Hfr ErfÓl 26a^I

Hefk, þanns hverjum jǫfri
heiptfíknum varð ríkri
und niðbyrði Norðra
norðr, goðfǫður orðinn.
Bíða munk, þess’s breiðan
barðmána vann skarðan,
margaukanda mækis
móts aldrigi bótir.

Hefk orðinn goðfǫður, þanns varð ríkri hverjum heiptfíknum jǫfri norðr und {{Norðra nið}byrði}. Munk aldrigi bíða bótir {margaukanda {móts mækis}}, þess’s vann {breiðan barðmána} skarðan.

I have lost a godfather who was mightier than every strife-greedy prince in the north under {the burden {of the kin of Norðri <dwarf>}} [(lit. ‘kin-burden of Norðri’) DWARFS > SKY]. I will never experience compensation {for the much-increaser {of the meeting of the sword}} [BATTLE > WARRIOR] who hacked {the broad prow-moon} [SHIELD].

Mss: 61(69vb), 53(66rb), 54(67va-b), 325VIII 2 g(1va-b), Bb(103rb) (ÓT)

Readings: [1] jǫfri: ‘iafri’ 325VIII 2 g, Bb    [2] heipt‑: ‘hept‑’ 54, 325VIII 2 g, ‘heft‑’ Bb;    varð: var 54, 325VIII 2 g, Bb;    ríkri: ríki 325VIII 2 g, Bb    [3] ‑byrði: ‑byr 325VIII 2 g, Bb;    Norðra: ‘narðra’ 53    [5] þess’s (‘þess er’): þess 54, 325VIII 2 g, Bb    [7] margaukanda: ‘mar gankanda’ 325VIII 2 g, Bb    [8] móts: mót 61, 53, 54, 325VIII 2 g, ‘mott’ Bb;    bótir: bóta 54, 325VIII 2 g, Bb

Editions: Skj AI, 165-6, Skj BI, 156, Skald I, 85; SHI 3, 12-13, ÓT 1958-2000, II, 295 (ch. 256).

Context: The fame of the battle of Svǫlðr, which resulted in the defeat of the most famous king in the Nordic lands, will live on.

Notes: [1-4]: This helmingr is transmitted not only by the kings’ sagas but also by the sagas of Icelanders, in this case Hallfr (ÍF 8, 155), albeit with a different text of ll. 1-2 (cf. the similar case of Eskál Lv 1-2). The ms. transmission is further complicated by the fact that Hallfr is interpolated into ÓT as well as being preserved separately. The two helmingar are printed as separate entities in Skj and Skald, as ErfÓl 26 and 28/1-4. This edn regards them as variants, but prints them separately in order to reflect their textual differences and their different prose contexts. The version printed here is preserved within the main text of ÓT, while the Hallfr version is printed in SkP V, Poetry from the Sagas of Icelanders, as Hfr ErfÓl 26b^V (Hallfr 7). This edn thus adopts the position of Krijn (1931, 121), who argues that the Hallfr version is a variant of ErfÓl 26a/1-4. She points out that orðinn, the p. p. of verða ‘to become’, has a different meaning in each version, meaning ‘lost’ here, but ‘become’ in st. 26/4b^V (þanns vas orðinn ‘who had become’). Fidjestøl (1982, 58-9) suggests that misunderstanding of the unusual sense of orðinn in st. 26a/4 might have been the impetus for oral variation. The view of the texts as variants in fact goes back to Árni Magnússon (761bˣ, 175v), who wrote st. 26b/1-2 alongside st. 26a/1-2. — [3] Norðra niðbyrði ‘the burden of the kin of Norðri <dwarf> [(lit. ‘kin-burden of Norðri’) DWARFS > SKY]’: A reference to the cosmological myth in which the four dwarfs Norðri, Suðri, Austri and Vestri hold up the sky, which is made of the skull of the giant Ymir (SnE 2005, 12, 16). The choice of Norðri is metrically convenient, but also apt; ÍS II, 1232 translates undir norðurhimninum ‘under the northern sky’. This kenning, and features of st. 27, are echoed in Arn Þorfdr 24^II: see Note to [All] ad loc. — [4] goðfǫður ‘a godfather’: This word is unique to Hallfreðr within skaldic poetry, occurring only here and in the counterpart Hfr ErfÓl 26b/4, and there are few prose instances (Fritzner: guðfaðir). The adoption of the word may have been influenced by OE godfæder. Sigv Lv 19 similarly commemorates Óláfr Haraldsson’s standing godfather to Sigvatr’s daughter Tófa. Hallfreðr’s conversion and baptism, with Óláfr as his sponsor, is a major event in Hallfr (ÍF 8, 153-9), and the anguish of religious transition is recorded in Hfr Lv 6-10^V (Hallfr 9-13). — [7-8] margaukanda móts mækis ‘much-increaser of the meeting of the sword [BATTLE > WARRIOR]’: The ms. reading mót (nom./acc. sg. of mót n. ‘meeting’, or adv. ‘in return for, against, towards’) is difficult, as ‘meeting’ must be gen. if the whole is to form a single kenning. (a) The emendation above, which follows Skj B, may find slight ms. support from Bb’s ‘mott’ (though Bb is generally unreliable) and gives straightforward sense and conventional kennings. (b) Mót margaukanda mækis ‘against/in return for the much-increaser of the sword [WARRIOR]’ seems the only possible interpretation of the ms. readings, but the placing of mót would be problematic, and firm early parallels are lacking for the use of a base-word like aukandi with a weapon-heiti, rather than battle-heiti (see comments on sverða herðendr at Meissner 338).

