Sigv Austv 14^I

Drjúggenginn vas drengjum
— drengr magnar lof þengils —
austr til jǫfra þrýstis
Eiðaskógr á leiðu.
Skyldit mér, áðr mildan
minn dróttin komk finna,
hlunns af hilmis runnum
hnekkt dýrloga bekkjar.

Eiðaskógr vas drjúggenginn drengjum á leiðu austr til {þrýstis jǫfra}; drengr magnar lof þengils. Skyldit mér hnekkt af {runnum {dýrloga {bekkjar hlunns}}} hilmis, áðr komk finna mildan dróttin minn.

Eidskogen was a long slog for the good fellows on the way east to {the compeller of princes} [RULER = Rǫgnvaldr]; the good fellow [I] strengthens the praise of the lord. I should not have been driven off by {the bushes {of the precious flame {of the bench of the launcher}}} [SEA > GOLD > MEN] of the ruler before I arrived to find my generous lord.

Mss: Holm2(26r), 325V(32bis ra) (ll. 4-8), R686ˣ(49v-50r), 972ˣ(178va), 325VI(17rb), 75a(15rb), 73aˣ(65v), 68(24v), 61(94rb), Holm4(17rb), 325VII(12v), Flat(93ra), Tóm(113v) (ÓH); Kˣ(305r), Bb(153ra) (Hkr)

Readings: [1] Drjúg‑: so R686ˣ, 325VI, 75a, 73aˣ, 68, 61, Holm4, Flat, Tóm, Kˣ, Bb, drýg‑ Holm2, 325VII;    ‑genginn: ‑fengin R686ˣ, ‘geingint’ 972ˣ, ‑gengit 73aˣ, 68, 61;    vas (‘var’): varð 325VI, 73aˣ, 68, 61    [3] austr: ‘æztr’ 61;    jǫfra: ‘jofur’ R686ˣ, ‘jufra’ Tóm    [4] ‑skógr: ‘skoðr’ 325V, ‑skógar R686ˣ, ‑skógs 325VI, 61, Flat, ‑skóg 73aˣ, 68;    á: ‘om’ 972ˣ;    leiðu: leiðum 325V, 73aˣ, 68, 61, Flat, leiðar 972ˣ    [5] Skyldit: skyldik 972ˣ, seldir 61, ‘skvlldit’ Bb;    mér: mest 61;    mildan: mildum 68    [6] minn: ‘min’ Holm2, 325V, 325VI, 75a, 73aˣ, 68, 61, Holm4, 325VII, Flat, Tóm, Kˣ, Bb, manin R686ˣ;    dróttin: dróttinn 325V, 61, Tóm, Kˣ;    komk (‘kom ek’): so 68, Holm4, Flat, Tóm, Kˣ, Bb, kem ek Holm2, 325V, R686ˣ, 972ˣ, 325VI, 75a, 61, 325VII, réð ek 73aˣ    [7] hlunns: hlyns 325VII;    af: á 325V, Bb    [8] hnekkt: ‘hneck’ 325V, ‘hneckr’ Flat, Tóm;    dýrloga: dýrligan 75a, dýrðligan 73aˣ, dýrligu 68, dýrliga 61, 325VII, Flat, Tóm, dýrðliga Holm4

Editions: Skj AI, 237, Skj BI, 223-4, Skald I, 116, NN §2474; Fms 4, 188-9, Fms 12, 85, ÓH 1941, I, 202 (ch. 75), Flat 1860-8, II, 114; Hkr 1777-1826, II, 126, VI, 86-7, Hkr 1868, 309 (ÓHHkr ch. 92), Hkr 1893-1901, II, 173, ÍF 27, 139-40, Hkr 1991, I, 349 (ÓHHkr ch. 91); Ternström 1871, 18-21, 48, Jón Skaptason 1983, 95, 242.

Context: As for st. 13.

