Rv Lv 11^II

Ala kvezk Einarr vilja
engan Rǫgnvalds drengja
— mér kemr Gauts á góma
gjalfr — nema jarlinn sjalfan.
Veitk, at hratzk í heitum
hugþekkr firum ekki;
inn gekk, Yggs þars brunnu
eldar síð á kveldi.

Einarr kvezk vilja ala engan drengja Rǫgnvalds nema jarlinn sjalfan; {gjalfr Gauts} kemr á góma mér. Veitk, at ekki hugþekkr firum hratzk í heitum; gekk inn, þars {eldar Yggs} brunnu síð á kveldi.

Einarr said that he wished to entertain none of the followers of Rǫgnvaldr except the jarl himself; {the roaring sea of Gautr <= Óðinn>} [POETRY] comes to my palate. I know that [the one] not amiable to men overturned his promises; I went in where {the fires of Yggr <= Óðinn>} [SWORDS] burned late in the evening.

Mss: Flat(139va), R702ˣ(44r) (Orkn)

Readings: [3] kemr: so R702ˣ, fellr Flat    [4] gjalfr: so R702ˣ, gjalfrs Flat;    jarlinn: jarl R702ˣ    [5] hratzk: ‘hrꜳz’ Flat, ‘vazt’ R702ˣ    [6] hug‑: var hann R702ˣ    [7] Yggs: ek R702ˣ    [8] kveldi: kveldum R702ˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 507, Skj BI, 481, Skald I, 236, NN §2795; Flat 1860-8, II, 474-5, Orkn 1887, 151, Orkn 1913-16, 219, ÍF 34, 198 (ch. 85), Bibire 1988, 230.

Context: After the shipwreck, Rǫgnvaldr sent twelve of his men to stay with Einarr in Gulberwick (Gullberuvík), either at the present farm called Wick (ÍF 34, 198 n. 1) or ‘the old farm of Trebister’ (Taylor 1938, 391 n. 4).

Notes: [All]: In contrast to the st., which states that Einarr was only willing to offer hospitality to the jarl, the saga says that Einarr would only accept these men if the jarl came too (the translation of the st. in Skj B seems to have been influenced by the prose). The prose context also implies that Rǫgnvaldr spoke this st. before going in to Einarr’s farm, while l. 7 of the st. suggests the opposite. — [3] kemr ‘comes’: As pointed out by Kock (NN §2795), R702ˣ’s variant is required for the skothending. — [5-6]: Skj B (followed by Orkn 1913-16) adopts R702ˣ’s readings throughout these ll., giving veitk at vatzk í heitum; hann var ekki firum þekkr, interpreted more or less as ‘I know that he got entangled in threats; he was not beloved of men’. This makes good enough sense in itself but it is not clear how it relates to the rest of the st. The reading adopted here (largely following ÍF 34) is admittedly awkward and also hard to reconcile with the rest of the st., but is chosen in an attempt to make sense of the main ms. Ultimately, the lack of a detailed and unambiguous context for the st. makes it difficult to arrive at a definitive interpretation. — [5] hratzk ‘overturned’: This emendation, first suggested in ÍF 34, assumes a m. v. form of the verb hrinda ‘push, shove, overturn’. As this verb is rarely if ever recorded in the m. v. form, its exact meaning is hard to deduce, though ‘he overturned himself in his promises’ would give the sense of someone who has gone back on his word. — [7] gekk ‘I went’: Gekk must represent gekk ek ‘I went’: the 1st pers. sg. pron. is needed, but the alternative of inn gekk ek, þars brunnu eldar (as in R702ˣ, followed by Skj B) would require the pron. to bear the alliteration and would remove the kenning which indicates the menace felt by Rǫgnvaldr (see next Note). The mention of Óðinn in the first helmingr suggests that a parallel mention in the second helmingr is appropriate. — [7, 8] eldar Yggs ‘the fires of Yggr <= Óðinn> [SWORDS]’: The same kenning is used in Bjbp Jóms 26/1^I, where the context (e.g. the verb kljúfa ‘cleave’) suggests that it refers to a ‘sword’ rather than more generically to a ‘weapon’, hence the translation adopted here. The implication is that Rǫgnvaldr is being received with swords rather than a welcoming hearth. The same kenning, with other names for Óðinn, occurs in earlier and contemporary poetry in GSúrs Lv 27/3^V, KormǪ Sigdr 4/2^III and HaukrV Ísldr 8/3^IV. Bibire 1988 sees Odinic imagery and motifs throughout the st.

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. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. Flat 1860-8 = Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and C. R. Unger, eds. 1860-8. Flateyjarbók. En samling af norske konge-sagaer med indskudte mindre fortællinger om begivenheder i og udenfor Norge samt annaler. 3 vols. Christiania (Oslo): Malling.
6. ÍF 34 = Orkneyinga saga. Ed. Finnbogi Guðmundsson. 1965.
7. Orkn 1913-16 = Sigurður Nordal, ed. 1913-16. Orkneyinga saga. SUGNL 40. Copenhagen: Møller.
8. Bibire, Paul. 1988. ‘The Poetry of Earl Rǫgnvaldr’s Court’. In Crawford 1988, 208-40.
9. Taylor, A. B. 1938. The Orkneyinga Saga: A New Translation with Introduction and Notes. Edinburgh and London: Oliver & Boyd.
10. Orkn 1887 = Gudbrand Vigfusson 1887-94, I.
11. Internal references
12. Emily Lethbridge (ed.) 2012, ‘Bjarni byskup Kolbeinsson, Jómsvíkingadrápa 26’ 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. 982.
13. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2022, ‘Gísla saga Súrssonar 30 (Gísli Súrsson, Lausavísur 27)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross, Kari Ellen Gade and Tarrin Wills (eds), Poetry in Sagas of Icelanders. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 5. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 599.
14. Not published: do not cite (HaukrV Ísldr 8^IV)
15. Edith Marold (ed.) 2017, ‘Kormákr Ǫgmundarson, Sigurðardrápa 4’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 279.