HSt Rst 5^I

Óláfr allra jǫfra
óttlaust ok nam brjóta
varghollr Vinða borgir
vestr hernað rak mestan.
Hrælinns hverju sinni
hljómváttandi knátti
sóknbráðr sigri ráða
Svǫlnis dóms í rómu.

Varghollr Óláfr rak vestr mestan hernað allra jǫfra ok nam óttlaust brjóta borgir Vinða. {Sóknbráðr {{hrælinns} hljóm}váttandi} knátti ráða sigri hverju sinni í rómu {dóms Svǫlnis}.

Wolf-gracious Óláfr pursued in the west the greatest raiding campaign of any ruler and began fearlessly to destroy the strongholds of the Wends. {The attack-swift witness {of the noise {of the corpse-serpent}}} [(lit. ‘noise-witness of the corpse-serpent’) SWORD > BATTLE > WARRIOR] won victory every time in the tumult {of the verdict of Svǫlnir <= Óðinn>} [BATTLE].

Mss: Bb(111va-b); 61(12va-b), 53(10vb), 54(6vb), Bb(16vb-17ra), 62(5va), Flat(12va) (ÓT)

Readings: [2] óttlaust: allfljótt all others;    nam: réð all others;    brjóta: ‘biota’ 54    [3] varg‑: varð‑ Bb(16vb);    Vinða: so all others, ‘vi(ar)nda’(?) Bb(111va);    borgir: borgar 62, Flat    [5] Hrælinns: hrundusk 53, 54, ‘hrunnoz’ Bb(16vb), hrælindr 62, hrænaðrs Flat;    hverju: ‘hueru’ Flat    [6] knátti: mátti all others    [7] sóknbráðr: sannfróðr all others    [8] Svǫlnis dóms: snælinns dóm 53;    í: ‘[...]’ 62

Editions: Skj AI, 544, Skj BI, 525, Skald I, 256, NN §§2092, 2113, 2448A, 2987H; ÓT 1958-2000, I, 116 (ch. 59), Flat 1860-8, I, 94; SHI 3, 244-7, CPB II, 296, Wisén 1886-9, I, 46, Finnur Jónsson 1893b, 164, Konráð Gíslason 1895-7, I, 193-5. 

Context:

The stanza concludes a detailed account of Óláfr harrying a city in Vinðland (Wendland).

Notes: [All]: The stanza is printed as st. 3 in previous eds following the order in ÓT, and the motivation and sequence of events is uncertain; see Introduction. For Óláfr’s attack on the Wends, see also Hfr Óldr 1/7-8. — [1] allra jǫfra ‘of any ruler’: Lit. ‘of all rulers’. Jǫfra does not alliterate in l. 1 (while Óláfr and allra do); this is among the indicators of a date no earlier than the late C12th. — [2] óttlaust ‘fearlessly’: Allfljótt ‘very fast’ found in the ÓT mss is also feasible. — [2] nam ... brjóta ‘began ... to destroy’: The auxiliary nam, lit. ‘took’, could alternatively be taken as merely a pleonastic auxiliary, hence nam brjóta ‘destroyed’. The same would apply to réð, lit. ‘decided’ in the ÓT tradition. — [4] vestr ‘in the west’: Wendland is situated to the west from the perspective of Garðar (Russia). An alternative possibility is that the stanza indicates the range of Óláfr’s campaigns, with vestr referring, as frequently, to the British Isles. However, the use of ok ‘and’ in l. 2 would suggest that the two actions in ll. 1-4 are geographically close rather than distant. — [6, 8] -váttandi; dóms ‘witness; of the verdict’: This is the only record of váttandi ‘witness’ in the skaldic corpus, and as the base-word of the warrior-kenning it extends the legal metaphor established by dóms ‘verdict’, base-word of the battle-kenning. Such legal vocabulary is relatively rare, though cf. Hókr Eirfl 6/8 vápneiðr ‘weapon-oath [BATTLE]’, and see Notes to Hfr ErfÓl 8/1, 8/4. — [6, 7] knátti ráða sigri ‘won victory’: Lit. ‘was able to command victory’.  — [7] sóknbráðr ‘attack-swift’: This, with -ráð-, produces an aðalhending in an odd line, where a skothending would be usual, but this licence is common in Rst; see Introduction. The alternative sannfróðr ‘truly wise’ in the ÓT mss produces a skothending. — [8] í rómu dóms Svǫlnis ‘in the tumult of the verdict of Svǫlnir <= Óðinn> [BATTLE]’: This seems the best solution, though the expression is somewhat overloaded, since róma ‘tumult’ most frequently functions as a heiti for ‘battle’ (LP: róma 2). Editions based on ÓT (Fms 12, 36; Skj B) take it in that sense, and construe sannfróðr ‘truly wise’ with dóms Svǫlnis, hence ‘truly wise or skilled in battle’.

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. 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.
7. CPB = Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and F. York Powell, eds. 1883. Corpus poeticum boreale: The Poetry of the Old Northern Tongue from the Earliest Times to the Thirteenth Century. 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon. Rpt. 1965, New York: Russell & Russell.
8. Wisén, Theodor, ed. 1886-9. Carmina Norrœnæ: Ex reliquiis vetustioris norrœnæ poësis selecta, recognita, commentariis et glossario instructa. 2 vols. Lund: Ohlsson.
9. Finnur Jónsson. 1893b. Carmina Norrœna: Rettet Tekst. Copenhagen: Nielsen & Lydiche.
10. 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.
11. Konráð Gíslason. 1895-7. Efterladte skrifter. 2 vols. I: Forelæsninger over oldnordiske skjaldekvad. II: Forelæsninger og videnskablige afhandlinger. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
12. ÓT 1958-2000 = Ólafur Halldórsson, ed. 1958-2000. Saga Óláfs Tryggvasonar en mesta. 3 vols. EA A 1-3. Copenhagen: Munksgaard (Reitzel).
13. SHI = Sveinbjörn Egilsson, ed. 1828-46. Scripta historica islandorum de rebus gestis veterum borealium, latine reddita et apparatu critico instructa, curante Societate regia antiquariorum septentrionalium. 12 vols. Copenhagen: Popp etc. and London: John & Arthur Arch.
14. Internal references
15. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta’ 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. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=60> (accessed 7 May 2024)
16. Rolf Stavnem 2012, ‘ Hallar-Steinn, Rekstefja’ 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. 893. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1237> (accessed 7 May 2024)
17. Kate Heslop (ed.) 2012, ‘Hallfreðr vandræðaskáld Óttarsson, Erfidrápa Óláfs Tryggvasonar 8’ 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. 413.
18. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2012, ‘Halldórr ókristni, Eiríksflokkr 6’ 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. 481.
19. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2012, ‘Hallfreðr vandræðaskáld Óttarsson, Óláfsdrápa 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. 392.