Anon Krm 1^VIII

The speaker of the poem, readily identifiable as the legendary viking hero Ragnarr loðbrók, first states that he came to be known as Loðbrók ‘Hairy-breeches’ as a result of slaying a serpent in Gautland (Götaland) and so winning his first wife Þóra in marriage. He then goes on to describe battles in which he has fought on the continent of Europe, mainly but not exclusively (sts 3, 10) in the Scandinavian and Baltic areas, and on one occasion (st. 6) in the Farne Islands, off the north-east coast of England.

Hjuggu vér með hjörvi.
Hitt var ei fyr löngu,
er á Gautlandi gengum
at grafvitnis morði.
Þá fengu vér Þóru;
þaðan hétu mik fyrðar,
þá er ek lyngölun lagðak,
Loðbrók, at því vígi.
Stakk ek á storðar lykkju
stáli bjartra mála.

Hjuggu vér með hjörvi. Hitt var ei fyr löngu, er gengum at morði {grafvitnis} á Gautlandi. Þá fengu vér Þóru; fyrðar hétu mik Loðbrók þaðan, þá er ek lagðak {lyngölun} at því vígi. Ek stakk stáli bjartra mála á {lykkju storðar}.

We hewed with the sword. It was not long ago when we set about the slaying {of the digging-wolf} [SNAKE] in Götaland. That was when we married Þóra; people have called me Loðbrók (‘Hairy-breeches’) from the time when I stabbed {the heather-fish} [SNAKE] to death in that fight. I thrust the blade with bright ornaments at {the loop of the earth} [SNAKE].

Mss: 1824b(79r), 147(108v) (ll. 9-10), 6ˣ(86r) (Ragn); R702ˣ(29r), LR(197), R693ˣ(4v)

Readings: [1] Hjuggu: Hjuggum 6ˣ, R693ˣ, ‘hiuggur’ LR;    með: ‘met’ 6ˣ    [2] var: ‘væ’ R702ˣ;    ei: ‘æi’ with ei above line R702ˣ, ‘aei’ LR, ‘æi’ R693ˣ    [3] gengum: so all others, gengu 1824b    [4] grafvitnis: so 6ˣ, R702ˣ, R693ˣ, ‘grauítnis’ 1824b, ‘graf vitins’ LR    [5] fengu: fengum R702ˣ, LR, R693ˣ    [6] fyrðar: ‘firdar’ LR, R693ˣ    [7] lyngölun (‘lyngaulun’): so R702ˣ, ‘lungolun’ 1824b, ‘lyngaal vm’ 6ˣ, ‘lingaulum’ LR, ‘lingauluin’ R693ˣ    [8] Loðbrók (‘Lodbrok’): so all others, ‘lodbork’ 1824b;    vígi: so all others, ‘vig.’ 1824b    [9] storðar: ‘storear’ LR;    lykkju: ‘lyckiu’ 147, R693ˣ, ‘lykiu’ LR    [10] stáli bjartra: ‘stali biar(t)’(?) 147

Editions: Skj AI, 641, Skj BI, 649, Skald I, 316, NN §§2273, 2817; Rafn 1826, 2-3, 89-95, Pfeiffer 1860, 124, CPB II, 341, Wisén 1886-9, I, 62, Krm 1891, 225, Finnur Jónsson 1893b, 86, Finnur Jónsson 1905, 153, Ragn 1906-8, 187-8.

