Sigv Austv 6^I

Nú hafa hnekkt, þeirs hnakka
(heinflets) við mér settu,
(þeygi bella þollar)
þrír samnafnar (tíri).
Þó séumk hitt, at hlœðir
hafskíðs myni síðan
út, hverrs Ǫlvir heitir,
alls mest, reka gesti.

Nú hafa þrír samnafnar hnekkt, þeirs settu hnakka við mér; þeygi bella {þollar {heinflets}} tíri. Þó séumk hitt alls mest, at hverr {hlœðir {hafskíðs}}, [e]s heitir Ǫlvir, myni síðan reka gesti út.

Now three namesakes have driven [me] away, they who turned their backs on me; not at all do {the firs {of the whetstone-platform}} [SWORD > MEN] display praiseworthiness. However, I fear this above all, that every {loader {of the ocean-ski}} [SHIP > SEAFARER] who is named Ǫlvir will henceforth chase strangers away.

Mss: Holm2(26r), R686ˣ(49v), 972ˣ(178va), 325VI(17ra), 75a(15ra), 73aˣ(65r), 68(24v), 61(94ra), Holm4(17rb), 325VII(12v), Flat(93ra), Tóm(113v) (ÓH); Kˣ(304r-v), Bb(152vb-153ra) (Hkr)

Readings: [1] hafa: haf Bb;    hnekkt: ‘hnek[…]’ R686ˣ    [2] ‑flets: ‘fellz’ Flat    [3] þeygi: ‘þeigi’ Kˣ    [4] þrír: ‘þre’ R686ˣ, þeir 75a, 68;    sam‑: ‘san’ 325VI;    ‑nafnar: jafnir 75a, Bb;    tíri: fleiri 75a, eiri 68, tíði Flat    [5] Þó: nú 73aˣ;    séumk: sé ek 75a, 73aˣ, sjám Flat, sáum Tóm;    hlœðir: ‘hlæíðir’ 73aˣ, hlœði 61    [6] ‑skíðs: ‑skíð R686ˣ, Tóm;    myni: mœni 325VII;    síðan: síðla 972ˣ(178va)    [7] hverrs (‘hverr er’): hverr 325VI, Flat;    Ǫlvir: ‘avlyer’ R686ˣ;    heitir: heitr R686ˣ    [8] gesti: ‘gestri’ R686ˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 234-5, Skj BI, 221-2, Skald I, 115, NN §§1112, 2218B, 2923; Fms 4, 187, Fms 12, 84, ÓH 1853, 80, 272, ÓH 1941, I, 201 (ch. 75), Flat 1860-8, II, 114; Hkr 1777-1826, II, 125, VI, 85, Hkr 1868, 308 (ÓHHkr ch. 92), Hkr 1893-1901, II, 171-2, ÍF 27, 138, Hkr 1991, I, 348 (ÓHHkr ch. 91); Ternström 1871, 16-17, 45-6, Konráð Gíslason 1892, 37, 177-8, Jón Skaptason 1983, 87, 239-40.

Context: The next evening Sigvatr comes to three farmers, each named Ǫlvir, and all turn him away. Sigvatr speaks this stanza.

Notes: [1, 2] settu hnakka við mér ‘turned their backs on me’: Lit. ‘set the napes of their necks against me’. — [2] heinflets ‘of the whetstone-platform [SWORD]’: The word flet referred originally to the floor of a house (cf. flatr ‘flat’), though it is attested only in the metaphorical senses ‘set of rooms, house, raised platform, bed (on the floor)’. It may be the last of these meanings that is intended, given the parallel sword-kenning beðr ryðfjónar ‘bed of the rust-enemy [WHETSTONE > SWORD]’ (Anon (ÓT) 6/1, 3; see Meissner 155, 163). In view of the kenning gætir grefs ‘minder of the hoe [FARMER]’ in st. 7/5, de Vries (1932-3, 172) suggests that heinflet may refer not to a sword but to a sickle, but this fits expected patterns less well. — [2] mér ‘me’: Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) sets the word off by commas, indicating that he takes it to be the expressed object of hafa hnekkt ‘have driven away’ in l. 1, and the implied object of við ‘against’ in l. 2. Mér is similarly assumed to have a dual role in this edn, though a less disjointed word order is proposed. Cf. Noreen (1923, 37-8), and Kock, NN §1112. — [3, 4] þeygi bella … tíri ‘not at all do … display praiseworthiness’: This is the sense normally assumed, i.e. that the three Ǫlvirs have acted badly. Konráð Gíslason (1892, 178) cites parallel instances of tírr in this concrete sense. Kock (NN §2218B) compiles poetic instances of bella in an attempt to show that with an instr. object (including the present context) it means ‘go about, perform, be intent upon’, while with a dat. one it means ‘hit, get at’, i.e. ‘reach one’s mark’ (though of course dat. and instr. objects are formally indistinguishable). — [5] séumk ‘I fear’: The skothending consists of long vowels (or diphthongs) without any consonant rhyme here, in Sigv Lv 24/1, and in six even lines by Sigvatr: see Höskuldur Þráinsson (1970, 12, 20); Kristján Árnason (1991, 99). Kock (NN §2923) suggests emending to þéumk, taking this to mean ‘I torment myself’ (producing a skothending of þó þ- : hlœð-), and other emendations were proposed by Jón Þorkelsson (1884, 68) and Gering (1912, 138).  — [6] síðan ‘henceforth’: The word is construed with séumk ‘I fear’ in Skj B. — [7] Ǫlvir: Hollander favours an etymology of *aluwīhaz ‘guardian, or priest, of a fane’ and suggests an ironic allusion to the nearly homonymous ǫlværr ‘hospitable’ (Hollander 1945, 155 n., following de Vries 1932-3, 171-2, 176-8, who argued that coincidence was implausible). The incident is thus to that extent fictitious and the name chosen solely for its entertainment value. For objections to this view see Ellekilde (1933-4, 183-5) and for a reply, see de Vries (1933-4, 292-3).

