BjHall Kálffl 5I
Alison Finlay (ed.) 2012, ‘Bjarni gullbrárskáld Hallbjarnarson, Kálfsflokkr 5’ 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. 885.
Jǫrð ‘the land’
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jǫrð (noun f.; °jarðar, dat. -u; jarðir/jarðar(DN I (1367) 304)): ground, earth
[1] Jǫrð: ‘ad’ 321ˣ, ‘Jardr’ 73aˣ, ‘Jorðr’ or ‘Jarðr’ 325V
vígi ‘with war’
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víg (noun n.; °-s; -): battle
varða ‘defending’
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2. varða (verb): defend
víg ‘War’
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víg (noun n.; °-s; -): battle < vígreifr (adj.): [War-cheerful]
reifr ‘cheerful’
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2. reifr (adj.): happy < vígreifr (adj.): [War-cheerful]
fyr ‘against’
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fyr (prep.): for, over, because of, etc.
Ôleifi ‘Óláfr’
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Óláfr (noun m.): Óláfr
brauzt ‘you raised’
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brjóta (verb; °brýtr; braut, brutu; brotinn): to break, destroy
[3] brauzt (‘brauztu’): bauztu Kˣ
við ‘against’
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2. við (prep.): with, against
bragning ‘king’
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bragningr (noun m.; °; -ar): prince, ruler
nýztan ‘most excellent’
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nýtr (adj.; °compar. -ri, superl. nýztr/nýtastr): useful, able
[3] nýztan: nýzta J2ˣ, nýztum 325VII
kveðk ‘I declare’
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2. kveðja (verb; kvaddi): (dd) request, address, greet
[4] kveðk (‘kveð ec’): kveð 325VII
mik ‘that I’
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ek (pron.; °mín, dat. mér, acc. mik): I, me
frôgu ‘heard’
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1. fregna (verb): hear of
notes
[4] frôgu ‘heard’: This is the past inf. of fregna ‘to hear, learn by enquiry’ forming an inf. with acc. construction with (kveðk) mik ‘me’, hence ‘(I declare that) I heard’.
gekkt ‘you achieved’
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2. ganga (verb; geng, gekk, gengu, genginn): walk, go
[5] gekkt (‘gecctv’): gekksk þú 61, Bb
á ‘at’
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3. á (prep.): on, at
[5] á stað Stiklar: í styr strǫngum 61, Flat, Tóm, styrs unz stilli Bb
stað ‘stad’
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1. staðr (noun m.; °-ar/-s; -ir): place
[5] á stað Stiklar: í styr strǫngum 61, Flat, Tóm, styrs unz stilli Bb
notes
[5] Stiklarstað ‘Stiklestad’: The p. n. elements are reversed in the text in a mild form of tmesis, as often with place names in skaldic lines; Sigv ErfÓl 10/7 is a direct parallel (see Note). On the p. n. Stikla(r)staðir, here sg. rather than the normal pl., see Note to Þorm Lv 23/3-4, and on the battle see ‘Óláfr inn helgi Haraldsson’ in ‘Ruler biographies’ in Introduction to this volume.
Stiklar ‘Stikle’
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stikill (noun m.; °dat. stikli; stiklar): (Stikle-)
[5] á stað Stiklar: í styr strǫngum 61, Flat, Tóm, styrs unz stilli Bb; Stiklar: Stikla 73aˣ, Holm4, 325V, 325VII, Kˣ
notes
[5] Stiklarstað ‘Stiklestad’: The p. n. elements are reversed in the text in a mild form of tmesis, as often with place names in skaldic lines; Sigv ErfÓl 10/7 is a direct parallel (see Note). On the p. n. Stikla(r)staðir, here sg. rather than the normal pl., see Note to Þorm Lv 23/3-4, and on the battle see ‘Óláfr inn helgi Haraldsson’ in ‘Ruler biographies’ in Introduction to this volume.
stór ‘great’
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stórr (adj.): large, great < stórverk (noun n.)
[6] stór‑: stóð 61, Bb, Flat, Tóm
verk ‘deeds’
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verk (noun n.; °-s; -): deed < stórverk (noun n.)
en ‘and’
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2. en (conj.): but, and
merki ‘the standard’
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1. merki (noun n.; °-s: -): banner, sign
satt ‘it’
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2. sannr (adj.; °-an; compar. -ari, superl. -astr): true < 2. sannr (adj.): true
[7] satts at (‘satt er at’): so 73aˣ, Holm4, 61, 325V, 325VII, Flat, Kˣ, satt er Holm2, satt var at J2ˣ, satt var Tóm
s ‘is true’
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2. vera (verb): be, is, was, were, are, am < 2. sannr (adj.): true
[7] satts at (‘satt er at’): so 73aˣ, Holm4, 61, 325V, 325VII, Flat, Kˣ, satt er Holm2, satt var at J2ˣ, satt var Tóm
at ‘that’
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4. at (conj.): that
[7] satts at (‘satt er at’): so 73aˣ, Holm4, 61, 325V, 325VII, Flat, Kˣ, satt er Holm2, satt var at J2ˣ, satt var Tóm
sókn ‘the attack’
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sókn (noun f.; °-ar; -ir): attack, fight
of ‘’
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4. of (particle): (before verb)
veittir ‘you kept up’
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2. veita (verb): grant, give
snjallr ‘brave’
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snjallr (adj.): quick, resourceful, bold
notes
[8] snjallr ‘brave’: This is taken as applying to Kálfr, the addressee of the 2nd pers. verb veittir ‘you kept up’ (l. 7), just as vígreifr ‘war-cheerful’ (l. 2) qualifies the 2nd pers. rétt ‘you set about’ (l. 2). Snjallr could alternatively qualify gramr ‘the king’ in l. 8 (so Hkr 1991).
vas ‘had’
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2. vera (verb): be, is, was, were, are, am
fallinn ‘fallen’
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falla (verb): fall
Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses
War-cheerful, you set about defending the land with war against Óláfr; you raised hostility against the most excellent king; I declare that I heard that. Before, you achieved great deeds at Stiklestad, and the standard surged; it is true that you kept up the attack, brave, until the king had fallen.
The stanza is cited at the point where King Óláfr Haraldsson is killed in the battle of Stiklastaðir (Stiklestad). ÓH-Hkr record uncertainty as to whether one of the three decisive blows was struck by Kálfr Árnason or his kinsman Kálfr Arnfinnsson (and see ÍF 27, 385 n. 2).
[5-8]: (a) The construal here follows Skj B. It requires treating gekkt, normally ‘you went’, as a transitive verb meaning ‘achieved’, which is unusual but possible (Fritzner: ganga 10). (b) ÍF 27 reads Gekktu á Stiklastað fyrr an merki óð; satt stórverk es, at of veittir ... ‘You advanced at Stiklestad before the standard surged; it is a truly [lit. true] great deed, that you kept up ... ’, but this assumes a contorted syntax. (c) Konráð Gíslason (1895-7, II, 249; followed in Hkr 1893-1901, II) hazarded an emended form stórverkr, which he took as either a substantive (stordådsmand ‘man of great deeds’) or an adj. (‘doing great deeds’) qualifying the understood subject þú ‘you’. But the element ‑verkr in compounds is more usually nominal, with the sense ‘pain’.
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