Judith Jesch (ed.) 2009, ‘Rǫgnvaldr jarl Kali Kolsson, Lausavísur 4’ 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. 579-80.
(not checked:)
sextán (num. cardinal): sixteen
(not checked:)
2. sjá (verb): see
[1, 3] sénar; firrðar ‘seen; denuded of’: The f. acc. pl. endings on both of these inflected past participles indicate that the sixteen persons are figured as female based on their being clean-shaven, unarmed, and (presumably) because they are wearing long robes.
(not checked:)
senn (adv.): at once
(not checked:)
3. ok (conj.): and, but; also
(not checked:)
toppr (noun m.; °; -ar): tuft of hair, fringe
[2] ok topp ‘and [they had] a fringe’: Kock (NN §2061) suggests this is an example of an adverbial acc. — [2, 8] topp í enni; kollóttar ‘a fringe on their forehead; bald’: This appears to describe the standard Western coronal tonsure (which leaves the hair in a ring on the head), rather than the insular tonsure, as suggested in ÍF 34. The form of the latter has recently been thoroughly discussed in McCarthy 2003, who argues that it had a triangular shape. The coronal tonsure is similar to male-pattern baldness and is thus the clue that the people being observed are not women after all. The st. plays on various gender ambiguities to explain how a group of men can be both unarmed and bald.
(not checked:)
toppr (noun m.; °; -ar): tuft of hair, fringe
[2] ok topp ‘and [they had] a fringe’: Kock (NN §2061) suggests this is an example of an adverbial acc. — [2, 8] topp í enni; kollóttar ‘a fringe on their forehead; bald’: This appears to describe the standard Western coronal tonsure (which leaves the hair in a ring on the head), rather than the insular tonsure, as suggested in ÍF 34. The form of the latter has recently been thoroughly discussed in McCarthy 2003, who argues that it had a triangular shape. The coronal tonsure is similar to male-pattern baldness and is thus the clue that the people being observed are not women after all. The st. plays on various gender ambiguities to explain how a group of men can be both unarmed and bald.
(not checked:)
í (prep.): in, into
[2, 8] topp í enni; kollóttar ‘a fringe on their forehead; bald’: This appears to describe the standard Western coronal tonsure (which leaves the hair in a ring on the head), rather than the insular tonsure, as suggested in ÍF 34. The form of the latter has recently been thoroughly discussed in McCarthy 2003, who argues that it had a triangular shape. The coronal tonsure is similar to male-pattern baldness and is thus the clue that the people being observed are not women after all. The st. plays on various gender ambiguities to explain how a group of men can be both unarmed and bald.
(not checked:)
enni (noun n.; °-s; -): forehead, brow
[2, 8] topp í enni; kollóttar ‘a fringe on their forehead; bald’: This appears to describe the standard Western coronal tonsure (which leaves the hair in a ring on the head), rather than the insular tonsure, as suggested in ÍF 34. The form of the latter has recently been thoroughly discussed in McCarthy 2003, who argues that it had a triangular shape. The coronal tonsure is similar to male-pattern baldness and is thus the clue that the people being observed are not women after all. The st. plays on various gender ambiguities to explain how a group of men can be both unarmed and bald.
(not checked:)
jǫrð (noun f.; °jarðar, dat. -u; jarðir/jarðar(DN I (1367) 304)): ground, earth
[3-4] firrðar elli jarðar ormvangs ‘denuded of the old age of the ground of the serpent-field [GOLD > WOMAN > BEARD]’: The kenning refers to the fact that old women sometimes grow facial hair; these monks are clean-shaven. Skj B emends jarðar (gen. sg.) to jarðir (acc. pl.) and interprets the main statement of ll. 1-4 as Hefk sénar sextán ormvangs jarðir, elli firðar translated as Jeg har set 16 kvinder, fjærnt fra alderdommen ‘I have seen sixteen women [grounds of the serpent-field], far from old age’, i.e. young women. This has the virtue of agreeing with meyjar ‘maidens’ (l. 8) and avoids an awkward transition in the kenning from an abstraction (elli ‘old age’) to a physical entity (a beard). However, as well as requiring an emendation, it seems an odd way of referring to young women—firrðar specifically means ‘removed’ rather than just ‘far’, and it is not clear in what way they have been ‘removed’ from old age. Skj B does not, of course, explain how a st. about women is to be understood in the saga context; the present interpretation, while admittedly requiring an awkward kenning, at least provides a clue.
