Ótt Hfl 1^I

Matthew Townend (ed.) 2012, ‘Óttarr svarti, Hǫfuðlausn 1’ 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. 741.

text and translation

notes and context

The stanza is quoted (whole or first line only) in the context of the head-ransom story derived from Styrmir (see Introduction).

Tóm introduces the stanza with the explanation that Óttarr began reciting the drápa he had composed about the king, ok er þetta upp haf ‘and this is the beginning’ (ÓH 1941, II, 702). The technical term upphaf ‘beginning’ suggests that the Tóm author regarded this stanza (and presumably st. 2 as well) as integral to the poem, and not a semi-independent introductory verse in the way that, for example, Sigv Lv 2 leads into Sigv Víkv, and Ótt Lv 2 may have led into Ótt Knútdr. — Readings from 761bˣ are included here since Tóm has the only complete text, and although the 761bˣ readings correspond closely to those of Tóm, they are not identical, so that it cannot be certain that there was not another source. — [1-2]: These lines echo the first two lines of Sigv Lv 2, the lausavísa with which Sigvatr supposedly sought service with Óláfr Haraldsson: Hlýð mínum brag, meiðir | myrkblás, þvít kannk yrkja ‘Listen to my poetry, destroyer of the dark black (steed of awnings [SHIP > WARRIOR]), because I know how to compose’ (the ship-kenning appears in Sigvatr’s l. 4). Finnur Jónsson assumes that l. 2 is simply a mistaken scribal duplication of Sigvatr’s line (and hence he does not print a l. 2 in Skj B), but, as noted below, Kock argues that Óttarr, at the start of his own poem seeking service with Óláfr, is deliberately recalling and wittily re-using Sigvatr’s call for a hearing (see also Fidjestøl 1982, 214-5); this includes the opening Hlýð ‘Listen’. Skj B suggests minni is part of the poss. pron. minn (qualifying a f. noun such as drápu in the putative lost l. 2). Kock (NN §721), however, takes minni as the noun ‘memory, recollection’, and this solution is adopted here, not least because, as Rainford (1995, 62) points out, Sigvatr uses minni in a similar sense in Víkv 1/6. — [3-4]: The lines seem to be saying something about Óttarr’s move from the service of the deceased Óláfr Eiríksson to that of Óláfr Haraldsson, but the most obvious rendering of them, ‘we come to you, lord, and another fallen king’, would be difficult to account for, and the sense tentatively assumed here remains contextually puzzling. (a) In the translation above, fallinn is taken primarily in the sense of ‘worthy’, which is attested in prose texts (see CVC: falla B. II. 2), although normally as part of a gen. construction fallinn til e-s or just fallinn e-s ‘worthy of (being) something’. Annan is taken in its general sense ‘another’, since Skáldatal records Óttarr’s prior service of Sveinn tjúguskegg ‘Fork-beard’ Haraldsson, and (in ms. U only) Ǫnundr Óláfsson, as well as of Óláfr Eiríksson (SnE 1848-87, III, 252, 258, 260, 267). For the audience of these lines there may have been a studied ambiguity between ‘another fallen king’ and ‘another worthy king’, hingeing on Óttarr’s movement from the one Óláfr to the other. (b) Rainford (1995, 62) also adopts the translation ‘worthy’, and takes annan as the ordinal ‘second’, hence ‘we come to you as (our) second lord, worthy sovereign’, but in construing fallinn as nom. sg. qualifying allvaldr ‘mighty ruler’ she assumes contorted syntax in l. 8. (c) Kock (NN §722) keeps the more obvious sense of fallinn as ‘fallen’, takes it as acc. sg. qualifying konung ‘king’ and suggests emending ok to fyr: ‘we find you, lord, in place of another, fallen king’. This gives excellent sense, but does require emendation. (d) Following his belief that there is a missing l. 2, Finnur declares these lines to be unintelligible as they stand, and offers no interpretation in Skj B. — [5-8]: These are very difficult lines, for which considerable emendation may be needed. All previous commentators agree in reading nistanda ‘feeder’ for ms. ‘sistanda’ as base-word of a warrior-kenning. Parallels elsewhere in the later skaldic corpus include ESk Geisl 25/6^VII nistandi ulfs ‘feeder of the wolf’ and Gkǫrt Lv 1/5^IV valnistandi ‘hawk-feeder’. Most eds emend ms. grams ‘of the king’, and it is reasonable to think that scribes may have erroneously assumed a phrase grams Gauta ‘king of the Gautar’, but there are varying views about the best emendation, and about the interpretation of glað-. (a) Skj B takes glað as ‘horse’ (cf. LP: glaðr 1), and emends ms. grams ‘of the king’ to gífrs ‘of the giantess’ to produce a kenning gífrs glaðnistandi ‘feeder of the horse of the giantess [(lit. horse-feeder of the giantess) WOLF > WARRIOR]’. However, this entails a very complex word order in ll. 5-8: Telk þat lengi mitt verk at dýrka gífrs glaðnistanda, dýr [sic] þengill, síz mistak dǫglings Gauta ‘I reckon it for a long time my work to glorify the feeder of the horse of the giantess, excellent lord, since I have lost the prince of the Gautar’. (b) Kock (NN §723), followed here, argues that ms. grams should be garms ‘of the dog’, that Gauta is not the ethnic name but rather the Óðinn-name (i.e. gen. sg. of Gauti rather than gen. pl. of Gautar), and that glað has its more usual sense ‘glad’ rather than ‘horse’. Another kenning in which ‘wolf’ is referred to as the dog of Óðinn is HHund I 13/7 grey Viðris (NK 132). Under this interpretation garms ... mis(s)tak (ll. 5-6) forms a coordinate clause. The interaction of the two clauses expresses well both Óttarr’s grief for Óláfr Eiríksson and his hopes for new service with Óláfr Haraldsson. (c) Rainford (1995, 63) suggests a middle course in which Garmr might simply be taken as a heiti for ‘wolf’ (cf., perhaps, Mánagarmr ‘moon-hound’ referring to a wolf in SnE 2005, 14; see Note to Gsind Hákdr 8/8). Hence the kenning would be glaðnistandi Garms ‘glad feeder of the Garmr [WARRIOR]’. In favour of this would be Einarr Skúlason’s kenning nistandi ulfs ‘feeder of the wolf’ in Geisl 25/6^VII, a poem explicitly indebted to Óttarr’s poem on Óláfr Haraldsson (see Geisl 12^VII), which may indicate that Einarr took Óttarr’s example to be nistandi Garms. The addition of Gauta ‘of the Gautar’ to the warrior-kenning to produce a reference to Óláfr Eiríksson, King of the Swedes, would be appropriate, but such constructions are unusual.

