ESk Frag 16^III

The half-stanza (ESk Frag 16) is transmitted in mss R (main ms.), Tˣ, A and C of Skm (SnE), and the poet’s name is given as Einarr (no patronymic) in all mss. It describes an unspecified sea-voyage of a ruler, and Jón Sigurðsson (SnE 1848-87, III, 354) assigned it to Einarr’s panegyric about Sigurðr jórsalafari (ESk Sigdr I^II; see Introduction to Frag 2 above).

Kaldr þvær marr und mildum
mart dægr viðu svarta
(grefr élsnúinn) jǫfri
(almsorg Manar þjalma).

Mart dægr þvær kaldr marr svarta viðu und mildum jǫfri; {almsorg} grefr {élsnúinn þjalma Manar}.

Many a day the cold sea cleanses the black timbers beneath the generous prince; {the grief of the elm-tree} [WIND] carves {the storm-twisted enclosure of Man <island>} [SEA].

Mss: R(38r), Tˣ(40r), A(13r), C(7v) (SnE)

Readings: [3] ‑snúinn: ‑snúin A, ‑snúit C

Editions: Skj AI, 482, Skj BI, 454, Skald I, 223; SnE 1848-87, I, 496-7, II, 450, 599, III, 102, SnE 1931, 175, SnE 1998, I, 94.

Context: Marr is given among the many heiti for ‘sea’ in Skm.

Notes: [2] svarta viðu ‘the black timbers’: This could also be taken as pars pro toto for ‘ships’. — [3] élsnúinn (m. acc. sg.) ‘storm-twisted’: Earlier eds adopt the A variant élsnúin (f. nom. sg.) as an adj. qualifying almsorg ‘grief of the elm-tree [WIND]’ (l. 4). Both the wind and the sea can be storm-twisted, however, and the present edn retains the R, Tˣ reading. — [4] Manar ‘of Man <island>’: This could also be the island Møn in Denmark rather than the Isle of Man.

References

1. Bibliography
2. SnE 1848-87 = Snorri Sturluson. 1848-87. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar: Edda Snorronis Sturlaei. Ed. Jón Sigurðsson et al. 3 vols. Copenhagen: Legatum Arnamagnaeanum. Rpt. Osnabrück: Zeller, 1966.
3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
5. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
6. Internal references
7. Edith Marold 2017, ‘Snorra Edda (Prologue, Gylfaginning, Skáldskaparmál)’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols [check printed volume for citation].
8. (forthcoming), ‘ Snorri Sturluson, Skáldskaparmál’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=112> (accessed 25 April 2024)
9. Kari Ellen Gade 2009, ‘ Einarr Skúlason, Sigurðardrápa I’ 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. 538-42. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1151> (accessed 25 April 2024)
10. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Einarr Skúlason, Fragments 16’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 166.