Bjarni Frag 5^III

This stanza (Bjarni Frag 5) is recorded in LaufE (mss 2368ˣ (main ms.) and 743ˣ), and it is also found in RE 1665(Jj), which has no independent value (copied from a LaufE Y ms.). The stanza seems to belong to the same narrative context as Frag 4. If so, the woman in the present stanza is the person who removes the tortured man from the erected wheel. Yet, this description of Sigurðr slembidjákn’s death does not agree with the prose sources (see Introduction above), according to which his arms and legs were broken by blows from axe-heads, whereupon he was beaten with whips and hanged (HarsonaHkr ch. 12, ÍF 28, 319-20; ÍF 24, 208-9). If it is assumed that he was hanged only, the woman could also have taken him down from the gallows.

Ok liðhraustan leysti
Lofn, es herr vas sofnaðr,
landrifs lengi píndan
lagdýrs ofan stýri.

Ok {Lofn {landrifs}} leysti ofan {liðhraustan stýri {lagdýrs}}, lengi píndan, es herr vas sofnaðr.

And {the Lofn <goddess> {of the land-rib}} [STONE > WOMAN] released {the troop-bold commander {of the sea-beast}} [SHIP > SEAFARER], long tormented, from above when the army had fallen asleep.

Mss: 2368ˣ(116), 743ˣ(88v) (LaufE)

Readings: [2] herr: so 743ˣ, ‘hertt’ 2368ˣ    [3] píndan: ‘pnndan’ 743ˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 542, Skj BI, 523, Skald I, 255, NN §3235; SnE 1848-87, II, 631, III, 195-6, LaufE 1979, 376.

Context: This helmingr is cited to exemplify that stones and terms for ‘stone’ can be used as determinants in woman-kennings.

Notes: [1] liðhraustan ‘troop-bold’: Kock (NN §3235) deliberates whether lið- might be from liðr ‘joint, limb’ rather than from lið n. ‘troop, army’. If so, liðhraustan would mean, according to him, med kraftig arm, (kroppsligt) stark ‘with a strong arm, (physically) strong’. No known cpd adj. has that word as its first element, however, whereas such adjectives as liðgegn ‘helpful to men’, liðdrjúgr ‘strong in number’ and liðstórr ‘great of help’ (all LP) are quite common. The adj. liðhraustr also appears in Mark Eirdr 26/2^II (on the meaning, see Note there). — [1, 4] leysti ofan ‘released … from above’: Lit. ‘unfastened from above’. The sense is that the woman unties the man from the wheel and lowers him to the ground. — [2, 3] Lofn landrifs ‘the Lofn <goddess> of the land-rib [STONE > WOMAN]’: Cf. also Ólhelg Lv 2/1, 2^I. Lofn is a goddess whose name is frequently used in woman-kennings, but very little is known about her (see Note to Þul Ásynja 1/6).

References

1. Bibliography
2. 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.
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. LaufE 1979 = Faulkes, Anthony, ed. 1979. Edda Magnúsar Ólafssonar (Laufás Edda). RSÁM 13. Vol. I of Two Versions of Snorra Edda from the 17th Century. Reykjavík: Stofnun Árna Magnússonar, 1977-9.
6. 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.
7. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
8. ÍF 23-4 = Morkinskinna. Ed. Ármann Jakobsson and Þórður Ingi Guðjónsson. 2009.
9. Internal references
10. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Ásynja heiti 1’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 763.
11. Edith Marold (ed.) 2017, ‘Bjarni ...ason, Fragments 5’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 25.
12. Jayne Carroll (ed.) 2009, ‘Markús Skeggjason, Eiríksdrápa 26’ 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. 455-6.
13. Russell Poole (ed.) 2012, ‘Óláfr inn helgi Haraldsson, Lausavísur 2’ 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. 518.
14. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Laufás Edda’ 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=10928> (accessed 2 May 2024)