Notes: [All]: The identity of the ruler addressed in the stanza is uncertain, but according to Snorri it is Rǫgnvaldr jarl (Context to st. 13). This would not be possible if Sigvatr’s destination Hof were a p. n. and were located in Norway (see Note to st. 4/1), since it is hardly to be supposed that any part of Norway was subject to his rule. — [1] drjúggenginn ‘a long slog’: More literally this is an adj. meaning ‘greatly traversed’, the sense being that it was a long and/or arduous journey: cf. Fóro driúgom dag þann fram ‘They went far that day’ (Hym 7/1-2, NK 89). — [1, 2] drengjum; drengr ‘for the good fellows; the good fellow [I]’: See Note to st. 5/2 on the word drengr. — [2] drengr magnar lof þengils ‘the good fellow [I] strengthens the praise of the lord’: This intercalary introduces a note more characteristic of praise poetry into the travelogue.  — [3] til þrýstis jǫfra ‘to the compeller of princes [RULER = Rǫgnvaldr]’: Schreiner (1927-9c, 39) finds it improbable that the phrase should be applied to Rǫgnvaldr, and he would have it describe King Óláfr of Sweden. — [6] dróttin ‘lord’: Finnur Jónsson (1932, 13) finds it implausible that the word could refer to Rǫgnvaldr rather than to Óláfr Haraldsson (especially qualified by minn ‘my’, one supposes), and thus he recommends positioning this stanza after the following one. Cf. Noreen (1923, 41). — [7-8]: The grandiose kenning is ironic in effect when applied to the people by whom the skald was hnekkt ‘driven off’.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Fms = Sveinbjörn Egilsson et al., eds. 1825-37. Fornmanna sögur eptir gömlum handritum útgefnar að tilhlutun hins norræna fornfræða fèlags. 12 vols. Copenhagen: Popp.
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. 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.
7. ÓH 1941 = Johnsen, Oscar Albert and Jón Helgason, eds. 1941. Saga Óláfs konungs hins helga: Den store saga om Olav den hellige efter pergamenthåndskrift i Kungliga biblioteket i Stockholm nr. 2 4^to med varianter fra andre håndskrifter. 2 vols. Det norske historiske kildeskriftfond skrifter 53. Oslo: Dybwad.
8. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
9. Hkr 1893-1901 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1893-1901. Heimskringla: Nóregs konunga sǫgur af Snorri Sturluson. 4 vols. SUGNL 23. Copenhagen: Møller.
10. Hkr 1991 = Bergljót S. Kristjánsdóttir et al., eds. 1991. Heimskringla. 3 vols. Reykjavík: Mál og menning.
11. Jón Skaptason. 1983. ‘Material for an Edition and Translation of the Poems of Sigvat Þórðarson, skáld’. Ph.D. thesis. State University of New York at Stony Brook. DAI 44: 3681A.
12. Finnur Jónsson. 1932. Austrfararvísur. Avhandlinger utgitt av Det Norske Videnskaps-Akademi i Oslo, II. Hist.-filos. kl.1931, 1. Oslo: Dybwad.
13. Schreiner, Johan. 1927-9c. ‘Olav den hellige og nabolandene’. HT(N) 28 (5 ser. 7), 22-76.
14. Ternström, Alfred. 1871. Om skalden Sighvat Thordsson och tolkning af hans Austrfararvísur, Vestrfararvísur och Knútsdrápa. Lund: Ohlsson.
15. Hkr 1777-1826 = Schöning, Gerhard et al., eds. 1777-1826. Heimskringla edr Noregs konunga-sögor. 6 vols. Copenhagen: Stein.
16. Hkr 1868 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1868. Heimskringla eller Norges kongesagaer af Snorre Sturlassøn. Christiania (Oslo): Brøgger & Christie.
17. Noreen, Erik. 1923. Studier i fornvästnordisk diktning: tredje samlingen. Uppsala: Akademiska bokhandeln.
18. Internal references
19. (forthcoming), ‘ Heimskringla, Óláfs saga helga (in Heimskringla)’ 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. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=152> (accessed 26 April 2024)
20. Not published: do not cite ()