Sigv Austv 9^I

Kátr vask opt, þás úti
ǫrðigt veðr á fjǫrðum
vísa segl í vási
vindblásit skóf Strinda.
Hestr óð kafs at kostum;
kilir ristu men Lista,
út þás eisa létum
undan skeiðr at sundi.

Vask opt kátr, þás ǫrðigt veðr úti á fjǫrðum skóf vindblásit segl {vísa Strinda} í vási. {Hestr kafs} óð at kostum; kilir ristu {men Lista}, þás létum skeiðr eisa undan út at sundi.

I was often cheerful when a harsh wind out in the fjords raked the wind-blown sail {of the ruler of the Strindir} [NORWEGIAN KING = Óláfr] in a drenching storm. {The horse of the deep} [SHIP] advanced at a fine pace; the keels cleft {the necklace of Lista} [SEA] when we let the warships dash away out at sea.

Mss: Holm2(17v), 325V(22vb), R686ˣ(35v), 972ˣ(122va), 325VI(15vb), 75a(8ra), 73aˣ(46v), 78aˣ(45v), 68(16v), 61(88va), Holm4(9ra), 75c(9r), 325VII(8v), Flat(85va), Tóm(106r) (ÓH); Kˣ(271v-272r), Bb(143va) (Hkr)

Readings: [1] opt: ‘opp’ R686ˣ;    þás (‘þá er’): þá 68    [2] ǫrðigt: ‘ærþekt’ 325VII    [3] segl: segls Flat, sex Tóm    [4] ‑blásit: ‑blásin 73aˣ, 61, 75c, 325VII, Flat, Tóm;    skóf: skók R686ˣ, 972ˣ, 325VI, 75a, 73aˣ, 78aˣ, 68, 61, Holm4, ‘s[…]’ 325VII;    Strinda: so 68, Holm4, Kˣ, Strindar Holm2, 325V, R686ˣ, 972ˣ, 325VI, 75a, 73aˣ, 78aˣ, 75c, 325VII, Flat, Tóm, Bb, innan 61    [5] kafs: so 325V, R686ˣ, 75a, 73aˣ, 61, Holm4, 325VII, Flat, Kˣ, kapps Holm2, 325VI, 78aˣ, 68, Tóm, Bb, ‘[…]’ 75c;    at: af 325V, R686ˣ, 325VI, 75a, 73aˣ, 78aˣ, 68, Flat, á 61;    kostum: kǫstum 325V, kǫstu 61    [6] ristu: hristu 325V, Holm4, Kˣ;    men: so Holm4, Kˣ, haf Holm2, 325V, R686ˣ, 972ˣ, 325VI, 75a, 73aˣ, 78aˣ, 68, 61, 75c, 325VII, Flat, Tóm, Bb    [7] þás (‘þa er’): þara er 73aˣ, þar er Kˣ;    eisa: rísa Bb;    létum: létu Flat    [8] undan: unda 325VI, 75c, Flat, Tóm;    skeiðr: skeið 325V, skeiðar R686ˣ, 972ˣ, skeiðs Tóm;    at: af 325VI, 75a, 73aˣ, 78aˣ, Flat, á 61, Tóm

Editions: Skj AI, 236, Skj BI, 222, Skald I, 115-16, NN §1861; Fms 4, 135 (ÓH ch. 70), Fms 12, 81, ÓH 1941, I, 135 (ch. 53), Flat 1860-8, II, 58; Hkr 1777-1826, II, 82, VI, 81, Hkr 1868, 274, Hkr 1893-1901, II, 113, ÍF 27, 92-3, Hkr 1991, I, 314-15 (ÓHHkr ch. 71); Ternström 1871, 8-9, 40, Jón Skaptason 1983, 90, 240-1.

Context: ÓH and Hkr place this stanza on an earlier journey that Sigvatr makes with Bjǫrn digri ‘the Stout’, King Óláfr’s marshal, to visit Rǫgnvaldr jarl Úlfsson in Gautland (Västergötland). He speaks this and the next two stanzas as they ride into the territory.