(not checked:)
jǫrð (noun f.; °jarðar, dat. -u; jarðir/jarðar(DN I (1367) 304)): ground, earth
[3-4] firrðar elli jarðar ormvangs ‘denuded of the old age of the ground of the serpent-field [GOLD > WOMAN > BEARD]’: The kenning refers to the fact that old women sometimes grow facial hair; these monks are clean-shaven. Skj B emends jarðar (gen. sg.) to jarðir (acc. pl.) and interprets the main statement of ll. 1-4 as Hefk sénar sextán ormvangs jarðir, elli firðar translated as Jeg har set 16 kvinder, fjærnt fra alderdommen ‘I have seen sixteen women [grounds of the serpent-field], far from old age’, i.e. young women. This has the virtue of agreeing with meyjar ‘maidens’ (l. 8) and avoids an awkward transition in the kenning from an abstraction (elli ‘old age’) to a physical entity (a beard). However, as well as requiring an emendation, it seems an odd way of referring to young women—firrðar specifically means ‘removed’ rather than just ‘far’, and it is not clear in what way they have been ‘removed’ from old age. Skj B does not, of course, explain how a st. about women is to be understood in the saga context; the present interpretation, while admittedly requiring an awkward kenning, at least provides a clue.
[3-4] firrðar elli jarðar ormvangs ‘denuded of the old age of the ground of the serpent-field [GOLD > WOMAN > BEARD]’: The kenning refers to the fact that old women sometimes grow facial hair; these monks are clean-shaven. Skj B emends jarðar (gen. sg.) to jarðir (acc. pl.) and interprets the main statement of ll. 1-4 as Hefk sénar sextán ormvangs jarðir, elli firðar translated as Jeg har set 16 kvinder, fjærnt fra alderdommen ‘I have seen sixteen women [grounds of the serpent-field], far from old age’, i.e. young women. This has the virtue of agreeing with meyjar ‘maidens’ (l. 8) and avoids an awkward transition in the kenning from an abstraction (elli ‘old age’) to a physical entity (a beard). However, as well as requiring an emendation, it seems an odd way of referring to young women—firrðar specifically means ‘removed’ rather than just ‘far’, and it is not clear in what way they have been ‘removed’ from old age. Skj B does not, of course, explain how a st. about women is to be understood in the saga context; the present interpretation, while admittedly requiring an awkward kenning, at least provides a clue.
(not checked:)
2. firra (verb): keep (from), remove
[1, 3] sénar; firrðar ‘seen; denuded of’: The f. acc. pl. endings on both of these inflected past participles indicate that the sixteen persons are figured as female based on their being clean-shaven, unarmed, and (presumably) because they are wearing long robes. — [3-4] firrðar elli jarðar ormvangs ‘denuded of the old age of the ground of the serpent-field [GOLD > WOMAN > BEARD]’: The kenning refers to the fact that old women sometimes grow facial hair; these monks are clean-shaven. Skj B emends jarðar (gen. sg.) to jarðir (acc. pl.) and interprets the main statement of ll. 1-4 as Hefk sénar sextán ormvangs jarðir, elli firðar translated as Jeg har set 16 kvinder, fjærnt fra alderdommen ‘I have seen sixteen women [grounds of the serpent-field], far from old age’, i.e. young women. This has the virtue of agreeing with meyjar ‘maidens’ (l. 8) and avoids an awkward transition in the kenning from an abstraction (elli ‘old age’) to a physical entity (a beard). However, as well as requiring an emendation, it seems an odd way of referring to young women—firrðar specifically means ‘removed’ rather than just ‘far’, and it is not clear in what way they have been ‘removed’ from old age. Skj B does not, of course, explain how a st. about women is to be understood in the saga context; the present interpretation, while admittedly requiring an awkward kenning, at least provides a clue.
