Grani Har 1^II

Lét aldrigi úti
ósvífr Kraka drífu
Hlǫkk í harða þjokkum
Hornskógi brô þorna.
Fila dróttinn rak flótta
fjanda grams til strandar;
auð varð út at reiða
allskjótt faðir Dóttu.

Ósvífr lét aldrigi brô {Hlǫkk {drífu Kraka}} þorna úti í harða þjokkum Hornskógi. {Dróttinn Fila} rak flótta grams fjanda til strandar; {faðir Dóttu} varð at reiða út auð allskjótt.

The reckless one never let the eyelashes {of the Hlǫkk <valkyrie> {of Kraki’s <legendary king’s> snow-drift}} [GOLD > WOMAN] get dry out in the very dense forest at Hornslet. {The lord of the Filir} [NORWEGIAN KING = Haraldr] chased the fleeing troop of the enemies’ chieftain down to the shore; {Dótta’s father} [= Þorkell geysa] had to pay out riches very quickly.

Mss: Mork(9r) (Mork); Flat(197va) (Flat); FskAˣ(263) (Fsk); Kˣ(541v), 39(23va), F(45vb), E(15v), J2ˣ(270r) (Hkr); H(44v), Hr(32ra) (H-Hr)

Readings: [1] úti: ýta Hr    [2] ósvífr: ‘osuifis’ Flat;    Kraka: ‘crapa’ 39    [3] Hlǫkk: ‘hleck’ Flat;    harða: harðla Hr;    þjokkum: þykkum FskAˣ, F, H, Hr, þjǫkku E    [5] Fila: fjalla Flat    [7] varð: var 39;    reiða: greiða FskAˣ    [8] Dóttu: so FskAˣ, Kˣ, 39, F, E, J2ˣ, H, Hr, dóttur Mork, Flat

Editions: Skj AI, 387, Skj BI, 357, Skald I, 179, NN §806; Mork 1867, 53, Mork 1928-32, 158, Andersson and Gade 2000, 196, 475-6 (MH); Flat 1860-8, III, 336-7 (MH); ÍF 29, 252-3 (ch. 55); ÍF 28, 111 (HSig ch. 32), F 1871, 212, E 1916, 55; Fms 6, 254 (HSig ch. 49).

Context: During his campaign in Denmark in the summer of 1048, Haraldr burned the farmstead of the Dan. chieftain Þorkell geysa ‘Big-mouth’. He captured Þorkell’s daughters (one of whom was Dótta), and forced Þorkell to pay a hefty ransom for them.

Notes: [All]: For this campaign, see also Hharð Lv 4, ÞjóðA Lv 2, Bǫlv Hardr 8, Anon (HSig) 1 and Grani Har 2 below. — [1, 4] lét aldrigi brô … þorna ‘never let the eyelashes … get dry’: I.e. Haraldr captured her and her sisters and she never stopped weeping. For the possible mistreatment of females of the conquered population by victorious vikings, see Note to ÞjóðA Magn 7/5, 6, Valg Har 3, 9 and Hskv Útdr 5. — [2] ósvífr (m. nom. sg.) ‘the reckless one’: ÍF 29 takes this adj. as a f. nom. sg. qualifying Hlǫkk and suggests the following reading: ósvífr Kraka drífu Hlǫkk lét aldrigi þorna br ‘the reckless Hlǫkk of Kraki’s snow-drift never let the eyelashes get dry’ (ÍF 29, 252-3; see also ÍF 28, 111 n.), which is possible. However, Hlǫkk is sg. (f. dat. sg.; dat. of possession) and both ÍF 29 and ÍF 28 follow Skj B in translating the woman-kenning as pl. — [2] drífu Kraka ‘Kraki’s <legendary king’s> snow-drift [GOLD]’: Hrólfr kraki ‘Pole-ladder’ was a legendary Dan. king. The kenning refers to the episode in which Hrólfr, pursued by the Swedes, threw gold on the ground to distract his enemies (see SnE 1998, I, 58-9). For a similar ruse employed by Haraldr harðráði, see Þfagr Sveinn 8. Usually kennings with ‘snow’ or ‘ice’ as a base-word denote ‘silver’, but in this particular case the legendary associations establish that ‘gold’ is meant. — [4] Hornskógi ‘forest at Hornslet’: Hornslet is located south-east of Randers in Jylland, Denmark. The p. n. Hornskógr, lit. ‘Horn-forest’, is no longer extant. — [5]: The l. echoes Steinn Óldr 1/5. — [5] dróttinn Fila ‘the lord of the Filir’: Filir were the inhabitants of Fjalir, the south-western part of Sunnfjord and the regions around Dalsfjorden (see Rygh et al. 1897-1936, XII, 284-5). Fjalir is nom. pl. of ON fjǫl ‘board plank’, a f. ō-stem (Gmc *felō) with breaking and u-umlaut. The pl. ending -ir must be secondary (i-stem inflection, see ANG §379 Anm.). The ethnic name Filir (m. nom. pl.) is a m. u-stem formed to the p. n. See also Steinn Óldr 1/5, 8/6 and Anon (Sv) 1/3. — [6] til strandar ‘to the shore’: Skj B connects this prepositional phrase with the next cl. (varð út at reiða … til strandar ‘had to pay out riches … by the beach’). That interpretation creates an awkward w. o. (see NN §806) and entails an unattested meaning of the prep. til ‘to, towards’ (see Fritzner: til). — [8] Dóttu ‘Dótta’: Mork and Flat have the variant dóttur ‘daughter’ for Dóttu (lectio facilior).

