Ólhelg Lv 5I
Russell Poole (ed.) 2012, ‘Óláfr inn helgi Haraldsson, Lausavísur 5’ 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. 523.
Nær ‘almost’
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nær (adv.): near, almost; when
notes
[1] nærs, sem ‘it is almost as if’: The same construction, introducing a simile or comparison, occurs in Anon Liðs 7/5-7.
s ‘It is’
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2. vera (verb): be, is, was, were, are, am
notes
[1] nærs, sem ‘it is almost as if’: The same construction, introducing a simile or comparison, occurs in Anon Liðs 7/5-7.
sem ‘as if’
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sem (conj.): as, which
notes
[1] nærs, sem ‘it is almost as if’: The same construction, introducing a simile or comparison, occurs in Anon Liðs 7/5-7.
upp ‘up’
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upp (adv.): up
ór ‘from’
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3. ór (prep.): out of
innar ‘further in’
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innar (adv.): further in, inside
snót ‘lady’
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snót (noun f.; °; -ir): woman
notes
[3] snót, hver ‘lady, who’: The word order suggests that snót ‘lady’ is a direct address to be taken with seg mér ‘tell me’, i.e. hver (f. nom. sg.) is pronominal rather than adjectival, as it would be in hver snót ‘(tell me) which lady ...’.
er ‘’
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2. vera (verb): be, is, was, were, are, am
notes
[3] snót, hver ‘lady, who’: The word order suggests that snót ‘lady’ is a direct address to be taken with seg mér ‘tell me’, i.e. hver (f. nom. sg.) is pronominal rather than adjectival, as it would be in hver snót ‘(tell me) which lady ...’.
svá ‘so’
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svá (adv.): so, thus
mjǫk ‘much’
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mjǫk (adv.): very, much
láti ‘puts on airs’
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láta (verb): let, have sth done
seg ‘tell’
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segja (verb): say, tell
mér ‘me’
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ek (pron.; °mín, dat. mér, acc. mik): I, me
loga ‘flame’
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logi (noun m.; °-a; -ar): flame
bregði ‘shot’
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bregða (verb; °bregðr/brigðr; brá, brugðu; brugðinn/brogðinn): pull, jerk, break; change
Mik ‘me’
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ek (pron.; °mín, dat. mér, acc. mik): I, me
hefr ‘have’
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hafa (verb): have
mála ‘’
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2. máli (noun m.; °-a; dat. -um): agreement
notes
[5] sykvinn ... máli ‘cheated ... of speech’: The p. p. is from svíkja ‘to cheat’. The notion of the joyless lover occurs frequently in mansǫngr (Bjarni Einarsson 1961, 23-37) but that he is silenced is less common.
sykum ‘’
svikit ‘’
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svíkja (verb): betray, deceive
sykvinn ‘cheated’
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svíkja (verb): betray, deceive
[5] sykvinn: so Flat, svikit DG8, ‘sykvm’ Tóm
notes
[5] sykvinn ... máli ‘cheated ... of speech’: The p. p. is from svíkja ‘to cheat’. The notion of the joyless lover occurs frequently in mansǫngr (Bjarni Einarsson 1961, 23-37) but that he is silenced is less common.
mest ‘most’
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meiri (adj. comp.; °meiran; superl. mestr): more, most
á ‘in a’
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3. á (prep.): on, at
skǫmmu ‘short’
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skammr (adj.): short
fresti ‘time’
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2. frest (noun n.): time
gekk ‘went’
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2. ganga (verb; geng, gekk, gengu, genginn): walk, go
notes
[7] gekk’k of golf at drekka ‘I went across the hall to drink’: This intercalation, alluding as it does to crossing a hall, may hint at the status of this stanza as court entertainment. For the concept of the double use of a hall (or other) setting, both within and outside the narrative frame, see Lönnroth (2008, 7-28).
k ‘I’
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ek (pron.; °mín, dat. mér, acc. mik): I, me
notes
[7] gekk’k of golf at drekka ‘I went across the hall to drink’: This intercalation, alluding as it does to crossing a hall, may hint at the status of this stanza as court entertainment. For the concept of the double use of a hall (or other) setting, both within and outside the narrative frame, see Lönnroth (2008, 7-28).
of ‘across’
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3. of (prep.): around, from; too
notes
[7] gekk’k of golf at drekka ‘I went across the hall to drink’: This intercalation, alluding as it does to crossing a hall, may hint at the status of this stanza as court entertainment. For the concept of the double use of a hall (or other) setting, both within and outside the narrative frame, see Lönnroth (2008, 7-28).
golf ‘the floor’
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golf (noun n.): floor
notes
[7] gekk’k of golf at drekka ‘I went across the hall to drink’: This intercalation, alluding as it does to crossing a hall, may hint at the status of this stanza as court entertainment. For the concept of the double use of a hall (or other) setting, both within and outside the narrative frame, see Lönnroth (2008, 7-28).
