Arn Magndr 6^II

Segja munk, hvé Sygna
snarfengjan bar þengil
hallr ok hrími sollinn
hléborðs visundr norðan.
Setti bjóðr at breiðu
brynþings — fetilstinga
fús tók ǫld við œsi —
Jótlandi gramr branda.

Munk segja, hvé {visundr hléborðs}, hallr ok sollinn hrími, bar {snarfengjan þengil Sygna} norðan. {Bjóðr {brynþings}}, gramr, setti branda at breiðu Jótlandi; ǫld tók fús við {œsi {fetilstinga}}.

I will tell how {the bison of the lee-side} [SHIP], listing and encrusted with rime, carried {the swift-acting lord of the Sygnir} [NORWEGIAN KING = Magnús] from the north. {The convenor {of the byrnie-assembly}} [BATTLE > WARRIOR], the monarch, steered his prows towards broad Jylland; people received, eager, {the impeller {of sword-belt stabbers}} [SWORDS > WARRIOR].

Mss: Kˣ(507r), 39(15ra), F(39ra-b), E(6r), J2ˣ(247v) (Hkr); H(6r), Hr(7ra) (H-Hr); Flat(190va) (Flat)

Readings: [1] munk (‘mun ec’): mun Hr;    Sygna: svigna 39    [2] snarfengjan: so 39, F, J2ˣ, H, Flat, om. Kˣ, snarfengjar E, snarfengan Hr    [3] ok: varð H, var Hr, Flat    [4] hlé‑: hlæ‑ 39, J2ˣ, Hr;    visundr: visund Hr    [5] bjóðr: blíðr H, Hr, Flat;    breiðu: brðu J2ˣ, beiðu Hr    [6] brynþings: byrðings Flat;    fetilstinga: meginhringa H, Hr, meginþinga Flat    [8] Jót‑: ‘hiot‑’ Flat;    branda: brandi Hr

Editions: Skj AI, 339-40, Skj BI, 312, Skald I, 158-9, NN §§1295, 1853B; Hkr 1893-1901, III, 37-8, ÍF 28, 34-5, Hkr 1991, 578 (Mgóð ch. 19), F 1871, 179, E 1916, 20; Fms 6, 50-1 (Mgóð ch. 25), Fms 12, 131-2; Flat 1860-8, III, 273, Andersson and Gade 2000, 112, 468 (MH); Whaley 1998, 195-7.

Context: All three prose works include sts 6 and 7 in their accounts of how Magnús assumed rule over Denmark. In Hkr and H-Hr, st. 6 appears early in the narrative, as Magnús sails to Jutland. In Flat it finishes off the brief account and st. 6 follows 7.

Notes: [4] visundr hléborðs ‘the bison of the lee-side [SHIP]’: Visundr was the ship that Magnús sailed to Denmark, hence Visundr here seems to double as both proper name and kenning element; see Note to Arn Hryn 9/4. — [5-7]: (a) The warrior-kenning bjóðr brynþings ‘the convenor of the byrnie-assembly’ assumed above is well paralleled, e.g. by brynþings boði ‘announcer of the byrnie-assembly [BATTLE > WARRIOR]’, ǪrvOdd Ævdr 8/3 and 34/3^VIII. It is taken here as the subject to setti branda ‘steered his prows’. Fetilstinga œsi ‘the impeller of sword-belt stabbers [SWORDS > WARRIOR]’ is assumed to form another kenning, object to fús tók ǫld við... ‘eager, people received...’, and gramr ‘(fierce) monarch, sovereign’ in l. 8 is taken in apposition to bjóðr brynþings. This is also the analysis adopted by Finnur Jónsson (Skj B), by Kock (NN §1295), and by Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson (ÍF 28, 35 n.) who, however, favours reading æsi ‘god’ (nom. sg. ss/áss) rather than œsi ‘impeller’ as the base-word of the kenning. (b) The variant ‘blidr’ (so H, Hr, Flat), i.e. the adj. blíðr ‘blithe’, could qualify gramr ‘monarch’ in l. 8, and the vowel of ms. bryn- would be long (the metrically preferable alternative), hence brýn- ‘pressing, urgent’. In this case brýnþings fetilstinga œsi is construed as a single kenning, hence fús tók ǫld við œsi fetilstinga brýnþings ‘eager, people received the impeller of the pressing assembly of sword-belt-stabbers [SWORDS > BATTLE > WARRIOR]’. Fetilstinga þing is fairly certainly attested in the C13th GunnHám Lv 5/8^V, and the assumption of brýn- ‘pressing, urgent’ would find some support in kennings such as rammþing Glamma ‘mighty assembly of Glammi’ in st. 9/2 below. The l. brynþing fetilstinga occurs in Eyv Lv 1/2^I, and the interpretation of that st. would be greatly helped by the assumption that bryn-, the reading of all mss, stands for brýn- ‘pressing’ rather than bryn- ‘byrnie’; cf. also ÞjóðA Lv 3. However, the contexts in which brynþing must mean ‘byrnie-assembly’ (including Mark Eirdr 7/1 and the eddic Sigrdr 5, NK 190) are numerous enough to suggest that (a) above is the safer alternative in the present context.

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. NK = Neckel, Gustav and Hans Kuhn (1899), eds. 1983. Edda: Die Lieder des Codex Regius nebst verwandten Denkmälern. 2 vols. I: Text. 5th edn. Heidelberg: Winter.
10. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
11. Hkr 1893-1901 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1893-1901. Heimskringla: Nóregs konunga sǫgur af Snorri Sturluson. 4 vols. SUGNL 23. Copenhagen: Møller.
12. Hkr 1991 = Bergljót S. Kristjánsdóttir et al., eds. 1991. Heimskringla. 3 vols. Reykjavík: Mál og menning.
13. F 1871 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1871. Fríssbók: Codex Frisianus. En samling af norske konge-sagaer. Christiania (Oslo): Malling.
14. E 1916 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1916. Eirspennill: AM 47 fol. Nóregs konunga sǫgur: Magnús góði – Hákon gamli. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske historiske kildeskriftskommission.
15. Internal references
16. (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 20 April 2024)
17. (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 20 April 2024)
18. (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 20 April 2024)
19. (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 20 April 2024)
20. 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.
21. Russell Poole (ed.) 2012, ‘Eyvindr skáldaspillir Finnsson, Lausavísur 1’ 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. 215.
22. Not published: do not cite ()
23. Jayne Carroll (ed.) 2009, ‘Markús Skeggjason, Eiríksdrápa 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, p. 439.
24. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Þjóðólfr Arnórsson, Lausavísur 3’ 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. 167-8.
25. R. D. Fulk (ed.) 2022, ‘Njáls saga 9 (Gunnarr Hámundarson, 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. 1231.
26. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Ǫrvar-Odds saga 78 (Ǫrvar-Oddr, Ævidrápa 8)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 894.