), J2ˣ(246v-247r) (Hkr); FskBˣ(55r), FskAˣ(211) (Fsk); H(5v), Hr(7ra) (H-Hr); Flat(190va) (Flat)

Readings: [1] Afkarlig: ‘Af kærlig’ FskBˣ, Ákaflig Flat;    varð: var FskAˣ;    jarla: jǫfra FskBˣ, árla FskAˣ, H, Hr    [2] sús (‘su er’): sú 39;    hlaut: hér Flat;    dróttinn: so 39, F, E, J2ˣ, FskBˣ, FskAˣ, H, dróttin Kˣ, dróttni Flat    [3] fylgði: fylldi Flat;    efnð: ‘eimd’ FskBˣ, erfð Hr;    þvís (‘því er’): því at Hr, sú er Flat    [4] réð: læt 39    [5] at: so all others, ok Kˣ;    grimmum: grimman Flat    [6] grafnings: grafning 39, grams FskBˣ;    und: odd Flat;    kló: fló Hr;    hrafni: jafni FskBˣ    [7] lézk: lét H    [8] feigr: feigð 39

Editions: Skj AI, 339, Skj BI, 312, Skald I, 158, NN §§818, 819A, 2989A; Hkr 1893-1901, III, 35-6, ÍF 28, 32-3, Hkr 1991, 577 (Mgóð ch. 18), F 1871, 178, E 1916, 19; Fsk 1902-3, 202 (ch. 40), ÍF 29, 216 (ch. 48); Fms 6, 49 (Mgóð ch. 24), Fms 12, 131; Flat 1860-8, III, 272, Andersson and Gade 2000, 112, 468 (MH); Whaley 1998, 192-5.

Context: In Hkr, Snorri tells of a message that Magnús sent to the Danes after Hǫrðaknútr’s death in England, reminding them of his claim to Denmark, and takes this st. as a reference to this. In Fsk too, Hǫrðaknútr is said to have died in England. Magnús receives the news in Norway and vows publicly to possess Denmark; there is no mention of an embassy to the Danes. In H-Hr and Flat, the st. follows the account, mentioned in the Context to Arn Hryn 9, of the feast held for Magnús in Denmark at which Hǫrðaknútr is poisoned. In the H-Hr version Magnús declaims his vow immediately, while in Flat it is spoken after his return to Norway.