(not checked:)
2. firra (verb): keep (from), remove
[1, 3] sénar; firrðar ‘seen; denuded of’: The f. acc. pl. endings on both of these inflected past participles indicate that the sixteen persons are figured as female based on their being clean-shaven, unarmed, and (presumably) because they are wearing long robes. — [3-4] firrðar elli jarðar ormvangs ‘denuded of the old age of the ground of the serpent-field [GOLD > WOMAN > BEARD]’: The kenning refers to the fact that old women sometimes grow facial hair; these monks are clean-shaven. Skj B emends jarðar (gen. sg.) to jarðir (acc. pl.) and interprets the main statement of ll. 1-4 as Hefk sénar sextán ormvangs jarðir, elli firðar translated as Jeg har set 16 kvinder, fjærnt fra alderdommen ‘I have seen sixteen women [grounds of the serpent-field], far from old age’, i.e. young women. This has the virtue of agreeing with meyjar ‘maidens’ (l. 8) and avoids an awkward transition in the kenning from an abstraction (elli ‘old age’) to a physical entity (a beard). However, as well as requiring an emendation, it seems an odd way of referring to young women—firrðar specifically means ‘removed’ rather than just ‘far’, and it is not clear in what way they have been ‘removed’ from old age. Skj B does not, of course, explain how a st. about women is to be understood in the saga context; the present interpretation, while admittedly requiring an awkward kenning, at least provides a clue.
(not checked:)
ormr (noun m.; °-s, dat. -i; -ar): serpent < ormvangr (noun m.)
[3-4] firrðar elli jarðar ormvangs ‘denuded of the old age of the ground of the serpent-field [GOLD > WOMAN > BEARD]’: The kenning refers to the fact that old women sometimes grow facial hair; these monks are clean-shaven. Skj B emends jarðar (gen. sg.) to jarðir (acc. pl.) and interprets the main statement of ll. 1-4 as Hefk sénar sextán ormvangs jarðir, elli firðar translated as Jeg har set 16 kvinder, fjærnt fra alderdommen ‘I have seen sixteen women [grounds of the serpent-field], far from old age’, i.e. young women. This has the virtue of agreeing with meyjar ‘maidens’ (l. 8) and avoids an awkward transition in the kenning from an abstraction (elli ‘old age’) to a physical entity (a beard). However, as well as requiring an emendation, it seems an odd way of referring to young women—firrðar specifically means ‘removed’ rather than just ‘far’, and it is not clear in what way they have been ‘removed’ from old age. Skj B does not, of course, explain how a st. about women is to be understood in the saga context; the present interpretation, while admittedly requiring an awkward kenning, at least provides a clue.
(not checked:)
ormr (noun m.; °-s, dat. -i; -ar): serpent < ormvangr (noun m.)
[3-4] firrðar elli jarðar ormvangs ‘denuded of the old age of the ground of the serpent-field [GOLD > WOMAN > BEARD]’: The kenning refers to the fact that old women sometimes grow facial hair; these monks are clean-shaven. Skj B emends jarðar (gen. sg.) to jarðir (acc. pl.) and interprets the main statement of ll. 1-4 as Hefk sénar sextán ormvangs jarðir, elli firðar translated as Jeg har set 16 kvinder, fjærnt fra alderdommen ‘I have seen sixteen women [grounds of the serpent-field], far from old age’, i.e. young women. This has the virtue of agreeing with meyjar ‘maidens’ (l. 8) and avoids an awkward transition in the kenning from an abstraction (elli ‘old age’) to a physical entity (a beard). However, as well as requiring an emendation, it seems an odd way of referring to young women—firrðar specifically means ‘removed’ rather than just ‘far’, and it is not clear in what way they have been ‘removed’ from old age. Skj B does not, of course, explain how a st. about women is to be understood in the saga context; the present interpretation, while admittedly requiring an awkward kenning, at least provides a clue.
(not checked:)
ormr (noun m.; °-s, dat. -i; -ar): serpent < ormvangr (noun m.)
[3-4] firrðar elli jarðar ormvangs ‘denuded of the old age of the ground of the serpent-field [GOLD > WOMAN > BEARD]’: The kenning refers to the fact that old women sometimes grow facial hair; these monks are clean-shaven. Skj B emends jarðar (gen. sg.) to jarðir (acc. pl.) and interprets the main statement of ll. 1-4 as Hefk sénar sextán ormvangs jarðir, elli firðar translated as Jeg har set 16 kvinder, fjærnt fra alderdommen ‘I have seen sixteen women [grounds of the serpent-field], far from old age’, i.e. young women. This has the virtue of agreeing with meyjar ‘maidens’ (l. 8) and avoids an awkward transition in the kenning from an abstraction (elli ‘old age’) to a physical entity (a beard). However, as well as requiring an emendation, it seems an odd way of referring to young women—firrðar specifically means ‘removed’ rather than just ‘far’, and it is not clear in what way they have been ‘removed’ from old age. Skj B does not, of course, explain how a st. about women is to be understood in the saga context; the present interpretation, while admittedly requiring an awkward kenning, at least provides a clue.