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. 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. Flat 1860-8 = Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and C. R. Unger, eds. 1860-8. Flateyjarbók. En samling af norske konge-sagaer med indskudte mindre fortællinger om begivenheder i og udenfor Norge samt annaler. 3 vols. Christiania (Oslo): Malling.
9. Fritzner = Fritzner, Johan. 1883-96. Ordbog over det gamle norske sprog. 3 vols. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske forlagsforening. 4th edn. Rpt. 1973. Oslo etc.: Universitetsforlaget.
10. Mork 1928-32 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1928-32. Morkinskinna. SUGNL 53. Copenhagen: Jørgensen.
11. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
12. F 1871 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1871. Fríssbók: Codex Frisianus. En samling af norske konge-sagaer. Christiania (Oslo): Malling.
13. E 1916 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1916. Eirspennill: AM 47 fol. Nóregs konunga sǫgur: Magnús góði – Hákon gamli. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske historiske kildeskriftskommission.
14. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
15. ÍF 29 = Ágrip af Nóregskonunga sǫgum; Fagrskinna—Nóregs konungatal. Ed. Bjarni Einarsson. 1985.
16. 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.
17. Internal references
18. (forthcoming), ‘ Heimskringla, Haralds saga Sigurðssonar’ 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=142> (accessed 26 April 2024)
19. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Magnúss saga góða ok Haralds harðráða’ 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=147> (accessed 26 April 2024)
20. Kari Ellen Gade and Diana Whaley (eds) 2009, ‘Anonymous Lausavísur, Lausavísur from Haralds saga Sigurðarsonar 1’ 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. 815-16.
21. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Anonymous Lausavísur, Lausavísur from Sverris saga 1’ 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. 842-3.
22. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Bǫlverkr Arnórsson, Drápa about Haraldr harðráði 8’ 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. 293.
23. 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.
24. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Haraldr harðráði Sigurðarson, Lausavísur 4’ 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. 46-7.
25. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Halldórr skvaldri, Útfarardrápa 5’ 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. 487-8.
26. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Steinn Herdísarson, Óláfsdrápa 1’ 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. 368-9.
27. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Þorleikr fagri, Flokkr about Sveinn Úlfsson 8’ 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. 320.
28. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Þjóðólfr Arnórsson, Lausavísur 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. 165-6.
29. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Þjóðólfr Arnórsson, Stanzas about Magnús Óláfsson in Danaveldi 7’ 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. 94-6.
30. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Valgarðr á Velli, Poem about Haraldr harðráði 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. 302-3.