RvHbreiðm Hl 66^III

Siklingr lét þar sveita
— sveit fylkis rauð hneiti —
bǫðvar skýrstr í bráði
bráðmôl lituð stála.
Vann blóðroðin benja
benflœðr skolat rœði;
sóknbôru* gat sára
sárvǫrðr þvegit árar.

Þar lét siklingr, skýrstr bǫðvar, bráðmôl stála lituð sveita í bráði; sveit fylkis rauð hneiti. {Benflœðr} vann skolat {blóðroðin rœði benja}; {sárvǫrðr} gat þvegit {árar sára} {sóknbôru*}.

There the lord, wisest in war, let welded patterns of swords be coloured with gore in haste; the company of the leader reddened the sword. {The wound-flood} [BLOOD] rinsed {the blood-reddened paddle of wounds} [SWORD]; {the wound-guardian} [WARRIOR] washed {oars of wounds} [SWORDS] {with the battle-wave} [BLOOD].

Mss: papp25ˣ(38r), R683ˣ(132v)

Readings: [3] skýrstr: ‘scurstr’ papp25ˣ, ‘scurstur’ R683ˣ    [4] lituð: litat papp25ˣ, R683ˣ    [5] ‑roðin: ‘toden’ or ‘tóden’ papp25ˣ, ‘‑tóden’ R683ˣ;    benja: ‘bæinia’ papp25ˣ, R683ˣ    [6] ben‑: ‘bæin’ papp25ˣ, R683ˣ;    skolat: skulat papp25ˣ, R683ˣ    [7] ‑bôru*: ‑bôrur papp25ˣ, R683ˣ;    gat: gaf R683ˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 525, Skj BI, 504, Skald I, 247, NN §§985, 2080; Hl 1941, 30, 85-7.

Context: As st. 65 above.

Notes: [2] hneiti ‘the sword’: See Note to st. 17/2. — [3] skýrstr ‘wisest’: Cf. Note to Ólhv Hryn 3/7^II. The ms. readings, ‘scurstr’ (papp25ˣ) and ‘scurstur’ (R683ˣ), appear to be misreadings of skýrstr, though Holtsmark (Hl 1941, 105) suggests that it may have been orthographic (<u> for [y]). — [3] bráði (n. dat. sg.) ‘haste’: This word is otherwise attested only as a f. noun (í bráð ‘in haste’). Skj B assigns the prepositional phrase í bráði ‘in haste’ to the second clause, making the syntax unnecessarily convoluted (see NN §2080 and Note to st. 65/6). — [4] bráðmôl ‘welded patterns’: Môl are patterns on sword blades or sword hilts (see LP: 3. mál; Falk 1914b, 32), and bráð- apparently refers to the process of engraving by means of fire. Kock (NN §2080) calls attention to OE fȳrmǣl ‘mark burned in by fire’ used about swords. See also the original meaning of the adj. bráðr (AEW: bráðr and discussion there). Following Sveinbjörn Egilsson (SnE 1848, 246), Skj B construes bráð as the adj. brôð ‘quick, bold’ (f. nom. sg.) qualifying sveit ‘company’ (l. 2) but bráð and môl belong together (see NN §§985, 2080). — [4] lituð (n. acc. pl.) ‘be coloured’: Both mss read ‘litat’, which appears to be a Norwegian form (levelling by analogy in weakly stressed syllables; see Hl 1941, 108). — [5] benja ‘of wounds’: For the ms. spelling of this word (‘bæinia’) and of ben- ‘wound’ (‘bæin’ in l. 6), see Note to st. 49/5. — [6] skolat ‘rinsed’: Skulat (so both mss) for skolat ‘rinsed’ (inf. skola) is likely to be an Orkney form (see Hl 1941). Such forms (<u> for [o]) also occur in Anon Mhkv 4/6, 11/4, 18/2, a poem possibly of Orcadian provenance. — [7] sóknbôru* (f. dat. sg.) ‘with the battle-wave [BLOOD]’: Both mss read sóknbôrur (f. nom. or acc. pl.) ‘battle-waves’, which cannot be accommodated syntactically. Sveinbjörn Egilsson (SnE 1848, 246) emended to sóknbáru (dat. sg. as an instrumental), which has been adopted here. Skj B and Skald have sóknbára (nom. sg.) as the subject of gat ‘got’. For the possible addition of an inorganic final <r>, see Note to st. 8/4. — [8] sárvǫrðr ‘the wound-guardian [WARRIOR]’: So Hl 1941, although this is an awkward warrior-kenning. Sveinbjörn Egilsson (SnE 1848, 246) emended to sárvǫndr ‘wound-rod’ i.e. ‘sword’, but ‘the sword washed swords with blood’ makes little sense. Skj B and Skald emend to sárvǫrm ‘wound-warm’ and give the last two lines as follows: sóknbára gat sára | sárvǫrm þvegit árar ‘the wound-warm battle-wave [BLOOD] washed oars of wounds [SWORDS]’. That reading remains conjectural. A possible alternative warrior-kenning would be sárvaldr ‘wound-causer’ (both mss read ‘-vordr’, however).

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. SnE 1848 = Sveinbjörn Egilsson, ed. 1848. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar, eða Gylfaginning, Skáldskaparmál og Háttatal. Reykjavík: Prentsmiðja landsins.
4. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
6. AEW = Vries, Jan de. 1962. Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 2nd rev. edn. Rpt. 1977. Leiden: Brill.
7. 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.
8. Falk, Hjalmar. 1914b. Altnordische Waffenkunde. Videnskapsselskapets skrifter, II. Hist.-filos. kl. 1914, 6. Kristiania (Oslo): Dybwad.
9. Hl 1941 = Jón Helgason and Anne Holtsmark, eds. 1941. Háttalykill enn forni. BA 1. Copenhagen: Munksgaard.
10. Internal references
11. Roberta Frank (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Poems, Málsháttakvæði 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. 1219.
12. Lauren Goetting (ed.) 2009, ‘Óláfr hvítaskáld Þórðarson, Hrynhenda 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. 660-1.