Eskál Vell 34^I

Né sigbjarka serkir
sómmiðjungum rómu
Hôars við Hǫgna skúrir
hléðut fast of séðir.

Né hléðut {fast of séðir serkir {sigbjarka}} {sómmiðjungum} við {skúrir Hǫgna} {rómu Hôars}.

Nor did {the firmly sewn shirts {of the battle-birches}} [WARRIORS > ARMOUR] protect {the bow-miðjungar} [WARRIORS] against {the showers of Hǫgni <legendary hero>} [ARROWS] {in the noise of Hárr <= Óðinn>} [BATTLE].

Mss: R(33v), Tˣ(35r), W(77), U(32v), A(11r), C(5r) (SnE)

Readings: [1] ‑bjarka: ‑bjarkar A    [2] ‑miðjungum: ‑niðjungum U, A, ‑mildingum C;    rómu: ‘[…]o’ U    [3] Hôars: ‘has’ U;    Hǫgna: ‘haugnar’ C    [4] hléðut: ‘hleiþv(t)’(?) U, ‘hlæðu’ A;    séðir: reiðir U, seðit C

Editions: Skj AI, 131, Skj BI, 123, Skald I, 69, NN §412; SnE 1848-87, I, 418-9, II, 327, 438, 587, SnE 1931, 149, SnE 1998, I, 67.

Context: The helmingr is cited in SnE (Skm) in a passage containing examples of battle-kennings.

Notes: [All]: This dramatic moment in the battle against the Jómsvíkingar is also commemorated in Tindr Hákdr 1 and Hfr Hákdr 2^III, and described by Snorri in Hkr (ÍF 26, 281). So many arrows get lodged in Hákon jarl’s armour that he is forced to remove it during the battle. These are likely to have been special arrow-heads capable of piercing armour and mail-shirts (see Paulsen 1999, 137-9). — [2] sómmiðjungum ‘the bow-miðjungar [WARRIORS]’: On miðjungr see Note to st. 28/2. The first element sóm- has been subject to various interpretations. It could be sómr ‘bow’, sómi ‘honour’ or sómi ‘sword’ (LP: sómi, sómr; Þul Boga 1/4^III, Þul Sverða 1/8^III and Notes). (a) The absence of a connecting vowel between sóm- and -miðjungr favours the a-stem sómr ‘bow’ assumed here. (b) Because sómr ‘bow’ and sómi ‘sword’ are only attested in the þulur, Kock (NN §412) views sóm- as an embellishment in the sense of ‘honourable’, hence sómmiðjungr as the base-word of a warrior-kenning, with rómu Hars ‘the noise of Hárr <= Óðinn> [BATTLE]’ as its determinant. — [2-3] rómu Hôars ‘in the noise of Hárr <= Óðinn> [BATTLE]’: (a) This is taken here as a battle-kenning used adverbially to mean ‘in battle’ (so Faulkes, SnE 1998, I, 194). (b) As with st. 10/8 drífu Hôars ‘snow-storm of Hárr’, a temporal acc. is also possible (see Note). (c) Finnur Jónsson (Skj B; LP: róma 2) takes Hars as the base-word and the phrase as a warrior-kenning Hôars rómu ‘of the Hárr <= Óðinn> of battle’, a reference to the enemy and source of the showers of arrows. In this he is presumably following Konráð Gíslason (Nj 1875-8, II, 276 n. 243), who rejects rómu Hars as a battle-kenning because rómu itself can already signify ‘battle’. However, their view is contradicted by SnE, which cites this stanza to illustrate battle-kennings with base-words such as veðr ‘weather’ or gnýr ‘din’. Kock conjoins this kenning to sómmiðjungr (see Note to l. 2).

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. Nj 1875-89 = Konráð Gíslason and Eiríkur Jónsson. 1875-89. Njála: Udgivet efter gamle håndskrifter. Íslendingasögur udgivne efter gamle haandskrifter af Det Kongelige Nordiske Oldskrift-selskab 4. Copenhagen: Thiele.
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. 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.
8. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
9. SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
10. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
11. Paulsen, Harm. 1999. ‘Pfeil und Bogen in Haithabu’. In Schietzel 1999, 93-143.
12. Internal references
13. 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].
14. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Heimskringla’ 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, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=4> (accessed 26 April 2024)
15. (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 26 April 2024)
16. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Sverða heiti 1’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 790.
17. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Boga heiti 1’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 821.
18. Kate Heslop (ed.) 2017, ‘Hallfreðr vandræðaskáld Óttarsson, Hákonardrápa 2’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 216.
19. Russell Poole (ed.) 2012, ‘Tindr Hallkelsson, Hákonardrápa 1’ 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. 338.