at ‘to’
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5. at (nota): to (with infinitive)
notes
[7] gekk’k of golf at drekka ‘I went across the hall to drink’: This intercalation, alluding as it does to crossing a hall, may hint at the status of this stanza as court entertainment. For the concept of the double use of a hall (or other) setting, both within and outside the narrative frame, see Lönnroth (2008, 7-28).
drekka ‘drink’
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2. drekka (verb; °drekkr; drakk, drukku; drukkinn/drykkinn): drink
notes
[7] gekk’k of golf at drekka ‘I went across the hall to drink’: This intercalation, alluding as it does to crossing a hall, may hint at the status of this stanza as court entertainment. For the concept of the double use of a hall (or other) setting, both within and outside the narrative frame, see Lönnroth (2008, 7-28).
gramr ‘The king’
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1. gramr (noun m.): ruler
notes
[8] gramr ok brattir hamrar ‘the king and steep crags [Ingibjǫrg]’: This is an obvious ofljóst for Ingi (‘king’) bjǫrg (‘crags, cliffs’). Such disguises for women’s names are popular in mansǫngr (Frank 1970). Substitutions and paronomasia involving different heiti for the related concepts ‘stone, rock, mountain, crag’ predominate in the attestations. The names themselves often appear to be stereotypic, and that may be the case here. Ingibjǫrg is identified in the prose context as Finnsdóttir, but there is no narrative attached to the stanza, and chronology would scarcely allow this to be the daughter of Finnr Árnason who later married Þorfinnr Sigurðarson, jarl of Orkney (see ÍF 34, 63 and n. 1).
ok ‘and’
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3. ok (conj.): and, but; also
notes
[8] gramr ok brattir hamrar ‘the king and steep crags [Ingibjǫrg]’: This is an obvious ofljóst for Ingi (‘king’) bjǫrg (‘crags, cliffs’). Such disguises for women’s names are popular in mansǫngr (Frank 1970). Substitutions and paronomasia involving different heiti for the related concepts ‘stone, rock, mountain, crag’ predominate in the attestations. The names themselves often appear to be stereotypic, and that may be the case here. Ingibjǫrg is identified in the prose context as Finnsdóttir, but there is no narrative attached to the stanza, and chronology would scarcely allow this to be the daughter of Finnr Árnason who later married Þorfinnr Sigurðarson, jarl of Orkney (see ÍF 34, 63 and n. 1).
brattir ‘steep’
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brattr (adj.; °compar. -ari, superl. -astr): steep
notes
[8] gramr ok brattir hamrar ‘the king and steep crags [Ingibjǫrg]’: This is an obvious ofljóst for Ingi (‘king’) bjǫrg (‘crags, cliffs’). Such disguises for women’s names are popular in mansǫngr (Frank 1970). Substitutions and paronomasia involving different heiti for the related concepts ‘stone, rock, mountain, crag’ predominate in the attestations. The names themselves often appear to be stereotypic, and that may be the case here. Ingibjǫrg is identified in the prose context as Finnsdóttir, but there is no narrative attached to the stanza, and chronology would scarcely allow this to be the daughter of Finnr Árnason who later married Þorfinnr Sigurðarson, jarl of Orkney (see ÍF 34, 63 and n. 1).
hamrar ‘crags [Ingibjǫrg]’
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1. hamarr (noun m.; °-s, dat. hamri; hamrar): hammer, cliff
notes
[8] gramr ok brattir hamrar ‘the king and steep crags [Ingibjǫrg]’: This is an obvious ofljóst for Ingi (‘king’) bjǫrg (‘crags, cliffs’). Such disguises for women’s names are popular in mansǫngr (Frank 1970). Substitutions and paronomasia involving different heiti for the related concepts ‘stone, rock, mountain, crag’ predominate in the attestations. The names themselves often appear to be stereotypic, and that may be the case here. Ingibjǫrg is identified in the prose context as Finnsdóttir, but there is no narrative attached to the stanza, and chronology would scarcely allow this to be the daughter of Finnr Árnason who later married Þorfinnr Sigurðarson, jarl of Orkney (see ÍF 34, 63 and n. 1).
Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses
The stanza, which follows Lv 3 in ÓH and Sigv Lv 19 in ÓHLeg, is prefaced by a bare remark that some say that King Óláfr composed it about Ingibjǫrg Finnsdóttir (see Note to l. 8).
[2]: Some medieval Scandinavian halls were constructed with partitioned-off apartments at the gable ends, the main entrance(s) being at the middle of the long sides of the building (cf. Foote and Wilson 1980, 152-6; Niles 2007, 42, 46). The speaker can be envisaged as at one of these entrances, while the women are in or near one of the apartments. The speaker’s placement is similar to that of Kormákr on his first sight of Steingerðr (KormǪ Lv 1-4V (Korm 1-4)).
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