Hfr ErfÓl 21^I

Mundut þess, es þegnar
þróttharðan gram sóttu,
— ferk með lýða líði
landherðar — skǫp verða,
at mundjǫkuls myndi
margdýrr koma stýrir
— geta þykkjat mér gotnar
glíkligs — ór her slíkum.

Skǫp mundut verða þess, es þegnar sóttu þróttharðan gram — ferk með {líði {lýða {landherðar}}} —, at {margdýrr stýrir {mundjǫkuls}} myndi koma ór slíkum her; gotnar þykkjat mér geta glíkligs.

Fate would not have come to this, when retainers attacked the mightily tough lord — I deal with {ale {of the folk {of the land-shoulder}}} [ROCK > GIANTS > POETRY] —, that {the magnificent controller {of hand-icicle}} [SILVER > MAN] would escape [lit. come out of] such a force; men do not seem to me to talk of a likely thing.

Mss: FskAˣ(145) (Fsk); Kˣ(216v-217r), 22ˣ(102v marg), F(36vb), J1ˣ(134v), J2ˣ(117r-v) (Hkr); 61(69va), 53(66ra), 54(67va), 325VIII 2 g(1va), Bb(103ra) (ÓT)

Readings: [1] Mundut: ‘Munot’ J1ˣ, J2ˣ;    es (‘er’): alls Kˣ;    þegnar: ‘þ[…]’ 325VIII 2 g    [2] sóttu: ‘sosottu’ 53, sótti 325VIII 2 g, Bb    [3] ferk: frák 61, 53, 54, 325VIII 2 g, Bb;    lýða: so Kˣ, F, 61, 53, 54, 325VIII 2 g, Bb, ‘liða’ FskAˣ, ‘lyðo’ J1ˣ, J2ˣ;    líði: so Kˣ, 22ˣmarg, F, J1ˣ, J2ˣ, 61, 53, 54, 325VIII 2 g, Bb, ‘lifi’ FskAˣ    [4] land‑: ‘[...]’ 325VIII 2 g;    ‑herðar: ‘[…]erdar’ 325VIII 2 g    [6] margdýrr: ‘[…]dyr’ 325VIII 2 g;    stýrir: rýrir 61, 53, 54, Bb, ‘r[…]rir’ 325VIII 2 g    [7] geta: geta or ‘gøta’ F, sæta 54, 325VIII 2 g, Bb;    þykkjat mér: so 61, 54, 325VIII 2 g, corrected from ‘þyckianer’ FskAˣ, þykkjask þess Kˣ, 22ˣmarg, þykkjumk þess F, þykkjask mér J1ˣ, J2ˣ, þykkja mér 53, Bb;    gotnar: ‘geitiar’ Bb    [8] glíkligs: so Kˣ, 22ˣmarg, F, J1ˣ, J2ˣ, 61, 53, 54, 325VIII 2 g, Bb, ‘glighlis’ FskAˣ, ‘gli[…]’ 325VIII 2 g;    ór: ok 61, 53, 54, 325VIII 2 g, Bb;    her: styr F, J1ˣ, J2ˣ, 61, 53, 54, 325VIII 2 g, Bb

Editions: Skj AI, 164-5, Skj BI, 155, Skald I, 84, NN §§1086, 2197, 2452; Fsk 1902-3, 133 (ch. 22), ÍF 29, 161-2 (ch. 24); Hkr 1893-1901, I, 456, IV, 102-3, ÍF 26, 369, Hkr 1991, I, 250-1 (ÓHkr ch. 112), F 1871, 166; SHI 3, 9, ÓT 1958-2000, II, 293 (ch. 256).

Context: All the sources cite this stanza immediately after st. 22, with minimal or no prose introduction.