readings

• [1] Hlýð manngǫfugr: ‘[…]fogr’ NRA52
• [2] ‑blás: ‘‑bals’ Tóm, 761bˣ
• [2] þvít (‘þviat’): því 761bˣ
• [3] finnum: ‘f̣æ̣ṛịṃ’ 761bˣ
• [5] garms: grams Tóm, 761bˣ
• [6] ‑nistanda: ‘sistanda’ Tóm, 761bˣ
• [8] mitt: mik Tóm, 761bˣ

sources

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.

• GKS 1008 fol (Tóm) — 122r/30 - 122r/32

  Hlýð, manngǫfugr, minni
  myrk†-bals†, þvít kannk yrkja;
  finnum yðr ok annan,
  allvaldr, konung fallinn.
  Þat telk, grams ok Gauta
  glað†sistanda† misstak,
  dǫglings verk at dýrka,
  dýrr þengill, mik lengi.

  Hlyð mann gaufugur mínne ∙ myrck bals þviat ec kann yr | ckia finnum yðr ok annan ∙ alvalldr konung fallinn ∙ þat tel ec grams ok gauta ∙ gl | að sistanda mistag dauglings verck ath dyrcka dyr þeíngill mic leíngí ∙

  (DW)

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• NRA 52 (NRA52) — 3r/5 - 3r/5

  †[…]fogr†, , minni
  myrkblás, þvít kannk yrkja;
  finnum yðr ok annan,
  allvaldr, konung fallinn.
  Þat telk, garms ok Gauta
  glaðnistanda misstak,
  dǫglings verk at dýrka,
  dýrr þengill, mitt lengi.

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• DG 8 (DG8) — 91r/20 - 91r/21

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• AM 761 b 4°x (761bx) — 268r/4 - 268r/11

  Hlýð, manngǫfugr, minni
  myrk†-bals†, því kannk yrkja;
  †f̣æ̣ṛịṃ† yðr ok annan,
  allvaldr, konung fallinn.
  Þat telk, grams ok Gauta
  glað†sistanda† misstak,
  dǫglings verk at dýrka,
  dýrr þengill, mik lengi.

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editions and texts