Hharð Gamv 2^II

Sneið fyr Sikiley víða
súð; vôrum þá prúðir;
brýnt skreið vel til vánar
vengis hjǫrtr und drengjum.
Vættik miðr, at motti
myni enn þinig nenna;
þó lætr Gerðr í Gǫrðum
gollhrings við mér skolla.

Súð sneið fyr víða Sikiley; vôrum þá prúðir; {hjǫrtr vengis} skreið brýnt und drengjum, vel til vánar. Vættik miðr, at motti myni enn nenna þinig; þó lætr {Gerðr gollhrings} í Gǫrðum skolla við mér.

The ship sliced [the sea] before broad Sicily; we were proud then; {the stag of the cabin} [SHIP] glided swiftly beneath the men entirely as expected. I hardly think that a sluggard will ever head there; yet {the Gerðr <goddess> of the gold ring} [WOMAN] in Russia ridicules me.

Mss: Mork(3r) (Mork); H(28v), Hr(20vb-21ra) (H-Hr); FskBˣ(64r), FskAˣ(242) (Fsk); Kˣ(531r), 39(21ra), F(43vb), E(12v), J2ˣ(263r) (Hkr); R(35r), Tˣ(36v), W(80), U(34r), A(12r) (SnE, ll. 1-4); 2368ˣ(129) (ll. 1-4), 743ˣ(97r) (ll. 1-4) (LaufE)

Readings: [1] Sneið: Sveið Hr;    ‑ey: om. H    [2] súð: ‘suder’ 2368ˣ    [3] brýnt: so Kˣ, 39, F, E, J2ˣ, R, Tˣ, W, A, 2368ˣ, 743ˣ, brúnn Mork, H, brún Hr, brýn FskBˣ, FskAˣ, brúnt U;    vel: vænn F;    vánar: varnar R    [4] und: undir FskBˣ, um R;    drengjum: strengjum Hr, ‘dreingum’ 743ˣ    [5] Vættik (‘vętti ec’): veitti ek FskAˣ;    miðr: minnr Hr, Kˣ, J2ˣ;    at: á FskBˣ;    motti: ‘mote’ FskAˣ, ‘moti’ J2ˣ    [6] myni: muni H, Hr, FskAˣ, 39, F, E, mani Kˣ, J2ˣ;    þinig: þannig H, þinnig Hr, FskBˣ, Kˣ, þinnug FskAˣ;    nenna: renna H, Hr, FskAˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 357, Skj BI, 329, Skald I, 166, NN §§2023, 2266; Mork 1867, 15, Mork 1928-32, 85, Andersson and Gade 2000, 148, 472 (MH); Fms 6, 169 (HSig ch. 15); ÍF 29, 237 (ch. 51); ÍF 28, 89 (HSig ch. 15), F 1871, 201, E 1916, 43; SnE 1848-87, I, 444-5, II, 332, 443, SnE 1931, 157, SnE 1998, I, 75; LaufE 1979, 394.

Context: In SnE and LaufE the first helmingr illustrates one of a range of kennings for ‘ship’ (vengis hjǫrtr ‘stag of the cabin’).

Notes: [All]: For Haraldr’s campaigns in and around Sicily, see also ÞjóðA Sex 2, Bǫlv Hardr 4 and Valg Har 1. He participated in an expedition sent by the Byzantine emperor 1038-40 to reconquer Sicily from the Saracens (see ÍF 28, 81-2 n. 1; Sigfús Blöndal 1978, 65-71). — [1] Sikiley ‘Sicily’: The p. n. forces resolution on the first syllable of a cpd in the second lift. This is a poetic licence that originated with and became popular with King Haraldr and his poets (see Kuhn 1983, 68). — [1] víða ‘broad’: Taken here as an adj. (f. acc. sg.) qualifying Sikiley (‘broad Sicily’), but it could also be the adv. víða ‘far and wide’. Kock emends to víði ‘ocean’ (m. acc. sg.), which he regards as an object of the verb sneið ‘sliced’ (see NN §2266), which is usually transitive. That emendation is unnecessary if we assume a suppressed object (‘the sea’). — [2] súð ‘ship’: Lit. referring to the overlapping boards in the ship-side (from sýja ‘sew’). Here used pars pro toto for ‘ship’ (see Falk 1912, 49; Jesch 2001a, 139). — [3] vel til vánar ‘entirely as expected’: Skj B connects this phrase with the first cl. (‘we were proud then’), which creates an awkward w. o. (see NN §2023). — [4] vengis (n. gen. sg.) ‘of the cabin’: According to Falk, this was most likely a cabin in the stern of a ship (cf. ModNorw. dialects væng ‘ship-cabin’; see Falk 1912, 10; LP: vengi 3; Fritzner: vængr). Alternatively, Haraldr, who had served in the Byzantine army, could refer to structures aboard Byzantine ships, either castles or the berth for commanders in the stern, surrounded by a round tent (see Pryor and Jeffreys 2006, 227-38, 448). Otherwise, the word is attested poetically in the meaning ‘pillow’ (LP: vengi 1) or ‘plain, field’ (LP: vengi 2). Jesch (2001a, 153-4) suggests that vengis ‘of the plain’ is a half-kenning for ‘sea’ (hjǫrtr vengis ‘the stag of the sea’, i.e. ‘ship’). — [5-8]: Duplicated as st. 3/5-8 below.