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. Fms = Sveinbjörn Egilsson et al., eds. 1825-37. Fornmanna sögur eptir gömlum handritum útgefnar að tilhlutun hins norræna fornfræða fèlags. 12 vols. Copenhagen: Popp.
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. Meissner = Meissner, Rudolf. 1921. Die Kenningar der Skalden: Ein Beitrag zur skaldischen Poetik. Rheinische Beiträge und Hülfsbücher zur germanischen Philologie und Volkskunde 1. Bonn and Leipzig: Schroeder. Rpt. 1984. Hildesheim etc.: Olms.
7. Kristján Árnason. 1991. The Rhythms of Dróttkvætt and Other Old Icelandic Metres. Reykjavík: Institute of Linguistics, University of Iceland.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
11. Hkr 1893-1901 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1893-1901. Heimskringla: Nóregs konunga sǫgur af Snorri Sturluson. 4 vols. SUGNL 23. Copenhagen: Møller.
12. Hkr 1991 = Bergljót S. Kristjánsdóttir et al., eds. 1991. Heimskringla. 3 vols. Reykjavík: Mál og menning.
13. Jón Þorkelsson [J. Thorkelsson]. 1884. ‘Bemærkninger til nogle steder i versene i Heimskringla’. Aftryk af oversigt over det kgl. danske videnskabs selskabs forhandlinger 1884. Copenhagen: Luno.
14. Hollander, Lee M. 1945. The Skalds: A Selection of their Poems, with Introduction and Notes. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
15. 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.
16. Konráð Gíslason, ed. 1892a. Udvalg af oldnordiske skjaldekvad, med anmærkninger. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
17. Ellekilde, Hans. 1933-4. ‘Om Sigvat skjalds Alfeblotsstrofer og Alfhildsagnet i Hervararsaga’. APS 8, 182-92.
18. Gering, Hugo. 1912. ‘Beiträge zu der Metrik und Erklärung skaldischer Dichtungen’. ZDP 44, 133-69.
19. Ternström, Alfred. 1871. Om skalden Sighvat Thordsson och tolkning af hans Austrfararvísur, Vestrfararvísur och Knútsdrápa. Lund: Ohlsson.
20. Vries, Jan de. 1932-3. ‘Über Sigvats Álfablót-Strophen’. APS 7, 169-80.
21. Vries, Jan de. 1933-4. ‘Endnu en gang om Sighvats Alfeblotstrofer’. APS 8, 292-4.
22. Höskuldur Þráinsson. 1970. ‘Hendingar í dróttkvæðum hætti hjá Sighvati Þórðarsyni’. Mímir 9, 9-29.
23. Hkr 1777-1826 = Schöning, Gerhard et al., eds. 1777-1826. Heimskringla edr Noregs konunga-sögor. 6 vols. Copenhagen: Stein.
24. Hkr 1868 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1868. Heimskringla eller Norges kongesagaer af Snorre Sturlassøn. Christiania (Oslo): Brøgger & Christie.
25. Noreen, Erik. 1923. Studier i fornvästnordisk diktning: tredje samlingen. Uppsala: Akademiska bokhandeln.
26. ÓH 1853 = Munch, P. A. and C. R. Unger, eds. 1853. Saga Olafs konungs ens helga. Christiania (Oslo): Det kongelige norske Fredriks Universitet.
27. Internal references
28. (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 24 April 2024)
29. Kate Heslop and Diana Whaley 2012, ‘ Anonymous, Lausavísur from Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar in mesta’ 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. 1082. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=3068> (accessed 24 April 2024)
30. R. D. Fulk (ed.) 2012, ‘Sigvatr Þórðarson, Lausavísur 24’ 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. 729.