Notes: [All]: On the inclusion of sts 9-12 in Austv, see Introduction. Turville-Petre (1976, 79) takes this stanza to show that much of Sigvatr’s journey was on shipboard, and he supports the view of Sahlgren (1927-8, I, 192-5) that Sigvatr sailed north to Romsdalen or Trondheim before setting out overland. Other situations could be imagined, e.g. that the stanza is retrospective, nostalgically comparing Sigvatr’s time aboard a royal ship with the miseries of the journey to the east. — [1, 2] úti á fjǫrðum ‘out in the fjords’: Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) has this modify skóf ‘raked’ in l. 4 rather than veðr ‘wind’ in l. 2. Jón Skaptason (1983, 90) and Hkr 1991 take it with vási ‘storm/sea-toil’ (see Note to l. 3). — [3] í vási ‘in a drenching storm’: Vás means ‘wetness, toil, fatigue, from storm, sea, frost, bad weather, or the like’ (CVC: vás), but some of the examples show that vás may simply refer to adverse weather (as a cause of fatigue). Í vási can be variously construed. (a) It is taken here with the subordinate clause (so also Kock, NN §1861; Jón Skaptason 1983, 90). (b) Taking it in the sense ‘in a storm’ in the main, initial clause is also satisfactory, providing a reference to stormy weather in each clause, though the word order is more complex. Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) adopted this arrangement, following Ternström (1871). He seems to have understood vás as describing Sigvatr’s condition, rather than the weather (cf. LP: vás, defining it as strabadser ‘fatigue, toils’). — [4] Strinda ‘of the Strindir’: The people of Strinda, a district in Trøndelag. The reading Strindar in several mss would be the gen. sg. of the p. n. — [5] at kostum ‘at a fine pace’: Lit. ‘at good qualities’. Turville-Petre (1976, 79-80) renders this ‘(pranced) nobly’, comparing ModIcel. fara á kostum ‘go splendidly’, as applied to a horse. — [6] ristu ‘cleft’: Despite the spelling with initial <hr> in 325V, Holm4 and Kˣ, the <h> is probably inorganic (see Pokorny 1959, 859; Orel 2003: *rīstanan). — [6] Lista ‘Lista’: ON Listi, ModNorw. Lista, a district in Vest-Agder, southern Norway, and hence ‘land’ in general in the present context of a sea-kenning; cf. also st. 18/6. — [8] at sundi ‘at sea’: Lit. ‘in/at the sound’ (or ‘a-swimming’), but the phrase has a generalised sense (see LP: sund 1) that is paralleled in OE (see Fulk 2005).

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. 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.
7. CVC = Cleasby, Richard, Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and W. A. Craigie. 1957. An Icelandic-English Dictionary. 2nd edn. Oxford: Clarendon.
8. Turville-Petre, Gabriel. 1976. Scaldic Poetry. Oxford: Clarendon.
9. 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.
10. 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.
11. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
12. Hkr 1893-1901 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1893-1901. Heimskringla: Nóregs konunga sǫgur af Snorri Sturluson. 4 vols. SUGNL 23. Copenhagen: Møller.
13. Hkr 1991 = Bergljót S. Kristjánsdóttir et al., eds. 1991. Heimskringla. 3 vols. Reykjavík: Mál og menning.
14. 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.
15. Sahlgren, Jöran. 1927-8. Eddica et Scaldica. Fornvästnordiska studier I-II. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
16. Fulk, Robert D. 2005. ‘Afloat in Semantic Space: Old English sund and the Nature of Beowulf’s Exploit with Breca’. JEGP 104, 457-74.
17. Orel, Vladimir. 2003. A Handbook of Germanic Etymology. Leiden: Brill.
18. Pokorny, Julius. 1959. Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. Bern: Francke.
19. Ternström, Alfred. 1871. Om skalden Sighvat Thordsson och tolkning af hans Austrfararvísur, Vestrfararvísur och Knútsdrápa. Lund: Ohlsson.
20. Hkr 1777-1826 = Schöning, Gerhard et al., eds. 1777-1826. Heimskringla edr Noregs konunga-sögor. 6 vols. Copenhagen: Stein.
21. Hkr 1868 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1868. Heimskringla eller Norges kongesagaer af Snorre Sturlassøn. Christiania (Oslo): Brøgger & Christie.
22. Internal references
23. (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 27 April 2024)
24. (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 27 April 2024)
25. (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 27 April 2024)
26. R. D. Fulk 2012, ‘ Sigvatr Þórðarson, Austrfararvísur’ 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. 578. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1351> (accessed 27 April 2024)