(not checked:)
1. vangr (noun m.): field, plain < ormvangr (noun m.)
[3-4] firrðar elli jarðar ormvangs ‘denuded of the old age of the ground of the serpent-field [GOLD > WOMAN > BEARD]’: The kenning refers to the fact that old women sometimes grow facial hair; these monks are clean-shaven. Skj B emends jarðar (gen. sg.) to jarðir (acc. pl.) and interprets the main statement of ll. 1-4 as Hefk sénar sextán ormvangs jarðir, elli firðar translated as Jeg har set 16 kvinder, fjærnt fra alderdommen ‘I have seen sixteen women [grounds of the serpent-field], far from old age’, i.e. young women. This has the virtue of agreeing with meyjar ‘maidens’ (l. 8) and avoids an awkward transition in the kenning from an abstraction (elli ‘old age’) to a physical entity (a beard). However, as well as requiring an emendation, it seems an odd way of referring to young women—firrðar specifically means ‘removed’ rather than just ‘far’, and it is not clear in what way they have been ‘removed’ from old age. Skj B does not, of course, explain how a st. about women is to be understood in the saga context; the present interpretation, while admittedly requiring an awkward kenning, at least provides a clue.
(not checked:)
1. vangr (noun m.): field, plain < ormvangr (noun m.)
[3-4] firrðar elli jarðar ormvangs ‘denuded of the old age of the ground of the serpent-field [GOLD > WOMAN > BEARD]’: The kenning refers to the fact that old women sometimes grow facial hair; these monks are clean-shaven. Skj B emends jarðar (gen. sg.) to jarðir (acc. pl.) and interprets the main statement of ll. 1-4 as Hefk sénar sextán ormvangs jarðir, elli firðar translated as Jeg har set 16 kvinder, fjærnt fra alderdommen ‘I have seen sixteen women [grounds of the serpent-field], far from old age’, i.e. young women. This has the virtue of agreeing with meyjar ‘maidens’ (l. 8) and avoids an awkward transition in the kenning from an abstraction (elli ‘old age’) to a physical entity (a beard). However, as well as requiring an emendation, it seems an odd way of referring to young women—firrðar specifically means ‘removed’ rather than just ‘far’, and it is not clear in what way they have been ‘removed’ from old age. Skj B does not, of course, explain how a st. about women is to be understood in the saga context; the present interpretation, while admittedly requiring an awkward kenning, at least provides a clue.
(not checked:)
1. vangr (noun m.): field, plain < ormvangr (noun m.)
[3-4] firrðar elli jarðar ormvangs ‘denuded of the old age of the ground of the serpent-field [GOLD > WOMAN > BEARD]’: The kenning refers to the fact that old women sometimes grow facial hair; these monks are clean-shaven. Skj B emends jarðar (gen. sg.) to jarðir (acc. pl.) and interprets the main statement of ll. 1-4 as Hefk sénar sextán ormvangs jarðir, elli firðar translated as Jeg har set 16 kvinder, fjærnt fra alderdommen ‘I have seen sixteen women [grounds of the serpent-field], far from old age’, i.e. young women. This has the virtue of agreeing with meyjar ‘maidens’ (l. 8) and avoids an awkward transition in the kenning from an abstraction (elli ‘old age’) to a physical entity (a beard). However, as well as requiring an emendation, it seems an odd way of referring to young women—firrðar specifically means ‘removed’ rather than just ‘far’, and it is not clear in what way they have been ‘removed’ from old age. Skj B does not, of course, explain how a st. about women is to be understood in the saga context; the present interpretation, while admittedly requiring an awkward kenning, at least provides a clue.
(not checked:)
saman (adv.): together
(not checked:)
2. ganga (verb; geng, gekk, gengu, genginn): walk, go
(not checked:)
3. bera (verb; °berr; bar, báru; borinn): bear, carry
[5] bôrum: ‘baru’ R702ˣ
(not checked:)
vér (pron.; °gen. vár, dat./acc. oss): we, us, our
(not checked:)
2. vitni (noun n.; °-s; -): witness
(not checked:)
2. vestr (adv.): west, in the west
[6, 7, 8] hér vestr; sjá ey ‘here in the west; that island’: The saga-author clearly understood this st. to refer to Westray which, as the westernmost of the Orkneys, does indeed lie ‘out in the direction of storms’. If there was a monastic community in this area at the time, it is more likely to have been on the small island of Papa Westray, but both the saga-context and the st. suggest that Rǫgnvaldr and his men saw the monks on Westray itself.
