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Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Rv Lv 22II

Judith Jesch (ed.) 2009, ‘Rǫgnvaldr jarl Kali Kolsson, Lausavísur 22’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 600.

Rǫgnvaldr jarl Kali KolssonLausavísur
212223

Vindr hefr vǫlsku sprundi
vetrarstund frá mundum
— út berum ás at beita —
austrœnn skotit flaustum.
Verðum vér at gyrða
vánar hart fyr Spáni
— vindr rekr snart at sundi —
Sviðris við rô miðja.

Austrœnn vindr hefr vetrarstund skotit flaustum frá mundum vǫlsku sprundi; berum út ás at beita. Vér verðum at gyrða við miðja {rô Sviðris} vánar hart fyr Spáni; vindr rekr snart at sundi.

The east wind has, in a winter’s hour, shot the vessels out from the hands of the French woman; we bring out the boom in order to tack. We will have to fasten [the sail] to the middle {of the yard-arm of Sviðrir <= Óðinn>} [TREE] quite firmly off the coast of Spain; the wind drives [the ship] briskly to the strait.

Mss: Flat(140rb) (Orkn)

Editions: Skj AI, 510, Skj BI, 484, Skald I, 237, NN §979; Flat 1860-8, II, 482, Orkn 1887, 168, Orkn 1913-16, 244, ÍF 34, 221 (ch. 87), Bibire 1988, 235.

Context: As st. 21 and Oddi Lv 3.

Notes: [5-8]: Finnur Jónsson in Skj B emends hart to hjǫrt ‘stag’ giving a ship-kenning, hjǫrtr Vánar ‘the stag of Ván <river>’ (LP: Vn), which he takes as the object of the verb rekr ‘drives’, so ‘the wind drives the ship’. He then assumes Sviðris is an error for an unattested nautical term sviðvís, referring to something that the sailors had to attach to the mast. Kock (NN §949) accepts these emendations but takes sviðvís as a pars pro toto for ‘ship’ and the object of rekr, otherwise interpreting ll. 5-6, 8 as here. — [6] vánar hart ‘quite firmly’: ÍF 34 suggests that this expression means hart eða fast, sem vænta mátti ‘as hard or firmly as could be expected’ and compares stundar hart ‘very hard’ (Fritzner: stund) with the same meaning. — [7]: Compare st. 21/7. — [8] rô Sviðris ‘of the yard-arm of Sviðrir [TREE]’: Sviðrir is an Óðinn-name, his ‘yard-arm’, or any piece of wood, is the tree on which he hung for nine nights (Hávm 138, NK 40). Here, the ‘tree’ is the mast of the ship, and the sail is being reduced to half of its size (fastened to the middle of the mast) because of the strong winds. The kenning is, however, unusual.

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. LP = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1931. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis: Ordbog over det norsk-islandske skjaldesprog oprindelig forfattet af Sveinbjörn Egilsson. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Møller.
  6. 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.
  7. Fritzner = Fritzner, Johan. 1883-96. Ordbog over det gamle norske sprog. 3 vols. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske forlagsforening. 4th edn. Rpt. 1973. Oslo etc.: Universitetsforlaget.
  8. NK = Neckel, Gustav and Hans Kuhn (1899), eds. 1983. Edda: Die Lieder des Codex Regius nebst verwandten Denkmälern. 2 vols. I: Text. 5th edn. Heidelberg: Winter.
  9. ÍF 34 = Orkneyinga saga. Ed. Finnbogi Guðmundsson. 1965.
  10. Orkn 1913-16 = Sigurður Nordal, ed. 1913-16. Orkneyinga saga. SUGNL 40. Copenhagen: Møller.
  11. Bibire, Paul. 1988. ‘The Poetry of Earl Rǫgnvaldr’s Court’. In Crawford 1988, 208-40.
  12. Orkn 1887 = Gudbrand Vigfusson 1887-94, I.
  13. Internal references
  14. Not published: do not cite ()
  15. Judith Jesch (ed.) 2009, ‘Oddi inn litli Glúmsson, Lausavísur 3’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 616-17.
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