Notes: [1] es ‘when’: The reading alls ‘while, as’ in the K transcripts is also possible. — [1] þegnar ‘retainers’: As it stands the line lacks skothending. Jón Þorkelsson’s emendation Þrœnda ‘of Þrœndir, people of Trøndelag’ (1884, 63), so þróttharðan gram Þrœnda ‘mightily tough lord of Þrœndir [= Óláfr]’, remedies this (Þrœnda : mundut), as does Þrœndir (Jón Helgason 1931-2, 62). The latter is superior, as it is both grammatically equivalent to ms. þegnar and supported by the prose tradition naming the Trøndelag jarl Eiríkr and his men among Óláfr’s attackers. But neither has ms. support and compelling reasons to emend are lacking (cf. Ohlmarks 1958, 460-1). — [3-4] líði lýða landherðar ‘ale of the folk of the land-shoulder [ROCK > GIANTS > POETRY]’: This kenning, based on a suggestion by Jón Helgason (1931-2, 61-2), obviates Skj B’s extensive emendation of ll. 1-4. It was favoured by Kock in Skald and NN §2452, though a different explanation was offered in NN §1086. Landherðr ‘land-shoulder [ROCK]’ belongs to a type of kenning in which rock or stone is referred to as the bone, joint or teeth of the land, cf. Yt 19/10 bein foldar ‘bones of the earth [STONES]’ and Ólhelg Lv 2/2 landrif ‘land-rib [STONE]’; also Meissner 89-90. Jón Helgason and Kock emended gen. sg. ‑herðar to gen. pl. ‑herða since the word normally occurs in the pl. (as, e.g., in virtually all of over seventy citations in ONP: 1. herðr). The gen. sg. is retained here, however, as the reading of all the mss. — [5, 6] stýrir mundjǫkuls ‘controller of hand-icicle [SILVER > MAN]’: Stýrir with a precious metal as determinant is rare and seems otherwise confined to late poetry (Meissner 303-4), while ÓT’s rýrir ‘diminisher’ yields a conventional kenning for ‘generous man’. The agreement of Fsk and Hkr suggests, however, that stýrir is the original reading. — [7-8] gotnar þykkjat mér geta glíkligs ‘men do not seem to me to talk of a likely thing’: The reading gotnar þykkjask geta þess glíkligs ‘men think they guess this [as a] likely thing’ in the K transcripts is possible but, as Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson (ÍF 26) observes, not as good as FskAˣ’s reading, especially in the context of the rest of the poem. — [7] gotnar ‘men’: Lit. ‘inhabitants of Gotland’ (AEW: goti, gotnar), but here, as usual in skaldic poetry, ‘men, warriors’. Snorri implausibly derives gotnar from the eponymous king Goti (see SnE 1998, I, 105; Kristensen 1907, 241; Note to Þul Manna 1/5^III). — [8] her ‘force’: The variant styr ‘battle’ is also possible.

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. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. 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.
6. ONP = Degnbol, Helle et al., eds. 1989-. A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose / Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog. 1-. Copenhagen: The Arnamagnæan Commission.
7. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
8. Hkr 1893-1901 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1893-1901. Heimskringla: Nóregs konunga sǫgur af Snorri Sturluson. 4 vols. SUGNL 23. Copenhagen: Møller.
9. Hkr 1991 = Bergljót S. Kristjánsdóttir et al., eds. 1991. Heimskringla. 3 vols. Reykjavík: Mál og menning.
10. F 1871 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1871. Fríssbók: Codex Frisianus. En samling af norske konge-sagaer. Christiania (Oslo): Malling.
11. Fsk 1902-3 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1902-3. Fagrskinna: Nóregs kononga tal. SUGNL 30. Copenhagen: Møller.
12. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
13. ÍF 29 = Ágrip af Nóregskonunga sǫgum; Fagrskinna—Nóregs konungatal. Ed. Bjarni Einarsson. 1985.
14. ÓT 1958-2000 = Ólafur Halldórsson, ed. 1958-2000. Saga Óláfs Tryggvasonar en mesta. 3 vols. EA A 1-3. Copenhagen: Munksgaard (Reitzel).
15. 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.
16. Kristensen, Marius. 1907. ‘Skjaldenes sprog. Nogle småbemærkninger’. ANF 23, 235-45.
17. Ohlmarks, Åke. 1958. Tors skalder och Vite-Krists. Trosskiftestidens isländska furstelovskalder, 980-1013. Stockholm: Geber.
18. Jón Helgason. 1931-2. ‘Til skjaldedigtningen’. APS 6, 55-62, 195-8.
19. Internal references
20. (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 26 April 2024)
21. (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 26 April 2024)
22. (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 26 April 2024)
23. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Manna heiti 1’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 775.
24. Russell Poole (ed.) 2012, ‘Óláfr inn helgi Haraldsson, Lausavísur 2’ 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. 518.
25. Edith Marold (ed.) 2012, ‘Þjóðólfr ór Hvini, Ynglingatal 19’ 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. 42.