Hfr ErfÓl 16^I

Ógrœðir sá auða
armgrjóts Trana fljóta
— hann rauð geir at gunni
glaðr — ok báða Naðra,
áðr hjaldrþorinn heldi
hugframr í bǫð ramri
snotr á snœrivitni
sunds Þórketill undan.

{Ógrœðir {armgrjóts}} sá Trana ok báða Naðra fljóta auða — glaðr rauð hann geir at gunni —, áðr hjaldrþorinn, snotr Þórketill, hugframr í ramri bǫð, heldi undan á {snœrivitni sunds}.

{The non-increaser {of arm-gravel}} [JEWELS > GENEROUS MAN] saw Trani (‘Crane’) and both Naðrar (‘Adders’) floating empty — glad, he reddened the spear in war —, before clash-bold, wise Þorkell, great-hearted in fierce battle, fled on {the cable-wolf of the sea} [SHIP].

Mss: FskAˣ(143) (Fsk); Holm18(52v), 310(86), 4-7(1ra) (ÓTOdd); Kˣ(215v), 22ˣ(102r marg), F(36va-b), J1ˣ(134r), J2ˣ(116v) (Hkr); 61(69rb), 53(65va), 54(66vb), Bb(102va), Flat(65vb) (ÓT)

Readings: [1] Ógrœðir: ‘Ogn røðir’ Holm18, ulfgœðir 310, ‘Ogn rædir’ Flat;    auða: auðan 4‑7    [2] arm‑: arin‑ 53, 54, Bb;    ‑grjóts: ‘griozt’ J1ˣ;    Trana: Trana so 4‑7, Trǫnu FskAˣ, Holm18, 310, 4‑7, Kˣ, F, J1ˣ, J2ˣ, 61, 53, 54, Flat, ‘trꜹnnv’ Bb    [3] hann: herr 53    [5] áðr: so Holm18, 310, 4‑7, Kˣ, F, J1ˣ, J2ˣ, 61, 53, 54, Bb, Flat, áðr en FskAˣ;    hjaldr‑: so Holm18, 310, 4‑7, Kˣ, F, 61, 53, 54, Bb, Flat, added above the line FskAˣ, hjald J1ˣ, J2ˣ    [6] hug‑: ‘hꜹg’ F;    í: so 4‑7, Kˣ, F, J1ˣ, J2ˣ, Flat, ‘æ’ FskAˣ, ok Holm18, 53, í corrected to ór in the margin 310, ór 61, 54, Bb;    bǫð: beið 22ˣmarg    [7] á: af Kˣ, 22ˣmarg, F, J1ˣ, J2ˣ;    snœri‑: siglu 310, ‘snǫris’ J1ˣ, J2ˣ, snœris 61, 53, 54, Bb;    ‑vitni: otri Holm18, 310, Flat, vitru 4‑7, fjǫtri 53

Editions: Skj AI, 162-3, Skj BI, 153-4, Skald I, 83; Fsk 1902-3, 131 (ch. 22), ÍF 29, 159-60 (ch. 24); ÓTOdd 1932, 214-5, 249, ÍF 25, 329-30; Hkr 1893-1901, I, 453-4, IV, 100-1, ÍF 26, 366, Hkr 1991, I, 248-9 (ÓTHkr ch. 111), F 1871, 166; SHI 3, 3-4, ÓT 1958-2000, II, 288-9 (ch. 256), Flat 1860-8, I, 494.

Context:

The battle has turned against Óláfr’s forces, and a certain Þorkell escapes: either Þorkell nefja ‘Nose’, Óláfr’s half-brother (Hkr, Fsk, ÓT) or Þorkell dyrðill ‘Cloak’, a prominent man in Óláfr’s retinue (ÓTOdd). ÓTOdd specifies that Óláfr commanded Þorkell to take the wounded and dead ashore on Trana/Trani; Hkr and ÓT say that he was the last to flee.

