Russell Poole (ed.) 2012, ‘Óláfr inn helgi Haraldsson, Lausavísur 9’ 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. 528.
Ár stóð eik in dýra
jarladóms með blómi
harðla grœn, sem Hǫrðar
hvert misseri vissu.
Nú hefr bekkjar tré bliknat
brátt Mardallar gráti
(lind hefr) laufi bundit
(línu jǫrð í Gǫrðum).
Ár stóð {in dýra eik jarladóms} harðla grœn með blómi, sem Hǫrðar vissu hvert misseri. Nú hefr {tré bekkjar}, bundit laufi, bliknat brátt {gráti Mardallar}; {lind línu} hefr jǫrð í Gǫrðum.
‘Formerly the precious oak of the jarldom [WOMAN] stood intensely green with blossom, as the Hǫrðar knew each season. Now the tree of the bench [WOMAN], wreathed with foliage, has grown pale fast with the weeping of Mardǫll <= Freyja> [GOLD]; the linden-tree of the headdress [WOMAN] has land in Russia.’
The stanza follows Lv 8 with minimal introduction. An evaluation of the benefits of Óláfr’s relationship with Ingigerðr for both him and her closes the episode.
The stanza makes elaborate and witty use of woman-kennings with ‘tree’ as the base-word, in a way reminiscent of Lv 2. The imagery contrasting flourishing greenness with paleness in that stanza is also recalled.
Text is based on reconstruction from the base text and variant apparatus and may contain alternative spellings and other normalisations not visible in the manuscript text. Transcriptions may not have been checked and should not be cited.
Ár stóð ok in dýra
†j†dóms með blómi
harðla grœn, sem Hǫrðar
hvatt misseri vissu.
Nú hefr bekkjar tré bliknat
brátt Mardallar gráti
(lind hefr) laufi bundit
(†limuord† í Gǫrðum).
Ar stod ok enn dyra jdoms med blomi hardla grœn sem ha | urdar huatt missari vissu nu hefir beckiar tre bliknnat bratt mar | dallar grati línd hefir laufui bundít límuord j gaurdum
(DW)
Use the buttons at the top of the page to navigate between stanzas in a poem.
The text and translation are given here, with buttons to toggle whether the text is shown in the verse order or prose word order. Clicking on indiviudal words gives dictionary links, variant readings, kennings and notes, where relevant.
This is the text of the edition in a similar format to how the edition appears in the printed volumes.
This view is also used for chapters and other text segments. Not all the headings shown are relevant to such sections.