(not checked:)
3. at (prep.): at, to
(not checked:)
hér (adv.): here
[6, 7, 8] hér vestr; sjá ey ‘here in the west; that island’: The saga-author clearly understood this st. to refer to Westray which, as the westernmost of the Orkneys, does indeed lie ‘out in the direction of storms’. If there was a monastic community in this area at the time, it is more likely to have been on the small island of Papa Westray, but both the saga-context and the st. suggest that Rǫgnvaldr and his men saw the monks on Westray itself.
(not checked:)
2. vera (verb): be, is, was, were, are, am
(not checked:)
fleiri (adj. comp.; °superl. flestr): more, most
(not checked:)
1. sjá (pron.; °gen. þessa dat. þessum/þeima, acc. þenna; f. sjá/þessi; n. þetta, dat. þessu/þvísa; pl. þessir): this
[6, 7, 8] hér vestr; sjá ey ‘here in the west; that island’: The saga-author clearly understood this st. to refer to Westray which, as the westernmost of the Orkneys, does indeed lie ‘out in the direction of storms’. If there was a monastic community in this area at the time, it is more likely to have been on the small island of Papa Westray, but both the saga-context and the st. suggest that Rǫgnvaldr and his men saw the monks on Westray itself.
(not checked:)
liggja (verb): lie
(not checked:)
út (adv.): out(side)
(not checked:)
2. við (prep.): with, against
(not checked:)
1. ey (noun f.; °-jar, dat. -ju/-; -jar): island
[6, 7, 8] hér vestr; sjá ey ‘here in the west; that island’: The saga-author clearly understood this st. to refer to Westray which, as the westernmost of the Orkneys, does indeed lie ‘out in the direction of storms’. If there was a monastic community in this area at the time, it is more likely to have been on the small island of Papa Westray, but both the saga-context and the st. suggest that Rǫgnvaldr and his men saw the monks on Westray itself.
(not checked:)
kollóttr (adj.): bald, ?without horns
[2, 8] topp í enni; kollóttar ‘a fringe on their forehead; bald’: This appears to describe the standard Western coronal tonsure (which leaves the hair in a ring on the head), rather than the insular tonsure, as suggested in ÍF 34. The form of the latter has recently been thoroughly discussed in McCarthy 2003, who argues that it had a triangular shape. The coronal tonsure is similar to male-pattern baldness and is thus the clue that the people being observed are not women after all. The st. plays on various gender ambiguities to explain how a group of men can be both unarmed and bald.
(not checked:)
mær (noun f.; °meyjar, dat. meyju; meyjar): maiden
Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses
Sextán hefik sénar |
I have seen sixteen [women] all at once, denuded of the old age of the ground of the serpent-field [GOLD > WOMAN > BEARD], and [they had] a fringe on their forehead, walking together. We bore witness to the fact that, here in the west, most maidens are bald; that island lies out in the direction of storms.
Rǫgnvaldr is on the island of Westray in Orkney during his campaign to claim his inheritance. While attending church on Sunday, he sees sixteen persons who are slyppir ok kollóttir ‘unarmed and bald’. His astonished men discuss who they could be.
According to the chronology of Orkn this took place in April 1136 (Taylor 1938, 252), but Taylor (1938, 386) suggests that the episode is in fact another version of an incident in ch. 77 which also describes the sight of fifteen or sixteen men led by a bishop with a distinctive tonsure and which took place at Christmas in 1138. The st. is probably placed here because it seems to refer to Westray (Vestrey), but it has no obvious connection with either the preceding or the following events which are indeed located in Westray.
Use the buttons at the top of the page to navigate between stanzas in a poem.
The text and translation are given here, with buttons to toggle whether the text is shown in the verse order or prose word order. Clicking on indiviudal words gives dictionary links, variant readings, kennings and notes, where relevant.
This is the text of the edition in a similar format to how the edition appears in the printed volumes.
This view is also used for chapters and other text segments. Not all the headings shown are relevant to such sections.