Rv Lv 30II
Judith Jesch (ed.) 2009, ‘Rǫgnvaldr jarl Kali Kolsson, Lausavísur 30’ 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. 606-7.
text and translation
Villat vinr minn kalla
— varð allr í drit falla —
— nær vas í því œrin
ógæfa — ‘miðhæfi’.
Lítt hykk, at þá þœtti
þengils mágr, es rengðisk,
— leirr fellr grár af gauri —
góligr, í Imbólum.
Vinr minn villat kalla ‘miðhæfi’; varð allr falla í drit; vas í því nær œrin ógæfa. Hykk, at mágr þengils þœtti lítt góligr þá, es rengðisk í Imbólum; grár leirr fellr af gauri.
‘My friend does not wish to call out ‘miðhæfi’; he fell right down in the shit; there was in that nearly enough bad luck. I think that the in-law of the prince [= Erlingr] seemed not very attractive then, when he mis-stepped in Imbólum; grey mud falls from the ruffian.’
notes and context
In a place called Imbólum, it was apparently the custom for people to shout miðhæfi when they wanted someone coming in the opposite direction in a narrow place to give way. On one occasion when he was very drunk, Erlingr skakki failed to give way to some townspeople shouting this on a gangplank and fell into the mud of the harbour. The st. is Rǫgnvaldr’s response when he heard about this the next day.
[3]: This l. lacks the first alliterating stave. Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) adopts the variant er ‘is’ (for vas ‘was’) from R702ˣ, but this is not metrically satisfactory, as noted by Kock (NN §2068) who prefers to take the same ms.’s ‘no᷎r’ as an error for ‘uo᷎r’, i.e. (v)ór ‘our’. While this would solve the metrical problem, it does not explain the Flat variant (nær ‘nearly’), nor is it at all clear why Rǫgnvaldr would see Erlingr’s fall as his own or their joint misfortune. It is probably best to accept that the l. (or possibly even the whole couplet) has been corrupted from an original which cannot now be reconstructed.
readings
- [2] varð: varð hann Flat
- [3] vas (‘var’): er R702ˣ
- [5] Lítt: hitt R702ˣ
- [7] leirr: saurr R702ˣ
- [7] fellr: fell R702ˣ
- [7] af gauri: so R702ˣ, of geira Flat
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 1005 fol (Flat) — 140vb/54 - 140vb/56
imagesVillat vinr minn kalla
— varð hann allr í drit falla —
— nær †var† í því œrin
ógæfa — ‘miðhæfi’.
Lítt hykk, at þá þœtti
þengils mágr, es rengðisk,
— leirr fellr grár of geira —
góligr, í Imbólum.vill eigi vinr minn kalla vard hann allr idrit falla nær uar i þvi | æren vgæfa midhæfui liit hyck ek at þa þætti þeingils mꜳgr er hann reingdiz | leiʀʀ fellr grar of geira golegr i imbolum.
(JJ)
-
UppsUB R 702x (R702x) — 50v/9 - 50v/12
imagesVillat vinr minn kalla
— varð allr í drit falla —
— nær er í því œrin
ógæfa — ‘miðhæfi’.
hitt hykk, at þá þœtti
þengils mágr, es rengðisk,
— saurr fell grár af gauri —
góligr, í Imbólum.vill eigi vinr minn kalla vard allur i drit falla, | Nǫr er i þui o᷎rin ogefa Midho᷎fi | hitt hykk at þa þo᷎tti þengils mágr er hann rengdiz | saurr fell grar af gauri goligur i jmbolum
(JJ)
-
AM 761 b 4°x (761bx) — 287r/13 - 287v/2
images
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