Sigv Austv 7^I

Fórk at finna bôru
— fríðs vættak mér — síðan
brjót, þanns bragnar létu,
bliks, vildastan miklu.
Grefs leit við mér gætir
gerstr; þás illr inn versti,
— lítt reiðik þó lýða
lǫst — ef sjás inn bazti.

Fórk síðan at finna {brjót {bliks bôru}}, þanns bragnar létu miklu vildastan; vættak mér fríðs. {Gætir grefs} leit gerstr við mér; þás inn versti illr, ef sjás inn bazti; þó reiðik lítt lǫst lýða.

I went afterwards to find {a breaker {of the gleam of the wave}} [GOLD > GENEROUS MAN], one whom warriors counted by far the most excellent; for myself I expected something fine. {The minder of the hoe} [FARMER] looked at me annoyed; then the worst is bad [indeed], if this is the best; yet I broadcast people’s faults little.

Mss: Holm2(26r), R686ˣ(49v), 972ˣ(178va), J2ˣ(160v), 325VI(17ra), 75a(15ra), 73aˣ(65r), 68(24v), 61(94ra), Holm4(17rb), 325VII(12v), Flat(93ra), Tóm(113v) (ÓH); Kˣ(304v), Bb(153ra) (Hkr)

Readings: [1] at: so 325VI, 73aˣ, 68, 61, Holm4, 325VII, Flat, Tóm, Kˣ, Bb, om. Holm2, J2ˣ, en R686ˣ, 972ˣ, 75a;    bôru: bôðum R686ˣ, bôðu 75a    [2] fríðs: ‘frið’ 325VII, Flat, Tóm, Bb    [3] þanns (‘þann er’): ‘þaun er’ 972ˣ;    bragnar: ‘burgnar’ R686ˣ, ‘brognar’ 972ˣ;    létu: ‘hętv’ 325VI    [4] vildastan: ‘vildostann’ J2ˣ    [5] Grefs: ‘gerfs’ R686ˣ, grepps J2ˣ, Flat, Bb, ‘graps’ 68;    leit: so 972ˣ, 325VI, 73aˣ, 68, 61, Holm4, Tóm, lét Holm2, R686ˣ, J2ˣ, 75a, Flat, Bb, leit corrected from ‘let’ 325VII;    gætir: ‘gettir’ 325VI, gættir Tóm    [6] gerstr: so 75a, Holm4, Kˣ, gerst Holm2, J2ˣ, gest R686ˣ, 972ˣ, gestr 325VI, 73aˣ, 68, 61, 325VII, Flat, Tóm, Bb;    þás (‘þa er’): sá var 68;    versti: vesti Flat, Tóm    [7] reiðik (‘reiði ec’): reyfi ek Flat;    þó: so 325VI, 73aˣ, 68, 61, Holm4, 325VII, Tóm, Kˣ, Bb, þó apparently corrected from lof Holm2, lof R686ˣ, 972ˣ, J2ˣ, 75a, þá Flat    [8] lǫst: ‘laist’ R686ˣ, læst 972ˣ, lest 75a, last 73aˣ, 61, 325VII, ‘lost’ Flat

Editions: Skj AI, 235, Skj BI, 222, Skald I, 115; Fms 4, 187-8, Fms 12, 84, ÓH 1853, 81, 272-3, ÓH 1941, I, 201 (ch. 75), Flat 1860-8, II, 114; Hkr 1777-1826, II, 126, VI, 85-6, Hkr 1868, 308 (ÓHHkr ch. 92), Hkr 1893-1901, II, 172, ÍF 27, 138, Hkr 1991, I, 348 (ÓHHkr ch. 91); Ternström 1871, 16-19, 46-7, Konráð Gíslason 1892, 37, 178, Jón Skaptason 1983, 88, 240.

Context: That same evening, the most prominent local man also bars them entry to his house, and Sigvatr delivers this and the following stanza.

Notes: [All]: The present interpretation of the stanza owes much to Konráð Gíslason (1866b, 194-7). — [2] fríðs ‘something fine’: So Konráð Gíslason (1892). Turville-Petre (1976, 82) renders this ‘friendliness’. Noreen (1923, 38) suggests that the word is m. rather than n.: ‘someone fine’, though this would be slightly awkward with mér ‘for myself’. — [2] síðan ‘afterwards’: The word could instead depend on vættak ‘I expected’ in l. 2 (so Jón Skaptason 1983, 88). — [6] gerstr ‘annoyed’: ‘Annoyed’ is the literal meaning, and by extension, ‘sour, dismal’. The reading gerst of Holm2 and others makes sense as an adverbial n. meaning ‘bitterly, hardly, cruelly’ (Turville-Petre 1976, 83), but the distribution of variants favours gerstr.

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. Turville-Petre, Gabriel. 1976. Scaldic Poetry. Oxford: Clarendon.
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. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
8. Hkr 1893-1901 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1893-1901. Heimskringla: Nóregs konunga sǫgur af Snorri Sturluson. 4 vols. SUGNL 23. Copenhagen: Møller.
9. Hkr 1991 = Bergljót S. Kristjánsdóttir et al., eds. 1991. Heimskringla. 3 vols. Reykjavík: Mál og menning.
10. 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.
11. Konráð Gíslason, ed. 1892a. Udvalg af oldnordiske skjaldekvad, med anmærkninger. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
12. Konráð Gíslason. 1866b. ‘Strøbemærkninger til oldnordiske digte’. ÅNOH, 188-97.
13. Ternström, Alfred. 1871. Om skalden Sighvat Thordsson och tolkning af hans Austrfararvísur, Vestrfararvísur och Knútsdrápa. Lund: Ohlsson.
14. Hkr 1777-1826 = Schöning, Gerhard et al., eds. 1777-1826. Heimskringla edr Noregs konunga-sögor. 6 vols. Copenhagen: Stein.
15. Hkr 1868 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1868. Heimskringla eller Norges kongesagaer af Snorre Sturlassøn. Christiania (Oslo): Brøgger & Christie.
16. Noreen, Erik. 1923. Studier i fornvästnordisk diktning: tredje samlingen. Uppsala: Akademiska bokhandeln.
17. ÓH 1853 = Munch, P. A. and C. R. Unger, eds. 1853. Saga Olafs konungs ens helga. Christiania (Oslo): Det kongelige norske Fredriks Universitet.
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 25 April 2024)