ESk Lv 4^II

Oss lét abbatissa
angri firð of svangann,
dygg þótt víf in vígðu
víti fyrðar, gyrða.
Enn til áts með nunnum
(ógnarrakks) á Bakka,
(drós gladdit vin vísa)
vasat stallarinn kallaðr.

Abbatissa, firð angri, lét oss gyrða of svangann, þótt fyrðar víti dygg víf in vígðu. Enn stallarinn vasat kallaðr til áts með nunnum á Bakka; drós gladdit vin ógnarrakks vísa.

The abbess, removed from worries, made us [me] tighten the belt around the flank, although men may reproach the faithful consecrated women [for that]. And the marshal was not summoned to eat with the nuns at Bakke; the lady did not cheer the friend of the battle-brave leader.

Mss: Mork(36r) (Mork)

Readings: [4] fyrðar: fyr þat Mork    [8] vasat (‘varat’): ‘rarat’ Mork

Editions: Skj AI, 483, Skj BI, 455, Skald I, 224, NN §§963, 2489; Mork 1867, 227, Mork 1928-32, 446, Andersson and Gade 2000, 393, 495 (Hsona).

Context: Einarr visits the nunnery at Nonneseter (Bakke, Trondheim) and fails to appear when King Eysteinn Haraldsson sits down to eat. To redeem himself, Einarr must recite a st. before the king finishes his drink.

Notes: [All]: As a retainer of the king, Einarr was expected to accompany Eysteinn to the table (see Holm-Olsen 1983, 57-8). — [All]: This and the following two sts must have been composed prior to the death of King Eysteinn Haraldsson (1157). — [2] firð angri ‘removed from worries’: Lit. ‘removed from worry’. Finnur Jónsson translates this as free of sorg over synder, syndsmærte ‘sorrow over sins or pain from sins’ (LP: angr) or den sorg-frie ‘the carefree’ (Skj B). Kock (NN §2489) suggests that Einarr deliberately juxtaposed the hungry poet and the well-fed abbess. — [2] of svangann (noun, m. acc. sg.) ‘around the flank’: Skj B treats this as an adj. svangan (m. acc. sg.) ‘hungry’ with the expletive particle of: lét oss of svangan ‘let us [me] [be] hungry’. That reading forces the emendation of dygg þótt ‘faithful although’(l. 3) to dugðut ‘were not able to’ because a finite verb (3rd pers. pl.) is needed with the subject in vígðu víf: in vígðu víf dugðut gyrða víti ‘the consecrated women were not able to prevent the punishment’ (ll. 3-4). For the suffixed article (svangann ‘the flank’), see ANG §472. See also stallarinn ‘the marshal’ (l. 8). For a similar image of a hungry retainer with a belt pulling close to his spine, see SnH Lv 3/7, 8: belti dregr hrygg mér at hvru ‘the belt truly pulls at my spine’. — [4] fyrðar (m. nom. pl.) ‘people’: The ms. reads fyr þat ‘for that’. The prepositional phrase has been retained in Skj B, but it makes the l. unmetrical: the third syllable (fyr) must carry a full stress and internal rhyme and a monosyllabic proclitic prep. cannot do that. The present reading follows that of NN §2183 (for earlier attempts at interpretation, see NN §2183). — [6] ógnarrakks ‘battle-brave’: Kock (NN §963; Skald) construes this phrase with stallari (m. nom. sg.) ‘the marshal’ (l. 8), which is ungrammatical (rakks ‘brave’ is in the gen.). — [8] stallarinn ‘the marshal’: For this office, see Note to Úlfr Lv l. 1. For the suffixed article, see Note to l. 2 above.

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. 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. 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.
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. ANG = Noreen, Adolf. 1923. Altnordische Grammatik I: Altisländische und altnorwegische Grammatik (Laut- und Flexionslehre) unter Berücksichtigung des Urnordischen. 4th edn. Halle: Niemeyer. 1st edn. 1884. 5th unrev. edn. 1970. Tübingen: Niemeyer.
8. Holm-Olsen, Ludvig, ed. 1983. Konungs skuggsiá. 2nd rev. edn. Norrøne tekster 1. Oslo: Norsk historisk kjeldeskrift-institutt.
9. Mork 1928-32 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1928-32. Morkinskinna. SUGNL 53. Copenhagen: Jørgensen.
10. 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.
11. Internal references
12. Kari Ellen Gade 2009, ‘ Úlfr stallari Óspaksson, Lausavísa’ 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. 348-9. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1491> (accessed 25 April 2024)
13. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Sneglu-Halli, Lausavísur 3’ 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. 325-6.