ESk Geisl 69^VII

Óláfs hǫfum jǫfra
orðhags kyni sagðar
(fylgir hugr) ins helga
happsdáðir (því ráði).
Laun fôm holl, ef hônum
(hræsíks þrimu) líkar,
gǫfugs óðar (hjalp gœðum
guðs blessan) lofs þessa.

Hǫfum sagðar kyni jǫfra happsdáðir orðhags Óláfs ins helga; fylgir hugr því ráði. Fôm holl laun gǫfugs óðar, þessa lofs, ef hônum líkar; guðs blessan, hjalp {gœðum {þrimu {hræsíks}}}.

We [I] have told the family of the kings the blessed deeds of eloquent Óláfr the holy; the mind supports that undertaking. We [I] shall receive a kind reward for the splendid poem, this praise, if it pleases him [Óláfr]; God’s blessing, help {the increasers {of the storm {of the corpse-fish}}} [SWORD > BATTLE > WARRIORS].

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

Readings: [1] jǫfra: so Bb, jǫfri Flat    [3] fylgir: fylgði Bb    [4] happsdáðir: happsdáða Bb    [5] fôm: ‘fæ ek’ Bb;    ef: so Bb, af Flat;    hônum: hreinum Bb    [7] hjalp: lét Bb;    gœðum: ‘gæðir’ Bb    [8] blessan: ‘blezon’ Flat, ‘blezun’ Bb;    lofs: liðs Bb

Editions: Skj AI, 472, Skj BI, 444-5, Skald I, 219, NN §953; Flat 1860-8, I, 7, Cederschiöld 1873, 10, Chase 2005, 119, 168.

Notes: [All]: The order of this st. and the following one is reversed in Bb. — [2] orðhags (m. gen. sg.) ‘eloquent’: The epithet is puzzling in this context, but it may refer to Óláfr’s power as an intercessor. — [2, 1] kyni jǫfra ‘the family of the kings’: Bb’s jǫfra must be the preferred reading here, as Flat’s jǫfri (dat. sg.) leaves kyni (l. 2) syntactically isolated. Presumably Einarr uses the gen. pl. jǫfra to refer to the three kings Eysteinn, Sigurðr and Ingi, who were in his audience; the phrase could also flatter them by suggesting that they, as sons of Haraldr gilli, were descendants of S. Óláfr. — [3] fylgir ‘supports’: Bb’s pret. fylgði ‘supported’ is preferred by Skj B and Skald, and could be taken to refer to Einarr’s nearly completed performance of his encomium. — [4] happsdáðir ‘blessed deeds’: Cf. happmætu ‘rich in blessing’, st. 19/7. — [5-8]: The second helmingr is difficult to understand. Both Skj B and Skald adopt Bb’s hreinum (l. 5), ef (l. 5) and ‘let’ (l. 7), which Finnur Jónsson interprets as létt ‘easily’ and Kock emends to lát ‘sound’. Chase 2005, 119 adopts hjǫlp ‘help’, based on Flat’s ‘hialp’. Line 7 is problematic for metrical reasons, as eds have long recognised, but the cause has not previously been adequately addressed, viz. that the word in position 4 cannot be either a noun or an adv., but must be a verb. Both Flat’s and Bb’s readings point in that direction. The present interpretation takes Flat’s text in all instances except for ef (l. 5) instead of af. — [6, 7] gœðum þrimu hræsíks ‘the increasers of the storm of the corpse-fish [SWORD > BATTLE > WARRIOR]’: This warrior-kenning may refer to the three kings in Einarr’s audience. Alternatively, if emendation of the base-word to gœði (dat. sg.) is preferred (so Skj B, following Cederschiöld), the kenning may refer to Einarr himself or to his patron King Eysteinn. — [7] hræsíks ‘of the corpse-fish [SWORD]’: The síkr is a kind of whitefish (Coregonus lavaretus).

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.