Notes: [1]: This line functions as a refrain in Krm, occurring as the first line in every stanza of the poem except the final one, st. 29, and alliterating with l. 2 of each of those stanzas in which it occurs. It shows skothending (on ‑ér and ‑ǫr-). On the pl. vér ‘we’, see the Introduction. — [2-10]: These lines refer to the winning in marriage of Þóra, the daughter of a jarl in Götaland, by the legendary Danish viking Ragnarr, as a result of his slaying a serpent and in doing so wearing hairy trousers for protection, so that he acquired the nickname loðbrók ‘Hairy-breeches’. The other main versions of the story are found in Book IX of Saxo’s Gesta Danorum (Saxo 2015, I, ix. 4. 4-8, pp. 634-7), in the two surviving redactions of Ragn (Ragn 1906-8, 116-21, 176-7), and in RagnSon, preserved in Hb (Hb 1892-6, 458-9); see further McTurk (1991a, 71-82). Although the pers. n. Ragnarr is not mentioned in Krm, it may be assumed that behind the poem lies an awareness of the application of loðbrók to Ragnarr as a nickname, and that the legendary figure Ragnarr loðbrók is meant to be understood as the speaker of the poem. — [2] ei fyr löngu ‘not long ago’: With many previous eds this ed. takes the mss’ ‘ei’ or ‘æi’ as the negative ei ‘not’. Wisén (1886-9) and Finnur Jónsson (1893b) have vasa, vasat ‘was not’ (for var ei ‘was not’) respectively, producing a metrically short line. The poet is here allowing the speaker to present himself as dying relatively young, in accordance with the conventions of an internationally attested heroic biographical pattern (de Vries 1963, 216; Ó Cathasaigh 1977, 2-7; McTurk 1991a, 86-9). The eds of CPB and Finnur Jónsson (1905; Skj B) read the ms. forms as æ ‘always, ever’, in the sense of ‘ever so long ago’ (so CPB), while Kock (NN §2273), who is evidently troubled by the juxtaposition of æ ‘always’ and fyr löngu ‘long ago’, emends to æfar löngu ‘exceedingly long ago’, but this is hardly justified. — [3, 5] gengum; fengu vér ‘we set about; we married’: These are instances, not infrequent in Krm, of 1st pers. pl. forms (whether of verbs or pronouns) seeming to have singular reference to the speaker of the poem. On the treatment of such instances in the present edn, see the Introduction. Cf. also Helgi Guðmundsson (1972, 34-44) and McTurk (2011a). — [4] grafvitnis ‘of the digging-wolf [SNAKE]’: This kenning, meaning literally either ‘digging-wolf’ or ‘grave-wolf’ (see LP: grafvitnir) and endowing the snake with worm-like characteristics, is well established in Old Norse poetry (cf. Meissner 113), occurring as a proper name (for a serpent) in Grí 34/5, as one in a list of poetic terms for ‘snake’ in Þul Orma 2/1^III, and as the determinant in kennings for ‘gold’ in Esk Øxfl 6/4^III and Anon Bjark 4/8^III. — [4] morði ‘the slaying’: Kock (NN §2817) takes morð ‘slaying, battle’ here as synonymous with víg ‘fight, (hostile) encounter’ in l. 8, making the point that the phrase at því vígi ‘in that fight’ refers back to the serpent-slaying of l. 4. He further takes grafvitnis as a descriptive (or a def.?) gen. (cf. NS §§127, 123) rather than simply (as in the translation above, cf. CPB II, 341) an objective gen. (cf. NS §125), understanding it as ‘the fight (to the death) with the serpent, the serpent-fight’, comparing it with OE wyrmes wīġ ‘the fight with the dragon, the dragon-fight’, in Beowulf ll. 2316 and 2348. — [5] Þóru ‘Þóra’: Þóru is here gen. (sg.), the case required for the object of fengum ‘we married’. — [6-8]: The present edn follows Kock (NN §2817; Skald) and others in regarding the phrase at því vígi ‘in that fight’ as belonging adverbially with the clause þá er ek lagða(k) lyngölun ‘when I stabbed the