Arn Þorfdr 20^II

Óskepna varð uppi
endr, þás mǫrgum kenndi
hôligt róg at hníga,
hǫrð, þars jarlar bǫrðusk.
Nær réðusk ástmenn órir,
eldhríð es varð síðan
— ǫld fekk mein in milda
mǫrg — fyr Rauðabjǫrgum.

Endr varð hǫrð óskepna uppi, þás hôligt róg kenndi mǫrgum at hníga, þars jarlar bǫrðusk. Ástmenn órir réðusk nær, es {eldhríð} varð síðan fyr Rauðabjǫrgum; in milda ǫld fekk mǫrg mein.

At that time a harsh, monstrous thing came to pass, as mighty strife taught many to fall where jarls fought. Our [my] dear friends almost destroyed each other, as {the sword-blizzard} [BATTLE] came about then off Rauðabjǫrg; the gracious men received many injuries.

Mss: Flat(133ra), Flat(135rb) (Orkn)

Readings: [3] róg: ‘ro᷎g’ Flat(135rb)    [5] Nær: so Flat(135rb), nærr Flat(133ra)    [6] es (‘er’): so Flat(135rb), en Flat(133ra)    [7] ǫld: ǫll Flat(135rb)

Editions: Skj AI, 347, Skj BI, 320, Skald I, 162, NN §836, 2021; Flat 1860-8, II, 422, 440, Orkn 1913-16, 87-8, 131 n., ÍF 34, 83, 122 n. (chs 32, 56; st. not printed at repeat); Whaley 1998, 257-9.

Context: Stanzas 20 and 24 are first quoted at the end of ch. 32, a summary chapter on the life and death of Þorfinnr. They are introduced as witnesses to the battle between the jarls Rǫgnvaldr Brúsason and Þorfinnr. They occur again, together with st. 19 and BjHall Kálffl 8^I, at the end of ch. 56, which concerns Páll, son of Þorfinnr. The sts have no connection with the preceding prose, and there are no introductory words to explain their inclusion at this point.

Notes: [5] réðusk ‘destroyed each other’: (a) Ráða occurs with the meaning ‘betray’ or ‘seal another’s fate’, often specifically by killing or causing death (see LP: ráða 9), and ráða e-n can mean ‘plot someone’s death’ (Fritzner: ráða 7). The juxtaposition of ráða in this sense with nær ‘almost’ is matched in ÞjóðA Magnfl 15/8. (b) The alternative translation ‘attacked each other’ is suggested by the context and would be supported by idioms with that sense such as ráða(sk) á and ráða til e-s, or expressions where ráðask implies motion, such as ráðask þangat ‘make one’s way there’, ráðask frá ‘leave’. — [5] ástmenn órir ‘our [my] dear friends’: Lit. ‘our [my] beloved men’, Arnórr’s patrons Þorfinnr and Rǫgnvaldr. — [6] eldhríð ‘sword-blizzard [BATTLE]’: Eldr, like logi, usually means ‘fire’, but is also a heiti for ‘sword’ in Þul Sverða 8/2^III; cf. runnr elda ‘tree of swords [WARRIOR]’ in Anon Óldr 11^I (C12th). It would be a strange coincidence if, as Finnur Jónsson assumes in Skj B, an original oddr ‘point’ had been corrupted to eldr both in Óldr 11 and in st. 20 (where emendation to odd- was originally proposed by Gudbrand Vigfusson, Orkn 1887, 59 n. 4). — [6] es ‘as’: This reading is adopted in preference to en ‘and, but’, since es varð síðan ‘as (the battle) came about then’ gives immediacy to the description of the onslaught, whereas the conjunction in en varð síðan ‘and then (a battle) came about’ would imply a different conflict and a different temporal frame. — [7] ǫld ‘men’: The ‘gracious men’ who ‘received many injuries’ could be Rǫgnvaldr’s own men, or the moderate men of both sides who had no wish for strife. — [8] mǫrg ‘many’: Formally mǫrg could either be n. acc. pl. qualifying mein, hence ‘many injuries’, as assumed here; or f. nom. sg. qualifying in milda ǫld, hence ‘many gracious men’, as in Skj B and ÍF 34, 83. — [8] Rauðabjǫrgum ‘Rauðabjǫrg’: Lit. ‘red (iron ore?) rocks’, probably Ruberry or Roberry on the east coast of Hoy, Orkney. Both the geographical situation and phonetic form of Roberry are compatible with the Rauðabjǫrg of the st. and the saga, especially if Roberry derives from Rauðabergi, locative sg. of Rauðaberg, a by-form of Rauðabjǫrg (see Taylor 1931, 43-4 for discussion of alternative locations).

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. 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. LP = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1931. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis: Ordbog over det norsk-islandske skjaldesprog oprindelig forfattet af Sveinbjörn Egilsson. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Møller.
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. 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.
9. ÍF 34 = Orkneyinga saga. Ed. Finnbogi Guðmundsson. 1965.
10. Taylor, A. B. 1931. ‘Some saga place-names’. Proceedings of the Orkney Antiquarian Society 9, 41-5.
11. Orkn 1913-16 = Sigurður Nordal, ed. 1913-16. Orkneyinga saga. SUGNL 40. Copenhagen: Møller.
12. Orkn 1887 = Gudbrand Vigfusson 1887-94, I.
13. Internal references
14. Kate Heslop (ed.) 2012, ‘Anonymous Poems, Óláfs drápa Tryggvasonar 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. 1043.
15. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Sverða heiti 8’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 804.
16. Alison Finlay (ed.) 2012, ‘Bjarni gullbrárskáld Hallbjarnarson, Kálfsflokkr 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. 889.
17. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Þjóðólfr Arnórsson, Magnússflokkr 15’ 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. 82-3.