ErrSt Lv 1^III

Enn, þótt ófrið sunnan
ǫll þjóð segi skaldi,
(hlǫðum Geitis mar grjóti)
glaðir nennum vér (þenna).

Enn nennum vér glaðir, þótt ǫll þjóð segi skaldi ófrið sunnan; hlǫðum {þenna mar Geitis} grjóti.

But we [I] travel cheerfully, though all people tell the poet about disturbance from the south; we [I] freight {this steed of Geitir <sea-king>} [SHIP] with stone.

Mss: A(11v), R(35r), Tˣ(36v), W(80), U(33v) (SnE)

Readings: [1] ófrið: ófriðr R, Tˣ, W    [2] segi: segir þat R, segir Tˣ, W, ‘seg[…]’ U    [3] Geitis: ‘Gettis’ Tˣ    [4] nennum: nennu Tˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 414, Skj BI, 384, Skald I, 191, NN §§897, 2756A; SnE 1848-87, I, 440-1, II, 331, 442, III, 86, SnE 1848, 90, SnE 1931, 156, SnE 1998, I, 74.

Context: The helmingr is cited in Skm (SnE) to illustrate the use of the kenning marr Geitis ‘steed of Geitir’ to mean ‘ship’.

Notes: [All]: Contemplating retaining all the readings of R, Faulkes (SnE 1998, I, 199) remarks that ‘one might perhaps understand the verb to be in line 1 and take line 2 as a parenthesis. This would make each line a separate statement’ (áttmælt ‘eight-times spoken’, SnSt Ht 10). This leaves some matters unexplained, however, including the grammatical connections of þenna ‘this’ (l. 4) and the juxtaposition of enn ‘but’ or ‘still’ and þótt ‘though’ (l. 1). — [1] enn ‘but’: Skj B would construe the word as an adv. ‘still’ and have the word depend upon segi ‘tell’; the present analysis is due to Kock (NN §897), except that Kock also treats the word as an adv. — [2]: Jón Þorkelsson (1890, 9) remarks that the hending on -ll- : -ld- in ǫll and skaldi is unparalleled, and he suggests emending to aldir segi skaldi ‘men say to the skald’, though this is unmetrical. Moreover, the hending is not necessarily objectionable, as the initial þ- in þjóð would make an approximate rhyme (-llþ- : ‑ld-). The aðalhending of a and ǫ is a feature of poets of the late C10th and early C11th (Hreinn Benediktsson 1963a, 1). — [2] segi ‘tell’: This subj. form is preferable to indic. segir (as the mss other than A have it), because although there is considerable freedom in the choice of subj. and indic., the indic. after þótt ‘though’ would be exceedingly unusual (see, e.g., Heusler 1967, §422). — [3, 4]: Kock (NN §897) suggests attaching þenna ‘this’ (l. 4) to mar ‘steed’ in l. 3 (as assumed in the present analysis), as opposed to having it qualify ófrið ‘disturbance’ in l. 1 (the assumption of Skj B). But he would regard l. 3 (along with þenna ‘this’ in the next line) as the main clause rather than a parenthesis; all but the last word of the final line would then be a parenthesis. The meaning of the helmingr would then be, ‘Although all people tell the poet about disturbance from the south, we [I] still freight this steed of Geitir <sea-king> [SHIP] with stone; we [I] travel cheerfully’. Such an arrangement, however, seems less probable, as the caution implied by the act of lading one’s ship with stone (see the following Note) does not well fulfill the contrast implied by þótt ‘though’. — [3] grjóti ‘with stone’: To lade one’s ship with stone is to be prepared for rough weather (see Falk 1912, 29). Alternatively, the stones could have been intended to be used as missiles in an imminent battle (for the latter, see Jesch 2001a, 209 and Anon (Mberf) 3/7-8^II).

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. 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.
4. SnE 1848 = Sveinbjörn Egilsson, ed. 1848. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar, eða Gylfaginning, Skáldskaparmál og Háttatal. Reykjavík: Prentsmiðja landsins.
5. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
6. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
7. Hreinn Benediktsson. 1963a. ‘Phonemic Neutralization and Inaccurate Rhymes’. APS 26, 1-18.
8. Jesch, Judith. 2001a. Ships and Men in the Late Viking Age: The Vocabulary of Runic Inscriptions and Skaldic Verse. Woodbridge: Boydell.
9. Falk, Hjalmar. 1912. Altnordisches Seewesen. Wörter und Sachen 4. Heidelberg: Winter.
10. SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
11. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
12. Heusler, Andreas. 1967. Altisländisches Elementarbuch. 7th, unrev. edn. Heidelberg: Winter.
13. Jón Þorkelsson [J. Thorkelsson]. 1890. ‘Bemærkninger til enkelte vers i Snorra Edda’. ANF 6, 1-13.
14. Internal references
15. 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].
16. (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 28 April 2024)
17. Kari Ellen Gade and Diana Whaley (eds) 2009, ‘Anonymous Lausavísur, Lausavísur from Magnúss saga berfœtts 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. 830-1.
18. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Snorri Sturluson, Háttatal 10’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1115.