Hfr ErfÓl 17I
Kate Heslop (ed.) 2012, ‘Hallfreðr vandræðaskáld Óttarsson, Erfidrápa Óláfs Tryggvasonar 17’ 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. 424.
Ítr ‘splendidly’
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ítr (adj.): glorious < ítrfermðr (adj./verb p.p.)ítr (adj.): glorious < ítrfremð (noun f.): splendid honourítr (adj.): glorious
notes
[1] ítrfermðum ‘splendidly-laden’: Perhaps a reference to Ormr inn langi’s fine crew.
fernðum ‘’
fremðum ‘’
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fremð (noun f.): honour < ítrfremð (noun f.): splendid honour
fermðum ‘laden’
[1] ‑fermðum: ‘‑ferndum’ Bb, ‑fremðum Flat
notes
[1] ítrfermðum ‘splendidly-laden’: Perhaps a reference to Ormr inn langi’s fine crew.
réð ‘guided’
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ráða (verb): advise, rule, interpret, decide
Ormi ‘Ormr (‘Serpent’)’
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ormr (noun m.; °-s, dat. -i; -ar): serpent
notes
[1] Ormi ‘Ormr (“Serpent”)’: See Note to st. 10/1.
orð ‘’
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orð (noun n.; °-s; -): word < orðsæll (adj.): praise-blessed
sell ‘’
sæll ‘The acclaimed’
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sæll (adj.): happy, blessed < orðsæll (adj.): praise-blessed
[2] ‑sæll: ‘‑sell’ Bb
jǫfur ‘’
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jǫfurr (noun m.): ruler, prince
norðan ‘from the north’
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norðan (adv.): from the north
varð ‘became’
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1. verða (verb): become, be
at ‘at’
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3. at (prep.): at, to
þar ‘’
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þar (adv.): there
þat ‘that’
[3] þat: þar Flat
sverða ‘of swords’
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sverð (noun n.; °-s; -): sword
kennings
snót sverða‘the lady of swords ’
= Hildr
the lady of swords → Hildr
notes
[3, 4] snót sverða ‘the lady of swords [= Hildr (hildr ‘battle’)]’: A valkyrie, specifically Hildr, whose name is to be understood here, by ofljóst, as the common noun meaning ‘battle’. See further Note to st. 24/3, 4.
snót ‘the lady’
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snót (noun f.; °; -ir): woman
kennings
snót sverða‘the lady of swords ’
= Hildr
the lady of swords → Hildr
notes
[3, 4] snót sverða ‘the lady of swords [= Hildr (hildr ‘battle’)]’: A valkyrie, specifically Hildr, whose name is to be understood here, by ofljóst, as the common noun meaning ‘battle’. See further Note to st. 24/3, 4.
Eireki ‘Eiríkr’
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Eiríkr (noun m.): Eiríkr
á ‘’
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3. á (prep.): on, at
móti ‘against’
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móti (prep.): against
En ‘But’
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2. en (conj.): but, and
hver ‘’
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2. hverr (pron.): who, whom, each, every
hverr ‘’
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2. hverr (pron.): who, whom, each, every
hý ‘very’
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1. hý (noun n.): [very] < hýjafn (adj.)
[5] hý‑: hver 53, 54, 325VIII 2 g, hverr Bb
kennings
þeim hýjǫfnum Gota hlýrs‘that very straight Goti of the bow ’
= SHIP
that very straight Goti of the bow → SHIP
notes
[5] hýjǫfnum ‘very straight’: This otherwise unattested epithet has not been satisfactorily explained, nor is it certain whether it describes the legendary horse Goti or the ship to which the whole kenning refers; the translation offered above is tentative. The problem is the hý- component, which must be different from the hý- that is attested in eddic poetry and is connected with hjú, hjón n. ‘household, married people’ (AEW: hýnótt). (a) SHI 3 suggests ‘perfectly made’, i.e. to hair’s-breadth accuracy, cf. ModIcel. hárjafn ‘not differing by a hair’; laukjafn ‘straight as a leek’ Sigv Berv 6/8II. The fine craftsmanship of Ormr inn langi was legendary (ÍF 26, 335-6), so an explanation along these lines seems most credible. AEW: hý 3 suggests hý- is an intensifying prefix like hund-: the cpd would thus mean ‘very even/straight’. (b) ÍO: hýjafn proposes hý n. ‘fine, sparse hair; down on a plant or bird’. No gloss is offered for the cpd, but perhaps the thought is the same as in (a). (c) Skj B emends to húfjǫfnum (nom. sg. húfjafn) ‘plank-equal, with even planking’ (first proposed LP (1860): hýjafn). (d) Kock (NN §1958) argues that the reading hverjafn in the minor mss is equivalent to hvarjafn ‘equal, even, everywhere’, cf. hvardyggr ‘all-doughty’, Sigv Berv 6/6II. His suggestion that ms. ‘hy’ arose from misreading of the sequence hv + er-abbreviation is plausible, but hý- is clearly the lectio difficilior.
jǫfnum ‘straight’
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jafn (adj.; °comp. -ari, superl. -astr): even, just < hýjafn (adj.)
