ESk Geisl 60^VII

Tungan vas með tangar
tírkunns numin munni
(vasa sem vænst) ok þrysvar
(viðrlíf) skorin knífi.
Auðskiptir lá eptir
(ǫnd lætr maðr) á strǫndu
(margr of minni sorgir)
meinsamliga hamlaðr.

Tungan tírkunns vas numin með tangar munni ok þrysvar skorin knífi; vasa viðrlíf sem vænst. {Auðskiptir} lá eptir á strǫndu meinsamliga hamlaðr; margr maðr lætr ǫnd of minni sorgir.

The tongue of the one accustomed to praise was taken by the tong’s mouth and cut three times with a knife; that was not a very hopeful treatment. {The wealth-distributor} [MAN] remained lying on the beach painfully mutilated; many a man gives up the ghost from fewer afflictions.

Mss: Flat(2rb), Bb(118rb)

Readings: [1] Tungan: Tunga Bb    [2] ‑kunns: ‑kunn Bb;    numin: so Bb, lokin Flat    [3] þrysvar: ‘tysvar’ Bb    [5] Auð‑: aur‑ Bb

Editions: Skj AI, 470, Skj BI, 442, Skald I, 218, NN §§2054, 2792; Flat 1860-8, I, 6, Cederschiöld 1873, 9, Chase 2005, 110, 161-2.

Notes: [1, 2] tungan tírkunns ‘the tongue of the one accustomed to praise’: In Flat’s version, also followed in Skald, understood as a reference to the priest Ríkarðr; Bb’s adj. tírkunn (f. nom. sg.) can be construed with tunga ‘the tongue accustomed to praise [God]’; so Skj B. — [2] numin ‘taken’: Bb’s reading makes sense, while Flat’s lokin, from luka ‘to close, bring to an end’, does not. — [6] þrysvar ‘three times’: This detail is explained in the prose accounts: sidan drogo þeir ut tvngo hans oc skoꝛo af mikit oc spurdo ef hann metti mela en hann leitadi vid at mela þa toko þeir i tungo stufiɴ oc skoꝛo af tysvar þadan af oc i tungo rotom it sidarsta siɴ ‘then they drew out his tongue and cut off a big piece and asked if he could speak, and he tried to speak; then they took the stump of the tongue and cut off two more pieces, the last time cutting out the root of the tongue’ (Louis-Jensen 1970, 37; cf. Hkr, ÍF 28, 336; ÓH 1941, 652-3). — [6] á strǫndu ‘on the beach’: The prose versions tell us that the incident took place on the shore of a lake. Einarr specifies a similar location in his account of the man mutilated by the Wends (st. 40); he may have confused the circumstances of the two miracles.

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. Flat 1860-8 = Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and C. R. Unger, eds. 1860-8. Flateyjarbók. En samling af norske konge-sagaer med indskudte mindre fortællinger om begivenheder i og udenfor Norge samt annaler. 3 vols. Christiania (Oslo): Malling.
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. Louis-Jensen, Jonna. 1970a. ‘“Syvende og ottende brudstykke”. Fragmentet AM 325 IV 4to.’. Opuscula 4, 31-60. BA 30. Copenhagen: Munksgaard.
11. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
12. Internal references
13. (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 10 May 2024)