ESk Geisl 31^VII

Reyndi Gutthormr grundar
— gat rétt — við þrǫm sléttan,
áðr hvat Óláfs téðu
alkœns við guð bœnir.
Dag lét sinn með sigri
sóknþýðr jǫfurr prýðask,
þás í Ǫngulseyjar-
undreyr bitu -sundi.

Gutthormr reyndi við sléttan þrǫm grundar, hvat bœnir alkœns Óláfs téðu áðr við guð; gat rétt. Sóknþýðr jǫfurr lét dag sinn prýðask með sigri, þás {undreyr} bitu í Ǫngulseyjarsundi.

Gutthormr proved on the flat coast of the land how the prayers of much-skilled Óláfr previously prevailed with God; he guessed correctly. The battle-happy king caused his day to be adorned with victory, when {wound-reeds} [ARROWS] bit in the Menai Strait.

Mss: Bb(117va-b)

Editions: Skj AI, 465, Skj BI, 434-5, Skald I, 214, NN §937; Cederschiöld 1873, 5, Chase 2005, 81, 147-8.

Notes: [All]: The story of Gutthormr Gunnhildarson occupies sts 31-4. This man was S. Óláfr’s nephew, son of his half-sister Gunnhildr. After a raid on the island of Angelsey, Gutthormr quarrelled with his Irish raiding partner Margaðr over the spoils and a fight ensued. Although Gutthormr’s war-band was the weaker, he prayed to Óláfr on the evening before the fight (which took place on S. Óláfr’s feast day, 29 July) and Óláfr helped him to win. In gratitude he donated a silver cross to the saint, which would have been visible in the cathedral at Trondheim as Einarr recited his drápa. The story of Gutthormr appears in numerous versions of the Óláfr-legend (Louis-Jensen 1970, 35; ÓHLeg 1982, 210-12; Hkr, ÍF 28, 135-7; ÓH 1941, 631-3; for further details, see Chase 2005, 39 and 227 n. 107; Gade 2004, 218-20). Sts 31-3 are missing from the Flat text, probably due to the scribe’s carelessness. St. 30 lies at the end of a column in the ms., and the following column begins with st. 34. Both sts 30 and 33 have the stef as the second helmingr, and when the scribe shifted columns he probably mistook the conclusion of st. 33 for st. 30. The inclusion of st. 34 proves that the scribe’s exemplar contained the story of Gutthormr. The missing sts are supplied from the Bb text, the only witness. — [1-4]: The syntax of the first helmingr is slightly awkward. Finnur Jónsson construes Gutthormr reyndi við sléttan þrǫm grundar, hvat bænir alkæns Óláfs téðu við goð; hann gat áðr rétt ‘Gutthormr proved on the flat coast of the land how the prayers of much-skilled Óláfr prevailed with God; he had guessed correctly previously’ (Skj B). Kock takes gat hann rétt ‘he guessed correctly’ as a parenthesis and reads áðr hvat as hvat áðr, arguing convincingly that such transposition in correlative constructions was an accepted technique (NN §§937 and 246D). His interpretation makes better sense: ‘Gutthormr proved on the flat coast of the land how previously the prayers of much-skilled Óláfr prevailed with God; he guessed correctly’. — [7, 8] í Ǫngulseyjarsundi: ‘in the sound of Angelsey’, the Menai Strait, between the island of Anglesey and the mainland of Wales. It would be nearly impossible to use a word this long (six syllables, the length of an entire l.) in dróttkvætt without tmesis.

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. Cederschiöld, Gustaf J. Chr., ed. 1873b. ‘Bandamanna saga’. Acta Universitatis Lundensis 10.
4. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
6. Cederschiöld, Gustaf J. Chr., ed. 1873a. Geisli eða Óláfs Drápa ens Helga er Einarr orti Skúlason: efter ‘Bergsboken’ utgifven. Acta Universitatis Lundensis 10. Lund: Berling.
7. Chase, Martin, ed. 2005. Einarr Skúlason’s Geisli. A Critical Edition. Toronto Old Norse and Icelandic Studies 1. Toronto, Buffalo and London: Toronto University Press.
8. Gade, Kari Ellen. 2004. ‘Morkinskinna and 25th September 1066’. In Hoff et al. 2004, 211-23.
9. ÓH 1941 = Johnsen, Oscar Albert and Jón Helgason, eds. 1941. Saga Óláfs konungs hins helga: Den store saga om Olav den hellige efter pergamenthåndskrift i Kungliga biblioteket i Stockholm nr. 2 4^to med varianter fra andre håndskrifter. 2 vols. Det norske historiske kildeskriftfond skrifter 53. Oslo: Dybwad.
10. ÓHLeg 1982 = Heinrichs, Anne et al., eds and trans. 1982. Olafs saga hins helga: Die ‘Legendarische Saga’ über Olaf den Heiligen (Hs. Delagard. saml. nr. 8^II). Heidelberg: Winter.
11. Louis-Jensen, Jonna. 1970a. ‘“Syvende og ottende brudstykke”. Fragmentet AM 325 IV 4to.’. Opuscula 4, 31-60. BA 30. Copenhagen: Munksgaard.
12. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
13. Internal references
14. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Heimskringla’ 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, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=4> (accessed 19 April 2024)