Notes: [All]: Ms. 22ˣ is a secondary ms. of ÓT, but at this point it has marginalia apparently copied from a now lost leaf of the Hkr ms. 39 (Ólafur Halldórsson 1976; ÓT 1958-2000, III, ccx). Variants from this are cited where available, here and in sts 18, 20-2, with the siglum 22ˣmarg. — [1] ógrœðir ‘the non-increaser’: One who does not increase (his own stock of) jewels because he gives them away, i.e. a generous man. Neither of the minor ms. readings, ulfgœðir m. ‘wolf-enricher’ (the warrior, who provides him with corpses) or, by emendation, ógnreiðir m. ‘battle-swinger’ or perhaps ‘terrifying swinger’, combines convincingly with armgrjóts ‘of arm-gravel [JEWELS]’. — [2] Trana ‘Trani (“Crane”)’: The name of one of Óláfr’s ships. The m. (Trani) and f. (Trana) forms are used indiscriminately in the prose sources (the ÓTOdd mss disagree). The f. form has the strongest ms. support here and is found, e.g., in Hamð 17, but these f. forms may be scribal, and the m. form is preferred in this edn (as in Skj B), since it is older (CVC: Trani), and indeed m. names of ships prevail up to the C12th (see Note to Rv Lv 8/4^II). — [6] í ‘in’: Ór ‘from’, the reading of most ÓT mss (and added in the margin to 310) is also possible. The phrase it introduces, ramri bǫð ‘fierce battle’, is then a description of what Þorkell heldi undan ‘fled’ from. Ok in 53 and Holm18 (represented by Tironian nota in both cases) are presumably misreadings of their exemplar’s <j> (normalised í) (so Ólafur Halldórsson, ÍF 25). — [7] snœrivitni ‘the cable-wolf’: The variant readings otr siglu ‘otter of the mast’ (so 310) and snœriotr ‘cable-otter’ (so Holm18 and Flat, whose text of this stanza is from ÓTOdd rather than ÓT (ÍF 25)), also form ship-kennings, though they give aðalhending in an odd line. Vitru (f. acc. sg.) ‘wisdom’ and fjǫtri (m. dat. sg.) ‘fetter’ are likely to be scribal errors for vitni and [snœris]otri (with a long second <s>) respectively. — [8] sunds ‘of the sea’: It is not obvious where this gen. noun fits in the syntax. (a) In the Text above, sunds forms an overloaded ship-kenning with snœrivitni, ‘(on the) cable-wolf of the sea’. Parallels, albeit somewhat distant ones, are assembled at Meissner 42. (b) Following Ólafur Halldórsson (ÍF 25), sunds could be taken as an adverbial gen. of direction (cf. NS §141); a possible parallel is Gsind Hákdr 6/8 sunda, if this is adverbial ‘through sounds’ (so Poole 2004). (c) Sunds could mean ‘swimming’. Hkr seems to take this as a reference to Þorkell’s means of escape; cf. Hkr’s reading af in l. 7, suggesting Þorkell flees from, rather than on, the ship (ÍF 26; Hkr 1991; cf. ÍF 29), while Sveinbjörn Egilsson (SHI 3) suggested snotr sunds ‘wise (i.e. skilled) at swimming’ (see Hkr 1893-1901, IV for Finnur Jónsson’s response).

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. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. Meissner = Meissner, Rudolf. 1921. Die Kenningar der Skalden: Ein Beitrag zur skaldischen Poetik. Rheinische Beiträge und Hülfsbücher zur germanischen Philologie und Volkskunde 1. Bonn and Leipzig: Schroeder. Rpt. 1984. Hildesheim etc.: Olms.
5. CVC = Cleasby, Richard, Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and W. A. Craigie. 1957. An Icelandic-English Dictionary. 2nd edn. Oxford: Clarendon.
6. 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.
7. NS = Nygaard, Marius. 1906. Norrøn syntax. Kristiania (Oslo): Aschehoug. Rpt. 1966.
8. ÓTOdd 1932 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1932. Saga Óláfs Tryggvasonar af Oddr Snorrason munk. Copenhagen: Gad.
9. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
10. Hkr 1893-1901 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1893-1901. Heimskringla: Nóregs konunga sǫgur af Snorri Sturluson. 4 vols. SUGNL 23. Copenhagen: Møller.
11. Hkr 1991 = Bergljót S. Kristjánsdóttir et al., eds. 1991. Heimskringla. 3 vols. Reykjavík: Mál og menning.
12. F 1871 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1871. Fríssbók: Codex Frisianus. En samling af norske konge-sagaer. Christiania (Oslo): Malling.
13. Fsk 1902-3 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1902-3. Fagrskinna: Nóregs kononga tal. SUGNL 30. Copenhagen: Møller.
14. ÍF 29 = Ágrip af Nóregskonunga sǫgum; Fagrskinna—Nóregs konungatal. Ed. Bjarni Einarsson. 1985.
15. ÓT 1958-2000 = Ólafur Halldórsson, ed. 1958-2000. Saga Óláfs Tryggvasonar en mesta. 3 vols. EA A 1-3. Copenhagen: Munksgaard (Reitzel).
16. 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.
17. Poole, Russell. 2004. ‘Adverbial Genitives in Skaldic Poetry’. MS 104, 115-31.
18. Ólafur Halldórsson. 1976. ‘Um Húsafellsbók’. In Guðni Kolbeinsson et al. 1976, 391-406. Rpt. in Ólafur Halldórsson 1990, 149-66.
19. ÍF 25 = Færeyinga saga; Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar eptir Odd munk Snorrason. Ed. Ólafur Halldórsson. 2006.
20. Internal references
21. (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 19 April 2024)
22. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Fagrskinna’ 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=56> (accessed 19 April 2024)
23. (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 19 April 2024)
24. (forthcoming), ‘ Oddr Snorrason, Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar by Oddr Snorrason’ 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=66> (accessed 19 April 2024)
25. Not published: do not cite ()
26. Russell Poole (ed.) 2012, ‘Guthormr sindri, Hákonardrápa 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. 164.
27. Judith Jesch (ed.) 2009, ‘Rǫgnvaldr jarl Kali Kolsson, Lausavísur 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. 585.