Ótt Lv 2I
Matthew Townend (ed.) 2012, ‘Óttarr svarti, Lausavísur 2’ 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. 786.
Svá ‘so’
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svá (adv.): so, thus
skal ‘[I] shall’
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skulu (verb): shall, should, must
notes
[1] skal ‘[I] shall’: The verb could either be 1st pers. with unexpressed subject (‘I shall so greet’) or 3rd pers. with an impersonal usage (‘one shall so greet’ or ‘the king shall so be greeted’).
kveðja ‘greet’
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2. kveðja (verb; kvaddi): (dd) request, address, greet
konung ‘the king’
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konungr (noun m.; °dat. -i, -s; -ar): king
kennings
konung Dana, Íra ok Engla Eybúa,‘the king of the Danes, of the Irish and of the English of the Island-dwellers, ’
= Knútr
the king of the Danes, of the Irish and of the English of the Island-dwellers, → Knútr
Dana ‘of the Danes’
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Danr (noun m.; °dat. -; -ir): Dane
kennings
konung Dana, Íra ok Engla Eybúa,‘the king of the Danes, of the Irish and of the English of the Island-dwellers, ’
= Knútr
the king of the Danes, of the Irish and of the English of the Island-dwellers, → Knútr
Íra ‘of the Irish’
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írar (noun m.): Irishmen
kennings
konung Dana, Íra ok Engla Eybúa,‘the king of the Danes, of the Irish and of the English of the Island-dwellers, ’
= Knútr
the king of the Danes, of the Irish and of the English of the Island-dwellers, → Knútr
notes
[3] Íra ‘of the Irish’: On Knútr’s relations with the Irish see Hudson (1994).
ok ‘and’
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3. ok (conj.): and, but; also
kennings
konung Dana, Íra ok Engla Eybúa,‘the king of the Danes, of the Irish and of the English of the Island-dwellers, ’
= Knútr
the king of the Danes, of the Irish and of the English of the Island-dwellers, → Knútr
Engla ‘of the English’
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Englar (noun m.): English people
kennings
konung Dana, Íra ok Engla Eybúa,‘the king of the Danes, of the Irish and of the English of the Island-dwellers, ’
= Knútr
the king of the Danes, of the Irish and of the English of the Island-dwellers, → Knútr
ok ‘and’
(not checked:)
3. ok (conj.): and, but; also
kennings
konung Dana, Íra ok Engla Eybúa,‘the king of the Danes, of the Irish and of the English of the Island-dwellers, ’
= Knútr
the king of the Danes, of the Irish and of the English of the Island-dwellers, → Knútr
Eybúa ‘of the Island-dwellers’
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Eybúi (noun m.): [Island-dwellers]
kennings
konung Dana, Íra ok Engla Eybúa,‘the king of the Danes, of the Irish and of the English of the Island-dwellers, ’
= Knútr
the king of the Danes, of the Irish and of the English of the Island-dwellers, → Knútr
notes
[4] Eybúa ‘of the Island-dwellers’: In skaldic poetry Eyjar ‘(the) Isles’ is normally used as a term to refer to Orkney, though in Old Norse prose Eyjar covers both the Northern and Western Isles (Shetland and the Hebrides, as well as Orkney); hence the Eybúar, a term occurring only here, are presumably the Orcadians. See further Jesch (1993b, 229-35 and 236 n. 14).
at ‘that’
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4. at (conj.): that
hans ‘his’
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hann (pron.; °gen. hans, dat. honum; f. hon, gen. hennar, acc. hana): he, she, it, they, them...
fari ‘may travel’
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fara (verb; ferr, fór, fóru, farinn): go, travel
notes
[6] með himinkrǫptum ‘with heavenly support’: Skj B emends to himinskautum ‘(under) the regions of heaven’, i.e. the whole earth, by analogy with occurrences elsewhere in eddic and skaldic verse (LP: himinskaut). However, the proposed parallels all postdate Óttarr’s work by at least a century and a half, and the reading of DG8 gives perfectly good sense. The second element could be either kraptr ‘power, might’ (compare cognate OE cræft) or krapti ‘timber, pillar’. Kock (NN §3073) argues for the element to be kraptr, with the resultant meaning ‘with heavenly powers’ or ‘with heavenly support’, as here, following ÓHLeg 1982, 131 (mit himmlischen Beistand). Óttarr’s stanza thus makes a bold claim of divine sanction for both the king’s fame and the poet’s praise, a claim in keeping with both the language of the 1027 Letter (which stresses divine omnipotence) and other poems for Knútr (such as the ‘cosmic’ refrains of Sigv Knútdr 3/1 and 7/1, Þloft Hfl, Þloft Tøgdr 1/1, and Hallv Knútdr 8/8: see Note to Þloft Hfl [All]).
himinkrǫptum ‘heavenly support’
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himinkraftr (noun m.): [heavenly support]
notes
[6] með himinkrǫptum ‘with heavenly support’: Skj B emends to himinskautum ‘(under) the regions of heaven’, i.e. the whole earth, by analogy with occurrences elsewhere in eddic and skaldic verse (LP: himinskaut). However, the proposed parallels all postdate Óttarr’s work by at least a century and a half, and the reading of DG8 gives perfectly good sense. The second element could be either kraptr ‘power, might’ (compare cognate OE cræft) or krapti ‘timber, pillar’. Kock (NN §3073) argues for the element to be kraptr, with the resultant meaning ‘with heavenly powers’ or ‘with heavenly support’, as here, following ÓHLeg 1982, 131 (mit himmlischen Beistand). Óttarr’s stanza thus makes a bold claim of divine sanction for both the king’s fame and the poet’s praise, a claim in keeping with both the language of the 1027 Letter (which stresses divine omnipotence) and other poems for Knútr (such as the ‘cosmic’ refrains of Sigv Knútdr 3/1 and 7/1, Þloft Hfl, Þloft Tøgdr 1/1, and Hallv Knútdr 8/8: see Note to Þloft Hfl [All]).
lǫndum ‘the lands’
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land (noun n.; °-s; *-): land
ǫllum ‘through all’
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allr (adj.): all
lof ‘praise’
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lof (noun n.; °-s; -): praise, leave, permission
notes
[8] lof ‘praise’: A double meaning may be intended here, as the word can mean ‘poem’ as well as ‘praise’.
Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses
ÓHLeg tells of how Óttarr entered into Knútr’s service. He comes into the king’s hall and speaks the stanza, which serves as a promise of a fuller kvæði ‘poem’ which Óttarr subsequently recites (and which is not quoted; see Introduction).
[2-4]: The best parallel for this ostentatious roll-call of subjects is Knútr’s 1027 Letter, which proclaims him as (in William of Malmesbury’s version) rex totius Angliae et Danemarkiae et Norregiae et partis Swauorum ‘king of all England, Denmark, and Norway, and of part of the Swedes’ (Mynors, Thomson and Winterbottom 1998-9, I, 324, cf. Darlington and McGurk 1995-, II, 512). The rhetoric of imperial over-kingship is similar, though Óttarr’s list in ll. 3-4 seems to focus deliberately on the British Isles (on Knútr’s empire see Bolton 2009).
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