heather-fish [SNAKE] to death’. Finnur Jónsson (1893b; 1905; Skj B) takes it with Fyrðar hétu mik Loðbrók ‘people have called me Loðbrók (“Hairy-breeches”)’. — [6, 7] þaðan, þá er ‘from the time when’: This phrasing illustrates the use of þaðan ‘thence, from there’, an adv. of place, being used in a temporal sense (cf. NN §2817; Fritzner: þaðan 2). — [7] ek lagðak lyngölun ‘I stabbed the heather-fish [SNAKE] to death’: The first element lyng- seems clear from the majority ms. readings ‘lyng’, ‘ling’, while ‘-olun’ 1824b, ‘-aulum’ LR and perhaps ‘-auluin’ R693ˣ point to -ölun, acc. sg. of ölunn ‘(a kind of) fish, mackerel’ (see LP: ǫlunn; Nordgaard 1912, 56-7), hence lyngölun, adopted in Skj B, Skald and by Finnur Jónsson (1905). The 6ˣ reading ‘lyngaal vm’ has been taken as lyngál ‘heather-eel [SNAKE]’ with um/of evidently understood as the expletive particle (so CPB; Wisén 1886-9; Krm 1891; Finnur Jónsson 1893b). — [8] Loðbrók ‘Loðbrók (“Hairy-breeches”)’: For a survey of theories of the origin of this appellation, see McTurk (1991a, 6-39). There it is suggested that it was originally a woman’s (or goddess’s) name, Loðbróka, which came to be regarded, in the form Loðbrók, as a man’s name or nickname; see further Note to Ragn 39/4. More recently Rowe (2012, 155-7, 164-6) suggested that it was originally a nickname deriving from a memory of the state of the nether garments of the viking Reginheri, a likely historical prototype for Ragnarr loðbrók, as a result of his suffering from dysentery when attacking Paris in 845 (as recorded in a near-contemporary source, the anonymous Miracula Sancti Germani c. 849-58, see Waitz 1887, 16; cf. Skyum-Nielsen 1967, 23, 38). The 1824b spelling lodbork is of interest in resembling that of Lodparchi in the reference by Adam of Bremen (c. 1076) to ‘Inguar, son of Lodparch(us)’ (Inguar filius Lodparchi) (Trillmich 1961, 208), for whom the viking leader Inwære, mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle s. a. 878 (ASC I, 74, 75), is almost certainly a historical prototype. The forms of the (nick)name loðbrókar/Loðbróku/loðbork as it appears in 1824b (cf. Ragn 37, Note to [All] and Ragn 39, Note to l. 4) seem to reflect doubt on the part of the 1824b scribe as to how it should be spelt. — [9-10]: In 147 (108v, l. 1) these lines (apart from the final word of l. 10) appear in abbreviated form between sts 13 and 14; see Ragn 1906-8, and Note to [All] in each of those two stanzas. Line 9 (apart from its final word) also appears in 147 (108v, l. 15), interrupting st. 20/7; see the first Note to that line. The first two words of l. 9, stakk ek ‘I thrust’, also appear in abbreviated form in 147 (108v, l. 25) between sts 22 and 23; see st. 23 Note to [All]. — [9-10]: This couplet is one of the nine final couplets in Krm that show regular skothending and aðalhending in ll. 9 and 10 respectively, the others being the final couplets of sts 2-4, 7, 12, 15-17; see Introduction. — [9] á lykkju storðar ‘at the loop of the earth [SNAKE]’: Cf. kennings for the World Serpent, Miðgarðsormr in ÚlfrU Húsdr 3/4^III men storðar ‘the necklace of the earth’ and Húsdr 4/1, 2^III stirðþinull … storðar ‘stiff cord ... of the earth’. — [10]: This line is paralleled in RvHbreiðm Hl 66/1, 4^III lét … bráðmôl stála lituð sveita ‘caused … welded patterns of swords to be coloured with blood’; cf. de Vries (1938, 722 n. 78). — [10] bjartra mála ‘with bright ornaments’: Mál n. pl. are inlaid patterns on sword-blades (see LP: 3. mál; Falk 1914b, 32, and cf. RvHbreiðm Hl 66/4^III bráðmôl stála ‘welded patterns of swords’ (see previous Note and NN §2080). The gen. bjartra mála is here descriptive (NS §127) rather than def. (NS §123).

