Halli XI Fl 3II
Russell Poole (ed.) 2009, ‘Halli stirði, Flokkr 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. 340-1.
notes
[1] sýstuð ‘you set out’: The poet here uses 2nd-pers. pl. address, in alternation with 3rd-pers. narrative. The verbal tenses in the st. vary, so that pres. (tekr ‘starts’ (l. 5)) contrasts with pret. (sýstuð ‘set out’ < sýsla (l. 1) and varð ‘became’ (l. 7)) (see Poole, 1991, 78). The verb sýsla recurs with God as its subject in st. 6.
æstu ‘requested’
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æsta (verb): ask, request
[1] æstu: so E, æstuð Kˣ, 39, F, J2ˣ, svía H, Hr
snjallr ‘brave’
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snjallr (adj.): quick, resourceful, bold
gramr ‘king’
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1. gramr (noun m.): ruler
enn ‘once again’
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2. enn (adv.): still, yet, again
notes
[3-4] enn sér eigi minni efni ‘once again one sees no lesser cause’: The verb here is sér, 3rd pers. sg. pres. indic. of sjá ‘see’, used impersonally as ‘one sees’ (CVC: sjá A III), with ‘see’ in the sense of ‘judge, deem, envisage’ (see Fritzner: sjá 4-5). The speaker is placing himself on the side of the wise mediators by arguing that it is just as urgent to reconcile now as it was to fight on a previous occasion (cf. ÍF 28, 160). Kock (NN §806) establishes with numerous parallels that enn ‘once again’ belongs with the parenthesis, not the main cl. On the other hand, while it is conventional to take the gen. phrase mæltrar stefnu ‘an appointed meeting’ (l. 4) with the main cl., it might in fact construe with efni ‘cause’ (l. 4) or indeed with both clauses apo koinou.
notes
[3-4] enn sér eigi minni efni ‘once again one sees no lesser cause’: The verb here is sér, 3rd pers. sg. pres. indic. of sjá ‘see’, used impersonally as ‘one sees’ (CVC: sjá A III), with ‘see’ in the sense of ‘judge, deem, envisage’ (see Fritzner: sjá 4-5). The speaker is placing himself on the side of the wise mediators by arguing that it is just as urgent to reconcile now as it was to fight on a previous occasion (cf. ÍF 28, 160). Kock (NN §806) establishes with numerous parallels that enn ‘once again’ belongs with the parenthesis, not the main cl. On the other hand, while it is conventional to take the gen. phrase mæltrar stefnu ‘an appointed meeting’ (l. 4) with the main cl., it might in fact construe with efni ‘cause’ (l. 4) or indeed with both clauses apo koinou.
eigi ‘one’
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3. eigi (adv.): not
notes
[3-4] enn sér eigi minni efni ‘once again one sees no lesser cause’: The verb here is sér, 3rd pers. sg. pres. indic. of sjá ‘see’, used impersonally as ‘one sees’ (CVC: sjá A III), with ‘see’ in the sense of ‘judge, deem, envisage’ (see Fritzner: sjá 4-5). The speaker is placing himself on the side of the wise mediators by arguing that it is just as urgent to reconcile now as it was to fight on a previous occasion (cf. ÍF 28, 160). Kock (NN §806) establishes with numerous parallels that enn ‘once again’ belongs with the parenthesis, not the main cl. On the other hand, while it is conventional to take the gen. phrase mæltrar stefnu ‘an appointed meeting’ (l. 4) with the main cl., it might in fact construe with efni ‘cause’ (l. 4) or indeed with both clauses apo koinou.
minni ‘no lesser’
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3. minni (adj. comp.; °superl. minnstr): less, least
notes
[3-4] enn sér eigi minni efni ‘once again one sees no lesser cause’: The verb here is sér, 3rd pers. sg. pres. indic. of sjá ‘see’, used impersonally as ‘one sees’ (CVC: sjá A III), with ‘see’ in the sense of ‘judge, deem, envisage’ (see Fritzner: sjá 4-5). The speaker is placing himself on the side of the wise mediators by arguing that it is just as urgent to reconcile now as it was to fight on a previous occasion (cf. ÍF 28, 160). Kock (NN §806) establishes with numerous parallels that enn ‘once again’ belongs with the parenthesis, not the main cl. On the other hand, while it is conventional to take the gen. phrase mæltrar stefnu ‘an appointed meeting’ (l. 4) with the main cl., it might in fact construe with efni ‘cause’ (l. 4) or indeed with both clauses apo koinou.