Notes: [1] afkarlig ‘prodigious’: The word is unique in recorded ON, although afkáralegur occurs in ModIcel. and afkárr in ON (see Note to st. 3/4). It appears from the parallel rhyme of afkart : hjarta in st. 3/4, that the vowel is short here. — [1-2] orðgnótt jarla ‘the lordly wealth of words’: (a) Jarla and orðgnótt, consecutive in the text, are here construed together. Jarla (m. gen. pl.), lit. ‘of jarls’, probably has the adjectival sense ‘lordly, fit for an earl’ (and Kock in NN §818 notes a gen. sg. parallel from Hávm 97). Hofmann (1955, 104) suggests that the generalised sense of jarlar, ‘noblemen’, is influenced by the cognate OE eorlas or OS erlos (b) Jarla could alternatively qualify dróttinn in l. 2, hence ‘lord of jarls’. It would be unusual for Arnórr to arrange the elements of a kenning thus, but not unparalleled. In Arn Þorfdr 24/5-8, for instance, inndróttar ... geymi ‘guardian of his retinue’ is interrupted by þeim hjalpi goð and by Þorfinni which belongs to a different cl. — [3-4] angrtælir ylgjar ‘the grief-beguiler [GLADDENER] of the she-wolf [WARRIOR]’: For kennings of this type, see Note to Arn Hryn 7/1, 2. — [5] at ‘that’: (a) This, the reading of all mss except for Kˣ, produces a grammatically complicated structure, in which the second helmingr is a subordinate cl. amplifying því in þvís ylgjar angrtælir réð mæla ‘what the beguiler of the she-wolf’s grief did say’ (ll. 3-4). This being so, lézk ‘said’ is redundant: one would have expected a cl. meaning ‘that he would ...’ rather than one meaning ‘that he said he would ...’. It was doubtless this rather tangled construction which gave rise to the simpler secondary variant ok ‘and’ in Kˣ. As elsewhere, the awkwardness of the original is preserved in the translation. (b) If ok ‘and’ were the correct reading, the second helmingr would form a cl. co-ordinate with the cl. built around fylgði ‘matched, followed’ in the first helmingr. Lines 3-4 would be parenthetic. — [5] framm ‘ahead’: (a) The adv. is construed here with í gný ... grafnings, hence ‘ahead in the battle, in the vanguard’. Although the adv. is usually directional, a static sense is also attested in phrases such as aptr ok fram(m) ‘fore and aft’. (b) Kock (NN §819), assumes a temporal sense ‘further, in the future’ (vidare, allt framjent), but his two other citations (Sigv ErfÓl 11/2^I and ÞjóðA Magn 7/8) could equally well support interpretation (a), since, as in st. 5, framm is juxtaposed with a phrase meaning ‘in battle/battle-array’. (c) Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson (ÍF 28, 33 n.) construes falla framm together as ‘fall on his face’ (falla á grúfu). — [6] grafnings ‘of the graven shield’: On grafningr, see Note to Arn Rǫgndr 1/2.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Fms = Sveinbjörn Egilsson et al., eds. 1825-37. Fornmanna sögur eptir gömlum handritum útgefnar að tilhlutun hins norræna fornfræða fèlags. 12 vols. Copenhagen: Popp.
3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. 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.
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. 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.
8. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
9. Hkr 1893-1901 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1893-1901. Heimskringla: Nóregs konunga sǫgur af Snorri Sturluson. 4 vols. SUGNL 23. Copenhagen: Møller.
10. Hkr 1991 = Bergljót S. Kristjánsdóttir et al., eds. 1991. Heimskringla. 3 vols. Reykjavík: Mál og menning.
11. F 1871 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1871. Fríssbók: Codex Frisianus. En samling af norske konge-sagaer. Christiania (Oslo): Malling.
12. Fsk 1902-3 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1902-3. Fagrskinna: Nóregs kononga tal. SUGNL 30. Copenhagen: Møller.
13. E 1916 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1916. Eirspennill: AM 47 fol. Nóregs konunga sǫgur: Magnús góði – Hákon gamli. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske historiske kildeskriftskommission.
14. Hofmann, Dietrich. 1955. Nordisch-englische Lehnbeziehungen der Wikingerzeit. BA 14. Copenhagen: Munksgaard.
15. ÍF 29 = Ágrip af Nóregskonunga sǫgum; Fagrskinna—Nóregs konungatal. Ed. Bjarni Einarsson. 1985.
16. Internal references
17. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Heimskringla’ 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=4> (accessed 19 April 2024)
18. (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 19 April 2024)
19. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Fagrskinna’ 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=56> (accessed 19 April 2024)
20. (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 19 April 2024)
21. (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 19 April 2024)
22. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Arnórr jarlaskáld Þórðarson, Hrynhenda, Magnússdrápa 7’ 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. 191-2.
23. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Arnórr jarlaskáld Þórðarson, Hrynhenda, Magnússdrápa 9’ 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. 193-4.
24. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Arnórr jarlaskáld Þórðarson, Rǫgnvaldsdrápa 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, pp. 178-80.
25. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Arnórr jarlaskáld Þórðarson, Þorfinnsdrápa 24’ 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. 258-9.
26. Not published: do not cite ()
27. Judith Jesch (ed.) 2012, ‘Sigvatr Þórðarson, Erfidrápa Óláfs helga 11’ 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. 678.
28. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Þjóðólfr Arnórsson, Stanzas about Magnús Óláfsson in Danaveldi 7’ 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. 94-6.