Mberf Lv 5^II

Jǫrp mun eigi verpa
arm-Hlín* á glæ sínum;
orð spyrk gollhrings Gerðar
góð of skald í hljóði.
Annk, þótt eigi finnak
opt, goðvefjar þoptu;
viti menn, at hykk hennar
hôla rœkðarmôlum.

{Jǫrp arm-Hlín*} mun eigi verpa sínum á glæ; spyrk í hljóði góð orð {Gerðar gollhrings} of skald. Annk {þoptu goðvefjar}, þótt eigi finnak opt; viti menn, at hykk hôla rœkðarmôlum hennar.

{The brown-haired Hlín <goddess> of the arm} [WOMAN] will not throw away her [words] to no avail; I hear in secret the kind words {of the Gerðr <goddess> of the gold ring} [WOMAN] about the skald. I love {the thwart of precious cloth} [WOMAN], although I don’t often meet [her]; let men know that I think very highly of her caring comments.

Mss: Mork(24r) (Mork); H(91v), Hr(63ra) (H-Hr); F(59va), E(35v), J2ˣ(314r-v), 42ˣ(14v)

Readings: [2] arm‑: so F, E, J2ˣ, 42ˣ, orm‑ Mork, H, Hr;    ‑Hlín*: ‑linns Mork, F, E, J2ˣ, 42ˣ, ‑lín with a partly erased letter after ‑n H, ‑líns Hr;    sínum: sinni F, E, J2ˣ, 42ˣ    [4] of: mun Hr    [5] þótt: þó Hr;    finnak: finna Hr    [7] hykk: hug 42ˣ;    hennar: so F, E, J2ˣ, 42ˣ, henni Mork, H, Hr    [8] hôla: ‘hal ꜳ’ Hr, ‘hæla’ F, ‘halar’ 42ˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 433, Skj BI, 403, Skald I, 199, NN §2532; Mork 1867, 152, Mork 1928-32, 330-1, Andersson and Gade 2000, 308, 487 (Mberf); Fms 7, 62 (Mberf ch. 30); F 1871, 276, E 1916, 125 (Mberf).

Context: As Lv 3-4 above.

Notes: [1] jǫrp ‘the brown-haired’: Lit. ‘brown’. — [2] arm-Hlín* ‘the Hlín <goddess> of the arm [WOMAN]’: Ormlinns ‘of the snake-tree’ or ‘of the snake-fire’ (so Mork, Hr) and armlinns ‘of the arm-snake’ or ‘of the arm-tree’, ‘of the arm-fire’ (so F, E, J2ˣ, 42ˣ) make no sense in the present context, and the emendation is in keeping with earlier eds. Linnr usually means ‘snake’ and, more rarely, ‘tree’ (see LP: linnr 1-2). — [2] sínum ‘her [words]’: In the construction verpa á glæ, lit. ‘throw into the sea’, i.e. ‘throw away to no avail’ (ll. 1, 2), an implicit orðum (n. dat. pl.) ‘words’ is understood as a referent to sínum (dat. pl. or m. dat. sg.) ‘her’ (so Skj B). Kock’s (NN §2532) attempt to explain sínum as an absolute dat. (kvinnan kastar inte sitt i sjön ‘the woman does not throw hers into the sea’, i.e. ‘what she does, is not thrown away’, ‘what she does, she does not do in vain’) is less convincing. For the idioms kasta, verpa, bera á glæ ‘throw, carry into the sea’ (‘throw away to no avail’), see Fritzner: glær. — [3] Gerðar gollhrings ‘of the Gerðr <goddess> of the gold ring [WOMAN]’: This woman-kenning also occurs in the refrain of the Gamanvísur ‘Jesting Vísur’ (Hharð Gamv), which Magnús’s grandfather, Haraldr harðráði Sigurðarson, composed about his future wife, Ellisif (Elizabeth), the daughter of Jaroslav of Novgorod. The verbal echo is hardly coincidental, because Magnús seems to have wanted to emulate his grandfather (cf. his military campaigns in the west). — [7] hennar (f. gen. sg.) ‘her’: Henni (f. dat. sg.) ‘her’ (so Mork, H, Hr) is ungrammatical in the present context.

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. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
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. 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.
8. 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.
9. Mork 1928-32 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1928-32. Morkinskinna. SUGNL 53. Copenhagen: Jørgensen.
10. F 1871 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1871. Fríssbók: Codex Frisianus. En samling af norske konge-sagaer. Christiania (Oslo): Malling.
11. E 1916 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1916. Eirspennill: AM 47 fol. Nóregs konunga sǫgur: Magnús góði – Hákon gamli. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske historiske kildeskriftskommission.
12. 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.
13. Internal references
14. Kari Ellen Gade 2009, ‘(Biography of) Haraldr harðráði Sigurðarson’ 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. 35-56.
15. (forthcoming), ‘ Heimskringla, Magnúss saga berfœtts’ 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=144> (accessed 19 April 2024)
16. Kari Ellen Gade 2009, ‘ Haraldr harðráði Sigurðarson, Gamanvísur’ 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. 35-41. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=3262> (accessed 19 April 2024)
17. Not published: do not cite ()