efni ‘cause’
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efni (noun n.; °-s; -): material
notes
[3-4] enn sér eigi minni efni ‘once again one sees no lesser cause’: The verb here is sér, 3rd pers. sg. pres. indic. of sjá ‘see’, used impersonally as ‘one sees’ (CVC: sjá A III), with ‘see’ in the sense of ‘judge, deem, envisage’ (see Fritzner: sjá 4-5). The speaker is placing himself on the side of the wise mediators by arguing that it is just as urgent to reconcile now as it was to fight on a previous occasion (cf. ÍF 28, 160). Kock (NN §806) establishes with numerous parallels that enn ‘once again’ belongs with the parenthesis, not the main cl. On the other hand, while it is conventional to take the gen. phrase mæltrar stefnu ‘an appointed meeting’ (l. 4) with the main cl., it might in fact construe with efni ‘cause’ (l. 4) or indeed with both clauses apo koinou.
mæltrar ‘an appointed’
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mæltr (adj.): [an appointed]
stefnu ‘meeting’
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1. stefna (noun f.; °-u; -ur): encounter, meeting
Sveinn ‘Sveinn’
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2. Sveinn (noun m.): Sveinn
tekr ‘starts’
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2. taka (verb): take
norðr ‘north’
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2. norðr (adv.): north
at ‘to’
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5. at (nota): to (with infinitive)
nenna ‘venture’
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nenna (verb): strive, be inclined
nær ‘near’
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nær (adv.): near, almost; when
til ‘to’
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til (prep.): to
landa ‘’
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land (noun n.; °-s; *-): land < landamæri (noun n.): [lands’ boundary]
mæris ‘the border’
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mæri (noun n.): [border] < landamæri (noun n.): [lands’ boundary]
varð ‘it became’
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1. verða (verb): become, be
fyr ‘off’
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fyr (prep.): for, over, because of, etc.
víðri ‘the wide’
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víðr (adj.): far
jǫrðu ‘land’
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jǫrð (noun f.; °jarðar, dat. -u; jarðir/jarðar(DN I (1367) 304)): ground, earth
vinn ‘toil’
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2. vinna (verb): perform, work < vinnsamr (adj.)
[8] vinnsamt (‘vinsamt’): so E, vindsamt all others
notes
[8] vinnsamt ‘toilsome’: So E. Traces of a noun vinn cognate with more familiar vinna ‘work, labour’, are attested (Olsen 1949b, 82-3) and could explain the conflict in readings here (the other mss have vindsamt ‘windy’). A rare word, vinnsamt might have been rationalised in the majority of mss. Reasoning of this sort presumably lies behind Finnur Jónsson’s vinnsamt (translated as en möjefuld sejlas ‘a toilsome sailing’) in Skj B (so also Skald). Alternatively, if we opt for the majority reading vindsamt ‘windy’, the imperfect and unusual aðalhending (-ind- : -inn-) could be defended as perhaps appropriate in an informal context, if indeed this poem is such.
samt ‘some’
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samr (adj.; °compar. -ari): same < vinnsamr (adj.)
[8] vinnsamt (‘vinsamt’): so E, vindsamt all others
notes
[8] vinnsamt ‘toilsome’: So E. Traces of a noun vinn cognate with more familiar vinna ‘work, labour’, are attested (Olsen 1949b, 82-3) and could explain the conflict in readings here (the other mss have vindsamt ‘windy’). A rare word, vinnsamt might have been rationalised in the majority of mss. Reasoning of this sort presumably lies behind Finnur Jónsson’s vinnsamt (translated as en möjefuld sejlas ‘a toilsome sailing’) in Skj B (so also Skald). Alternatively, if we opt for the majority reading vindsamt ‘windy’, the imperfect and unusual aðalhending (-ind- : -inn-) could be defended as perhaps appropriate in an informal context, if indeed this poem is such.
Harald ‘Haraldr’
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Haraldr (noun m.): Haraldr
Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses
Following st. 2, Hkr comments (ÍF 28, 159-60): Hér segir þat, at konungar þessir halda stefnulag, þat er gǫrt var milli þeira, ok koma þeir báðir til landamæris, svá sem hér segir ‘Here it is said that these kings keep the appointment that was made between them, and they both come to the border between their countries as it says here’. H-Hr adds um vetrinn ‘during the winter’ in association with gǫrt ‘made’ but otherwise is substantially the same as Hkr.
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