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Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Anon (Vǫls) 1VIII (Vǫls 1)

Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Vǫlsunga saga 1 (Anonymous Lausavísur, Lausavísur from Vǫlsunga saga 1)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 792.

Anonymous LausavísurLausavísur from Vǫlsunga saga
12

Ristu ‘They cut’

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2. rista (verb): carve

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af ‘with’

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af (prep.): from

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magni ‘strength’

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magn (noun n.; °-s): strength

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mikla ‘the huge’

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mikill (adj.; °mikinn): great, large

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hellu ‘stone slab’

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1. hella (noun f.; °-u; -ur): cave, slab

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Sigmundr ‘Sigmundr’

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Sigmundr (noun m.): Sigmundr

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[3, 4] Sigmundr … Sinfjötli ‘Sigmundr … Sinfjǫtli’: According to Vǫls, Sigmundr is the son of Vǫlsungr, descended directly via his father, Rerir, and grandfather, Sigi, from Óðinn. He is himself the father of the hero Sigurðr. Sigmundr and his son Sinfjǫtli are mentioned together in the C10th Anon Eirm 5/1I, as welcoming King Eiríkr blóðøx ‘Blood-axe’ to Valhǫll and are also paired, as uncle and nephew, in the Old English Beowulf ll. 874-900, where their exploits in the forest are mentioned. It is uncertain whether the Anglo-Saxon poet knew the tradition of the incestuous birth of Sinfjǫtli (OE Fitela).

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hjörvi ‘with his sword’

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hjǫrr (noun m.): sword

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[3] hjörvi ‘with his sword’: According to Vǫls ch. 3, Sigmundr obtains his sword by drawing it out of the trunk of an apple tree growing in the middle of his father’s hall. Like King Arthur and his acquisition of the sword Excalibur, only Sigmundr can withdraw the sword from the tree-trunk into which it has been plunged by Óðinn.

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ok ‘and’

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3. ok (conj.): and, but; also

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Sinfjötli ‘Sinfjǫtli’

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Sinfjǫtli (noun m.): Sinfjǫtli

notes

[3, 4] Sigmundr … Sinfjötli ‘Sigmundr … Sinfjǫtli’: According to Vǫls, Sigmundr is the son of Vǫlsungr, descended directly via his father, Rerir, and grandfather, Sigi, from Óðinn. He is himself the father of the hero Sigurðr. Sigmundr and his son Sinfjǫtli are mentioned together in the C10th Anon Eirm 5/1I, as welcoming King Eiríkr blóðøx ‘Blood-axe’ to Valhǫll and are also paired, as uncle and nephew, in the Old English Beowulf ll. 874-900, where their exploits in the forest are mentioned. It is uncertain whether the Anglo-Saxon poet knew the tradition of the incestuous birth of Sinfjǫtli (OE Fitela).

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Sigmundr and his son Sinfjǫtli, the latter begotten incestuously with Sigmundr’s sister Signý, live in the forest while contriving vengeance for the death of their father Vǫlsungr at the hands of Signý’s husband Siggeirr. Siggeirr has the two Volsungs imprisoned in a huge burial-mound made of stones and turf, thinking to starve them to death. Signý contrives to send them food in the shape of a piece of pork into which Sigmundr’s sword has been thrust. Stanza 1 describes how Sigmundr and Sinfjǫtli use Sigmundr’s sword to saw through the huge stone slab that blocked the entrance to the mound. It is introduced with the words sem kveðit er ‘as it is told’.

The source of these lines is unknown, and the introductory formula, like many in Vǫls, is imprecise. ÍF Edd. does not include these lines.

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