Arn Frag 3III
Diana Whaley (ed.) 2017, ‘Arnórr jarlaskáld Þórðarson, Fragments 3’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 5.
Siklinga venr snekkjur
sælútar konr úti;
hann litar herskip innan
— hrafns góð es þat — blóði.
{Konr siklinga} venr sælútar snekkjur úti; hann litar herskip innan blóði; þat es góð hrafns.
{The descendant of princes} [RULER] trains sea-plunging longships [to sail] out at sea; he stains warships within with blood; that is the raven’s gain.
Mss: R(40r), Tˣ(41v), U(37v), A(15r), B(6v), 744ˣ(42v-43r), C(9r) (SnE)
Readings: [1] Siklinga: siglinga U, ‘Siklinka’ A; snekkjur: snekkju U, ‘s[…]’ B, ‘sneckíur’ 744ˣ [2] sælútar konr: stýrir lútar gramr U, ‘[…]lutar konr’ B, ‘síalutar konr’ 744ˣ, sjóljótar konr C [3] innan: ‘jn[…]’ B, ‘jnnan’ 744ˣ [4] hrafns: hrafn B
Editions: Skj AI, 354, Skj BI, 326, Skald I, 165; SnE 1848-87, I, 526-7, II, 344, 462, 541-2, 608, III, 110, SnE 1931, 184, SnE 1998, I, 104; Whaley 1998, 310-11.
Context: The helmingr is cited in Skm (SnE) within a discussion of poetic terms for rulers, and illustrates the use of siklingr.
Notes: [All]: The helmingr’s depiction of a hero sailing warships out to sea and spilling (enemy) blood for the benefit of the raven could fit any of Arnórr’s patrons: the Norwegian kings Magnús and Haraldr, the Orcadian jarls Þorfinnr or Rǫgnvaldr or Knútr inn ríki (Cnut the Great; cf. Arn Frag 4 and Note to [All]). But the known dróttkvætt poems for the first four are all erfidrápur ‘memorial drápur’ (edited in SkP II), whereas the fragment is in the pres. tense, which would be compatible with the suggestion (e.g. LH I, 611) that this could be a remnant of the lost Blágagladrápa ‘Drápa of Dark Geese (= Ravens (?))’ which Arnórr is said to have recited for Haraldr Sigurðarson on the same occasion as Arn HrynII was addressed to Magnús Óláfsson (see Biography of Arnórr, SkP II, 177; Mork 1928-32, 118; ÍF 23, 146). — [All]: The B text is damaged (though less badly than in the case of Frag 2), and is supplemented by 744ˣ where necessary. — [1-2] venr sælútar snekkjur úti ‘trains sea-plunging warships [to sail] out at sea’: The adj. sæ-/sjálútar ‘sea-bending, sea-plunging’, a hap. leg., is here construed as being attributive (so also Skj B). It could alternatively be predicative, hence ‘trains warships [to be] sea-plunging out at sea’.
References
- Bibliography
- Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
- SnE 1848-87 = Snorri Sturluson. 1848-87. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar: Edda Snorronis Sturlaei. Ed. Jón Sigurðsson et al. 3 vols. Copenhagen: Legatum Arnamagnaeanum. Rpt. Osnabrück: Zeller, 1966.
- Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
- Whaley, Diana, ed. and trans. 1998. The Poetry of Arnórr jarlaskáld: An Edition and Study. Westfield Publications in Medieval Studies 8. Turnhout: Brepols.
- LH = Finnur Jónsson. 1920-4. Den oldnorske og oldislandske litteraturs historie. 3 vols. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Gad.
- Mork 1928-32 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1928-32. Morkinskinna. SUGNL 53. Copenhagen: Jørgensen.
- SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
- SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
- SkP II = Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Ed. Kari Ellen Gade. 2009.
- ÍF 23-4 = Morkinskinna. Ed. Ármann Jakobsson and Þórður Ingi Guðjónsson. 2009.
- Internal references
- (forthcoming), ‘ Snorri Sturluson, Skáldskaparmál’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=112> (accessed 3 May 2024)
- Diana Whaley 2009, ‘ Arnórr jarlaskáld Þórðarson, Hrynhenda, Magnússdrápa’ 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. 181-206. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1101> (accessed 3 May 2024)
- Diana Whaley (ed.) 2017, ‘Arnórr jarlaskáld Þórðarson, Fragments 4’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 6.
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