Sigv Austv 18^I

Þik bað, sólar søkkvir,
sínn halda vel, Rínar,
hvern, es hingat árnar,
húskarl nefi jarla.
Enn, hverrs austr vill sinna,
— jafnvíst es þat — Lista
þengill, þínna drengja,
þar á hald und Rǫgnvaldi.

{Nefi jarla} bað þik, {søkkvir {sólar Rínar}}, halda vel hvern húskarl sínn, es árnar hingat. Enn hverr drengja þínna, [e]s vill sinna austr, {þengill Lista}, á þar hald und Rǫgnvaldi; þat es jafnvíst.

{The kinsman of jarls} [JARL = ? Rǫgnvaldr] bade you, {sinker {of the sun of the Rhine}} [GOLD > GENEROUS MAN], treat well each housecarl of his who wanders this way. And each of your good fellows who wishes to travel east, {prince of Lista} [NORWEGIAN KING = Óláfr], will have support there from Rǫgnvaldr; that is equally certain.

Mss: Holm2(26r), 325V(32bis rb), R686ˣ(50r-v), 972ˣ(180va), 325VI(17va), 75a(15vb), 73aˣ(66r), 61(94rb), 68(25r), Holm4(17va), 325VII(12v), Flat(93rb), Tóm(113v) (ÓH); Kˣ(305v-306r), Bb(153rb) (Hkr); FskBˣ(45r), FskAˣ(169) (Fsk, ll. 5-8)

Readings: [1] bað: bið ek Flat, Tóm;    sólar: stála 61;    søkkvir: ‘sokkiur’ R686ˣ, støkkvir 61, sóknar Tóm, ‘sok kvís’ Bb    [2] sínn: sín 325V, 972ˣ(180va), 73aˣ, 61, Holm4, 325VII, Flat, Tóm;    halda: haldit haldit Holm4, haldin 325VII, Flat, Tóm;    Rínar: ‘rina’ R686ˣ    [3] hvern: hverr Holm4;    es (‘er’): þann er 61;    hingat: ‘hringat’ Flat;    árnar: arna R686ˣ, ‘þarnnar’ Flat    [4] ‑karl: ‑karla Flat;    jarla: jarlar 75a, 73aˣ, Flat    [5] Enn: om. FskBˣ;    hverrs (‘hverr er’): hvern er R686ˣ, 75a, hverr 73aˣ, Holm4, Flat;    sinna: sína 325V, R686ˣ, Flat, Tóm, nenna 73aˣ    [6] jafnvíst es (‘iafnvist er’): allvíst er 75a, 73aˣ, jafn vistir Flat, jafnmælt er FskBˣ, ‘jam mætt er’ FskAˣ;    þat: þar R686ˣ;    Lista: stafni FskBˣ, FskAˣ    [7] þínna: þínna or þenna Holm2, himna 325VI    [7, 8] drengja þar: ‘drenþar’ R686ˣ    [8] á: er 75a, 73aˣ;    und: með 73aˣ, undir Bb

Editions: Skj AI, 239, Skj BI, 224-5, Skald I, 117; Fms 4, 190-1, Fms 12, 86, ÓH 1853, 82, 274, ÓH 1941, I, 205 (ch. 75), Flat 1860-8, II, 115; Hkr 1777-1826, II, 128, VI, 88, Hkr 1868, 310 (ÓHHkr ch. 92), Hkr 1893-1901, II, 175, ÍF 27, 142, Hkr 1991, I, 351 (ÓHHkr ch. 91), Fsk 1902-3, 158, ÍF 29, 180 (ch. 30); Ternström 1871, 22-3, 51, Konráð Gíslason 1892, 37, 179, Jón Skaptason 1983, 99, 244.

Context: In ÓH and Hkr, as for st. 17. In Fsk (where sts 18/1-4 and 21/5-8 comprise a stanza), Sigvatr is said to have composed the vísa upon his return from a visit, commissioned by King Óláfr, with Rǫgnvaldr jarl in Garðar (north-west Russia).

Notes: [2] sínn ‘his’: On the retention of the long vowel, as demonstrated by the hending, see Note to Sigv Lv 3/4. — [4] húskarl ‘housecarl’: Húskarl (cf. OE husceorl) originally referred to a member of the bodyguard or household troop of a ruler or nobleman, and that is doubtless the sense here, though it came to refer to lesser servants (see also Note to Okík Magn 2/6^II). — [6] jafnvíst ‘equally certain’: Although the comparison is not obvious (since the first helmingr contains a petition rather than a statement), the sense appears to be that if Óláfr grants the request for good treatment in the first helmingr, the promise of the second is assured. The normal long vowel in víst is retained here. Alternatively, short vist could be indicated by the aðalhending on List- (see further LP: víss and cf. Kuhn 1983, 80-2). — [6] Lista ‘of Lista’: Gen. sg. of ON Listi, ModNorw Lista, the name of a peninsula in Vest-Agder (cf. st. 9/6). Noreen (1923, 41) suggested instead gen. pl. of an unattested *Listir ‘resident of Lista’.

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. 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.
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. 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.
7. Kuhn, Hans (1899). 1983. Das Dróttkvætt. Heidelberg: Winter.
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. Fsk 1902-3 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1902-3. Fagrskinna: Nóregs kononga tal. SUGNL 30. Copenhagen: Møller.
12. ÍF 29 = Ágrip af Nóregskonunga sǫgum; Fagrskinna—Nóregs konungatal. Ed. Bjarni Einarsson. 1985.
13. 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.
14. Konráð Gíslason, ed. 1892a. Udvalg af oldnordiske skjaldekvad, med anmærkninger. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
15. Ternström, Alfred. 1871. Om skalden Sighvat Thordsson och tolkning af hans Austrfararvísur, Vestrfararvísur och Knútsdrápa. Lund: Ohlsson.
16. Hkr 1777-1826 = Schöning, Gerhard et al., eds. 1777-1826. Heimskringla edr Noregs konunga-sögor. 6 vols. Copenhagen: Stein.
17. Hkr 1868 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1868. Heimskringla eller Norges kongesagaer af Snorre Sturlassøn. Christiania (Oslo): Brøgger & Christie.
18. Noreen, Erik. 1923. Studier i fornvästnordisk diktning: tredje samlingen. Uppsala: Akademiska bokhandeln.
19. ÓH 1853 = Munch, P. A. and C. R. Unger, eds. 1853. Saga Olafs konungs ens helga. Christiania (Oslo): Det kongelige norske Fredriks Universitet.
20. Internal references
21. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Heimskringla’ 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. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=4> (accessed 23 April 2024)
22. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Óláfs saga helga’ 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=53> (accessed 23 April 2024)
23. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Fagrskinna’ 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. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=56> (accessed 23 April 2024)
24. (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 23 April 2024)
25. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Oddr kíkinaskáld, Poem about Magnús góði 2’ 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. 33.
26. R. D. Fulk (ed.) 2012, ‘Sigvatr Þórðarson, Lausavísur 3’ 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. 702.