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. 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.
7. CPB = Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and F. York Powell, eds. 1883. Corpus poeticum boreale: The Poetry of the Old Northern Tongue from the Earliest Times to the Thirteenth Century. 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon. Rpt. 1965, New York: Russell & Russell.
8. Wisén, Theodor, ed. 1886-9. Carmina Norrœnæ: Ex reliquiis vetustioris norrœnæ poësis selecta, recognita, commentariis et glossario instructa. 2 vols. Lund: Ohlsson.
9. Finnur Jónsson. 1893b. Carmina Norrœna: Rettet Tekst. Copenhagen: Nielsen & Lydiche.
10. 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.
11. NS = Nygaard, Marius. 1906. Norrøn syntax. Kristiania (Oslo): Aschehoug. Rpt. 1966.
12. Falk, Hjalmar. 1914b. Altnordische Waffenkunde. Videnskapsselskapets skrifter, II. Hist.-filos. kl. 1914, 6. Kristiania (Oslo): Dybwad.
13. ASC [Anglo-Saxon Chronicle] = Plummer, Charles and John Earle, eds. 1892-9. Two of the Saxon Chronicles Parallel. 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon. Rpt. 1952.
14. Hb 1892-6 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1892-6. Hauksbók udgiven efter de Arnamagnæanske håndskrifter no. 371, 544 og 675, 4° samt forskellige papirshåndskrifter. Copenhagen: Det kongelige nordiske oldskrift-selskab.
15. Nordgaard, O. 1912. ‘Fiskenavnene i Snorres Edda’. MM, 54-66.
16. Pfeiffer, Friedrich. 1860. Altnordisches Lesebuch. Leipzig: T. O. Weigel.
17. Helgi Guðmundsson. 1972. The Pronominal Dual in Icelandic. Reykjavík: Institute of Nordic Linguistics.
18. McTurk, Rory. 1991a. Studies in Ragnars saga loðbrókar and Its Major Scandinavian Analogues. Medium Ævum Monographs new ser. 15. Oxford: Society for the Study of Mediæval Languages and Literature.
19. Ragn 1906-8 = Olsen 1906-8, 111-222.
20. Vries, Jan de. 1938. Een skald onder de troubadours. Ledeburg, Gent: N. V. Drukkerij Erasmus.
21. Finnur Jónsson. 1905. ‘Krákumál’. Oversigt over det Kgl. Danske videnskabernes selskabs forhandlinger 1905, 151-83.
22. Rowe, Elizabeth Ashman. 2012. Vikings in the West: The Legend of Ragnarr Loðbrók and his Sons. Studia Medievalia Septentrionalia 18. Vienna: Fassbaender.
23. Trillmich, Werner, ed. and trans. 1961. Quellen des 9. und 11. Jahrhunderts zur Geschichte der hamburgischen Kirche und des Reiches. Rimbert: Leben Anskars; Adam von Bremen: Bischofsgeschichte der Hamburger Kirche; Wipo: Taten Kaiser Konrads II. Ausgewählte Quellen zur deutschen Geschichte des Mittelalters: Freiherr vom Stein-Gedächtnisausgabe 11. Berlin: Rütten & Loening.
24. Krm 1891 = 2nd edn (pp. 225-8) of Krm as ed. in Valdimar Ásmundarson 1885-9, I.
25. Saxo 2015 = Friis-Jensen, Karsten, ed. 2015. Saxo Grammaticus: Gesta Danorum: The History of the Danes. Trans. Peter Fisher. Oxford Medieval Texts. 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon.
26. Rafn, Carl Christian, ed. 1826. Krakas Maal eller Kvad om Kong Ragnar Lodbroks Krigsbedrifter og Heltedød efter en gammel Skindbog og flere hidtil ubenyttede Haandskrifter med dansk, latinsk og fransk oversættelse, forskjellige Læsemaader, samt kritiske og philologiske Anmærkninger. Copenhagen: Jens Hostrup Schultz; London: John and Arthur Arch.
27. Vries, Jan de. 1963. Heroic Song and Heroic Legend. Trans. B. J. Timmer. London: Oxford University Press. First published in Dutch in 1959 as Heldenlied en heldensage. Utrecht: Spectrum.
28. Ó Cathasaigh, Tomás. 1977. The Heroic Biography of Cormac mac Airt. Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.
29. Skyum-Nielsen, Niels, trans. 1967. Vikingerne i Paris. Beretninger fra 9. århundrede oversat og forklaret. Copenhagen: Munksgaard.
30. McTurk, Rory, ed. 2011a. ‘Konungs skuggsjá’. In Faulkes 2011a, 339-48.
31. Waitz, G., ed. 1887. Ex Miraculis S. Germani in Normannorum adventu factis.
32. LR = Worm 1636.
33. Internal references
34. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Poems, Bjarkamál in fornu 4’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 500.
35. 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Ragnars saga loðbrókar’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 616. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=81> (accessed 30 April 2024)
36. 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Ragnars sona þáttr’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 777. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=85> (accessed 30 April 2024)
37. Not published: do not cite (Rloð^VIII)
38. Rory McTurk 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Krákumál’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 706. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1020> (accessed 30 April 2024)
39. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Orma heiti 2’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 929.
40. Kari Ellen Gade 2017, ‘ Rǫgnvaldr jarl and Hallr Þórarinsson, Háttalykill’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1001. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1347> (accessed 30 April 2024)
41. Edith Marold with the assistance of Vivian Busch, Jana Krüger, Ann-Dörte Kyas and Katharina Seidel, translated from German by John Foulks 2017, ‘ Úlfr Uggason, Húsdrápa’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 402. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1492> (accessed 30 April 2024)
42. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Einarr Skúlason, Øxarflokkr 6’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 146.
43. Not published: do not cite ()
44. Rory McTurk (ed.) 2017, ‘Ragnars saga loðbrókar 37 (Anonymous Lausavísur, Lausavísur from Ragnars saga loðbrókar 7)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 697.
45. Rory McTurk (ed.) 2017, ‘Ragnars saga loðbrókar 39 (Anonymous Lausavísur, Lausavísur from Ragnars saga loðbrókar 9)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 701.
46. Not published: do not cite ()
47. Not published: do not cite ()