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. Fms = Sveinbjörn Egilsson et al., eds. 1825-37. Fornmanna sögur eptir gömlum handritum útgefnar að tilhlutun hins norræna fornfræða fèlags. 12 vols. Copenhagen: Popp.
4. SnE 1848-87 = Snorri Sturluson. 1848-87. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar: Edda Snorronis Sturlaei. Ed. Jón Sigurðsson et al. 3 vols. Copenhagen: Legatum Arnamagnaeanum. Rpt. Osnabrück: Zeller, 1966.
5. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
6. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
7. LaufE 1979 = Faulkes, Anthony, ed. 1979. Edda Magnúsar Ólafssonar (Laufás Edda). RSÁM 13. Vol. I of Two Versions of Snorra Edda from the 17th Century. Reykjavík: Stofnun Árna Magnússonar, 1977-9.
8. LP = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1931. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis: Ordbog over det norsk-islandske skjaldesprog oprindelig forfattet af Sveinbjörn Egilsson. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Møller.
9. Andersson, Theodore M. and Kari Ellen Gade, trans. 2000. Morkinskinna: The Earliest Icelandic Chronicle of the Norwegian Kings (1030-1157). Islandica 51. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press.
10. Jesch, Judith. 2001a. Ships and Men in the Late Viking Age: The Vocabulary of Runic Inscriptions and Skaldic Verse. Woodbridge: Boydell.
11. Falk, Hjalmar. 1912. Altnordisches Seewesen. Wörter und Sachen 4. Heidelberg: Winter.
12. 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.
13. Kuhn, Hans (1899). 1983. Das Dróttkvætt. Heidelberg: Winter.
14. Mork 1928-32 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1928-32. Morkinskinna. SUGNL 53. Copenhagen: Jørgensen.
15. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
16. F 1871 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1871. Fríssbók: Codex Frisianus. En samling af norske konge-sagaer. Christiania (Oslo): Malling.
17. SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
18. E 1916 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1916. Eirspennill: AM 47 fol. Nóregs konunga sǫgur: Magnús góði – Hákon gamli. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske historiske kildeskriftskommission.
19. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
20. ÍF 29 = Ágrip af Nóregskonunga sǫgum; Fagrskinna—Nóregs konungatal. Ed. Bjarni Einarsson. 1985.
21. Mork 1867 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1867. Morkinskinna: Pergamentsbog fra første halvdel af det trettende aarhundrede. Indeholdende en af de ældste optegnelser af norske kongesagaer. Oslo: Bentzen.
22. Pryor, John H. and Elizabeth M. Jeffreys. 2006. The Age of the Dromon: The Byzantine Navy ca 500-1204. The Medieval Mediterranean People, Economies and Cultures, 400-1500. Leiden and Boston: Brill.
23. Sigfús Blöndal. 1978. The Varangians of Byzantium: An Aspect of Byzantine Military History. Trans. and rev. Benedikt S. Benedikz. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. First published 1954 as Væringja saga. Reykjavík: Ísafoldarprentsmiðja.
24. Internal references
25. Edith Marold 2017, ‘Snorra Edda (Prologue, Gylfaginning, Skáldskaparmál)’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols [check printed volume for citation].
26. (forthcoming), ‘ Heimskringla, Haralds saga Sigurðssonar’ 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=142> (accessed 26 April 2024)
27. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Magnúss saga góða ok Haralds harðráða’ 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=147> (accessed 26 April 2024)
28. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Bǫlverkr Arnórsson, Drápa about Haraldr harðráði 4’ 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. 289-90.
29. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Þjóðólfr Arnórsson, Sexstefja 2’ 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. 113-14.
30. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Valgarðr á Velli, Poem about Haraldr harðráði 1’ 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. 300-1.
31. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Laufás Edda’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=10928> (accessed 26 April 2024)