kennings
þeim hýjǫfnum Gota hlýrs‘that very straight Goti of the bow ’
= SHIP
that very straight Goti of the bow → SHIP
notes
[5] hýjǫfnum ‘very straight’: This otherwise unattested epithet has not been satisfactorily explained, nor is it certain whether it describes the legendary horse Goti or the ship to which the whole kenning refers; the translation offered above is tentative. The problem is the hý- component, which must be different from the hý- that is attested in eddic poetry and is connected with hjú, hjón n. ‘household, married people’ (AEW: hýnótt). (a) SHI 3 suggests ‘perfectly made’, i.e. to hair’s-breadth accuracy, cf. ModIcel. hárjafn ‘not differing by a hair’; laukjafn ‘straight as a leek’ Sigv Berv 6/8II. The fine craftsmanship of Ormr inn langi was legendary (ÍF 26, 335-6), so an explanation along these lines seems most credible. AEW: hý 3 suggests hý- is an intensifying prefix like hund-: the cpd would thus mean ‘very even/straight’. (b) ÍO: hýjafn proposes hý n. ‘fine, sparse hair; down on a plant or bird’. No gloss is offered for the cpd, but perhaps the thought is the same as in (a). (c) Skj B emends to húfjǫfnum (nom. sg. húfjafn) ‘plank-equal, with even planking’ (first proposed LP (1860): hýjafn). (d) Kock (NN §1958) argues that the reading hverjafn in the minor mss is equivalent to hvarjafn ‘equal, even, everywhere’, cf. hvardyggr ‘all-doughty’, Sigv Berv 6/6II. His suggestion that ms. ‘hy’ arose from misreading of the sequence hv + er-abbreviation is plausible, but hý- is clearly the lectio difficilior.
hefnir ‘avenger’
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hefnir (noun m.): avenger
kennings
hefnir Hôkonar‘Hákon’s avenger ’
= Eiríkr
Hákon’s avenger → Eiríkr
notes
[5, 8] hefnir Hôkonar ‘Hákon’s avenger [= Eiríkr]’: Hákon jarl Sigurðarson, Eiríkr’s father, ruled most of Norway before being driven out by a rebellion of farmers which coincided with the advent of Óláfr Tryggvason. According to Hkr (ÍF 26, 296-8) he was killed by a servant while hiding in a pigsty. His son’s defeat of Óláfr is therefore not direct revenge but some recompense for Hákon’s loss of power and honour.
hyrs ‘’
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hyrr (noun m.): fire
kennings
þeim hýjǫfnum Gota hlýrs‘that very straight Goti of the bow ’
= SHIP
that very straight Goti of the bow → SHIP
þeim ‘that’
kennings
þeim hýjǫfnum Gota hlýrs‘that very straight Goti of the bow ’
= SHIP
that very straight Goti of the bow → SHIP
Gota ‘Goti’
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Goti (noun m.; °-a; -ar/-nar): person (or horse) from Gotland
kennings
þeim hýjǫfnum Gota hlýrs‘that very straight Goti of the bow ’
= SHIP
that very straight Goti of the bow → SHIP
stýrir ‘’
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stýra (verb): steer, control
stýrði ‘steered’
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stýra (verb): steer, control
[6] stýrði: corrected from stýrir 53, stýrir Flat
notes
[6] stýrði ‘steered’: The pres. tense variant stýrir ‘steers’ intensifies the contrast between the two helmingar (see Note to [All] above), but is not strictly necessary.
áðr ‘earlier’
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áðr (adv.; °//): before
óx ‘had swelled’
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vaxa (verb): grow, increase
of ‘around’
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3. of (prep.): around, from; too
gram ‘ruler’
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1. gramr (noun m.): ruler
góðan ‘the good’
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góðr (adj.): good
Hôkonar ‘Hákon’s’
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Hákon (noun m.): Hákon
kennings
hefnir Hôkonar‘Hákon’s avenger ’
= Eiríkr
Hákon’s avenger → Eiríkr
notes
[5, 8] hefnir Hôkonar ‘Hákon’s avenger [= Eiríkr]’: Hákon jarl Sigurðarson, Eiríkr’s father, ruled most of Norway before being driven out by a rebellion of farmers which coincided with the advent of Óláfr Tryggvason. According to Hkr (ÍF 26, 296-8) he was killed by a servant while hiding in a pigsty. His son’s defeat of Óláfr is therefore not direct revenge but some recompense for Hákon’s loss of power and honour.
sunnan ‘from the south’
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sunnan (adv.): (from the) south
Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses
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Ítrfermðum réð Ormi |
The acclaimed prince [Óláfr] guided splendidly-laden Ormr (‘Serpent’) from the north against Eiríkr; the lady of swords [= Hildr (hildr ‘battle’)] became keen at that. But Hákon’s avenger [= Eiríkr] steered that very straight Goti <legendary horse> of the bow [SHIP] from the south; battle had swelled earlier around the good ruler.
Eiríkr claims Ormr inn langi after the battle, and commands it himself.
The helmingar are neatly balanced semantically and syntactically. In the first Óláfr, guiding Ormr south before the battle, is the subject; in the second a ship is steered north by Eiríkr jarl Hákonarson. The stanza could be seen as describing the adversaries sailing towards one another before the battle, as, e.g., in ÞjóðA Lv 9II and Þfagr Sveinn 3II, and may play on this tradition, but the prose context is clearly correct in taking the second helmingr as an account of the victor Eiríkr steering the same ship back north after the battle. This is indicated by þeim ‘that’ in l. 6, and by the fact that the strong stress on áðr in l. 7 (indicated by the skothending with góðan) and the word order suggest it is the adv. ‘earlier’ not the conj. ‘before’. On the placing of the stanza, see Introduction.
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