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. Fidjestøl, Bjarne. 1982. Det norrøne fyrstediktet. Universitet i Bergen Nordisk institutts skriftserie 11. Øvre Ervik: Alvheim & Eide.
6. Fritzner = Fritzner, Johan. 1883-96. Ordbog over det gamle norske sprog. 3 vols. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske forlagsforening. 4th edn. Rpt. 1973. Oslo etc.: Universitetsforlaget.
7. ÓT 1958-2000 = Ólafur Halldórsson, ed. 1958-2000. Saga Óláfs Tryggvasonar en mesta. 3 vols. EA A 1-3. Copenhagen: Munksgaard (Reitzel).
8. 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.
9. SkP V = Poetry in Sagas of Icelanders. Ed. Tarrin Wills, Kari Ellen Gade and Margaret Clunies Ross. 2022.
10. SnE 2005 = Snorri Sturluson. 2005. Edda: Prologue and Gylfaginning. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
11. ÍF 8 = Vatnsdœla saga. Ed. Einar Ólafur Sveinsson. 1939.
12. Krijn, S. A. 1931. ‘Halfred Vandraedaskald’. Neophilologus 16, 46-55, 121-31.
13. ÍS = Bragi Halldórsson et al., eds. 1987. Íslendinga sögur og þættir. 3 vols. Reykjavík: Svart á hvítu.
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 25 April 2024)
16. 2022, ‘ Anonymous, Hallfreðar saga’ in Margaret Clunies Ross, Kari Ellen Gade and Tarrin Wills (eds), Poetry in Sagas of Icelanders. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 5. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 873-914. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=63> (accessed 25 April 2024)
17. Margaret Clunies Ross 2012, ‘ Einarr skálaglamm Helgason, Lausavísur’ 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. 330. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1182> (accessed 25 April 2024)
18. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Arnórr jarlaskáld Þórðarson, Þorfinnsdrápa 24’ 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. 258-9.
19. Kate Heslop (ed.) 2022, ‘Hallfreðar saga 7 (Hallfreðr vandræðaskáld Óttarsson, Erfidrápa Óláfs Tryggvasonar 26b)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross, Kari Ellen Gade and Tarrin Wills (eds), Poetry in Sagas of Icelanders. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 5. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 881.
20. Kate Heslop (ed.) 2012, ‘Hallfreðr vandræðaskáld Óttarsson, Erfidrápa Óláfs Tryggvasonar 26a’ 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. 437.
21. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2022, ‘Hallfreðar saga 9 (Hallfreðr vandræðaskáld Óttarsson, Lausavísur 6)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross, Kari Ellen Gade and Tarrin Wills (eds), Poetry in Sagas of Icelanders. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 5. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 883.
22. Judith Jesch (ed.) 2012, ‘Sigvatr Þórðarson, Erfidrápa Óláfs helga 26’ 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. 696.
23. R. D. Fulk (ed.) 2012, ‘Sigvatr Þórðarson, Lausavísur 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. 724.