ESk Run 9^II

Rauð siklingr sverð
— sleit gylðis ferð
prútt Parta lík —
í Pílavík.
Vann vísi allt
fyr vestan salt
— brandr gall við brún —
brennt Langatún.

Siklingr rauð sverð í Pílavík; {ferð gylðis} sleit prútt lík Parta. Vísi vann brennt allt Langatún fyr vestan salt; brandr gall við brún.

The prince reddened the sword in Pílavík; {the company of the wolf} [WOLVES] tore the splendid corpses of the Partar. The leader burned all Langatún west of the sea; the sword rang against the brow.

Mss: Mork(35v-36r) (Mork); Kˣ(659v), F(73vb), E(57r), J2ˣ(356v), 42ˣ(47r-v) (Hkr); Hr(81rb) (H-Hr)

Readings: [3] prútt: prúð F, Hr    [5] vísi: vísir 42ˣ, Hr    [7] við: í Kˣ    [8] brennt: brennt var Hr

Editions: Skj AI, 474-5, Skj BI, 447, Skald I, 220, NN §954; Mork 1867, 226, Mork 1928-32, 445, Andersson and Gade 2000, 392, 495 (Hsona); ÍF 28, 329 (Hsona ch. 20), F 1871, 340, E 1916, 199; Fms 7, 237 (Hsona ch. 20).

Context: As sts 5-8 above.

Notes: [1] sverð ‘sword’: This noun can be either sg. or pl. — [2] ferð gylðis ‘the company of the wolf [WOLVES]’: See Note to Grani Har 2/3, 4. — [3] prútt lík ‘the splendid corpses’: Lit. ‘splendid corpse’. Lík (n. acc. sg.) ‘corpse’ is used with a pl. meaning. The variant prúð lík (n. acc. pl.) ‘splendid corpses’ (so F, Hr) has been adopted by Skj B and Skald, but that reading is secondary. Alternatively, prútt could be taken as an adv. ‘splendidly, bravely’ with sleit ‘tore’ (l. 2), but that is less likely from a contextual point of view. — [3] Parta ‘of the Partar’: This ethnic name also occurs in Sigv Víkv 8/7^I. Poole (1980, 276) argues that the Partar were the inhabitants of Partney, Lincolnshire, but that identification is problematic (see the discussion by Townend 1998, 62-5). Rather, it appears that Einarr, to achieve alliteration on [p], lifted the name from Sigvatr, whose st. also contains the adj. prúðr ‘splendid’ (prúðum Pǫrtum ‘splendid Partar’). — [4] í Pílavík ‘in Pílavík’: Pílavík can be translated as ‘Willows’ Bay’, but the ON p. n. bears no resemblance to any extant ModEngl. p. n. (see Townend 1998, 65-7). Poole’s (1980, 267-8) suggestion that it represents a Scandinavian version of Willoughby is possible, but unlikely, and according to Townend (1998, 67), this p. n. is probably a not a settlement name but a topographical name coined by the Norsemen. — [6] fyr vestan salt ‘west of the sea’: Skj B takes this prepositional phrase with the second cl., which creates an unnecessarily complicated w. o. (see NN §§954). — [8] Langatún ‘Langatún’: Poole (1980, 268-9) identifies this as Langton, near Partney in Lincolnshire. While this identification is attractive, it cannot be ascertained. According to Townend (1998, 50), there are at least twenty-one extant place names in England which can be derived from OE langa-tūn ‘long settlement’.

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. Fms = Sveinbjörn Egilsson et al., eds. 1825-37. Fornmanna sögur eptir gömlum handritum útgefnar að tilhlutun hins norræna fornfræða fèlags. 12 vols. Copenhagen: Popp.
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. Andersson, Theodore M. and Kari Ellen Gade, trans. 2000. Morkinskinna: The Earliest Icelandic Chronicle of the Norwegian Kings (1030-1157). Islandica 51. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press.
7. Mork 1928-32 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1928-32. Morkinskinna. SUGNL 53. Copenhagen: Jørgensen.
8. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
9. F 1871 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1871. Fríssbók: Codex Frisianus. En samling af norske konge-sagaer. Christiania (Oslo): Malling.
10. E 1916 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1916. Eirspennill: AM 47 fol. Nóregs konunga sǫgur: Magnús góði – Hákon gamli. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske historiske kildeskriftskommission.
11. Mork 1867 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1867. Morkinskinna: Pergamentsbog fra første halvdel af det trettende aarhundrede. Indeholdende en af de ældste optegnelser af norske kongesagaer. Oslo: Bentzen.
12. Poole, Russell. 1980. ‘In Search of the Partar’. SS 52, 264-77.
13. Townend, Matthew. 1998. English Place-Names in Skaldic Verse. English Place-Name Society extra ser. 1. Nottingham: English Place-Name Society.
14. Internal references
15. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Grani skáld, Poem about Haraldr harðráði 2’ 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. 298-9.
16. Judith Jesch (ed.) 2012, ‘Sigvatr Þórðarson, Víkingarvísur 8’ 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. 545.