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Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Sigv Berv 12II

Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Sigvatr Þórðarson, Bersǫglisvísur 12’ 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, pp. 23-4.

Sigvatr ÞórðarsonBersǫglisvísur
111213

Hætts, þats allir ætla
— áðr skal við því ráða —
hárir menn, es heyrik,
hót, skjǫldungi at móti.
Greypts, þats hǫfðum hneppta,
heldr, ok niðr í feldi
— slegit hefr þǫgn á þegna —
þingmenn nǫsum stinga.

Hætts hót, þats allir hárir menn, es heyrik, ætla at móti skjǫldungi; áðr skal ráða við því. Heldr greypts, þats þingmenn hneppta hǫfðum ok stinga nǫsum niðr í feldi; þǫgn hefr slegit á þegna.

The threat is dangerous when all grey-haired men, as I hear, intend [to revolt] against the ruler; that must be prevented in advance. It’s rather grim when assembly members hang their heads and stick their noses into their cloaks; silence has descended on your followers.

Mss: (505r), 39(14vb), E(5v), J2ˣ(246r) (Hkr); Holm2(74v), 972ˣ(585va), 972ˣ(585vb), 325VI(42rb), 321ˣ(283), 73aˣ(216v-217r), 325VII(41v), 325V(89vb), 61(130va), Tóm(161v), Bb(206rb) (ÓH); Ágr(14va) (Ágr); FskAˣ(209) (Fsk, ll. 5-8, 1-4); H(4v), Hr(6rb) (H-Hr); 325XI 3(1v), Flat(190ra) (Flat); A(7v), W(110) (TGT, ll. 1-4)

Readings: [1] Hætts (‘Hætt er’): ‘hætr’ A, ‘Het’ W;    þats (‘þat er’): þeim 325VI, 73aˣ, þeir er 321ˣ, því er Flat;    allir: ‘[...]’ 325VII, ‘orir’ Bb;    ætla: so 325VI, 321ˣ, 61, Ágr, FskAˣ, H, Hr, 325XI 3, Flat, A, W, heitask Kˣ, 39, ætlask E, J2ˣ, Holm2, 972ˣ(585va), 972ˣ(585vb), 73aˣ, 325V, Tóm, Bb, ‘hæzlar’(?) 325VII    [2] skal: skaltu Flat;    við: om. Tóm;    því: ‘[...]’ 325VII;    ráða: mæla J2ˣ, ‘[...]’ 325VII    [3] hárir: ‘har’ 972ˣ(585vb), Tóm, ‘[...]’ 325VII, háir 61, ‘horir’ FskAˣ, ‘harr’ Hr, Haralds Flat;    menn es heyrik (‘menn er ec heyri’): menn er heyri 972ˣ(585va), ‘menn en ec hæy[...]’ 325VII, mun ek enn ef ek heyri Tóm;    menn: mér W;    es (‘er’): en 325VII, 61, Bb, A, W    [4] hót: ‘[...]o[...]’ 325VII, ‘hꜹtt’ Ágr;    skjǫldungi: ‘skiolldundungi’ 321ˣ, skjǫldunga Tóm, ‘skꜹlldvngi’ 325XI 3;    at: á 61, Tóm, Ágr, Hr, í Bb, 325XI 3, Flat, om. W    [5] Greypts (‘greypt er’): greyp er 61, Tóm, gneyft er Ágr, FskAˣ, ‘gryftt er’ 325XI 3;    þats (‘þat er’): so 39, Holm2, 972ˣ(585va), 972ˣ(585vb), 325VI, 321ˣ, 73aˣ, 325VII, 325V, Bb, Ágr, FskAˣ, Hr, 325XI 3, Flat, þat Kˣ, 61, om. E, J2ˣ, H, vér Tóm;    hǫfðum: ‘havfvm’ Tóm, hǫfðut Bb;    hneppta: so 39, 325VI, 321ˣ, 73aˣ, H, Flat, ‘hnøpta’ Kˣ, ‘hneypta’ E, J2ˣ, Holm2, 972ˣ(585va), 972ˣ(585vb), 325V, 61, Hr, ‘hnæypta’ 325VII, FskAˣ, ‘hnypta’ Tóm, ‘noftta’ Bb, hnistir Ágr, ‘hnefta’ 325XI 3    [6] ok: om. 61;    í: en 325VII, om. 325XI 3, Flat;    feldi: felda 39, E, J2ˣ, Holm2, 972ˣ(585va), 972ˣ(585vb), 321ˣ, 73aˣ, 325V, Tóm, Bb, FskAˣ, feldinn 61    [7] slegit hefr: ‘[...]’ 325VII;    hefr: ‘hofr’ 39;    á: yfir Flat;    þegna: ‘þeg[...]a’ 325VII, þagna Bb    [8] þing‑: ‘þ[...]g’ 325VII

Editions: Skj AI, 254-5, Skj BI, 237, Skald I, 123, NN §§1868, 1982; ÍF 28, 30 (Mgóð ch. 16), E 1916, 18; ÓH 1941, I, 626 (ch. 261); ÍF 29, 33 (ch. 34), Ágr 1995, 46-9 (ch. 35); ÍF 29, 214-15 (ch. 48); Fms 6, 43 (Mgóð ch. 22); Louis-Jensen 1970b, 149, Flat 1860-8, III, 269, Mork 1928-32, 29, Andersson and Gade 107, 467 (MH); Jón Skaptason 1983, 149, 294-5; SnE 1848-87, II, 176-7, 424, TGT 1884, 30, 112, TGT 1927, 84, 107.

Context: In TGT, ll. 1-4 are given as an example of anastrophus ‘anastrophe’, i.e. inversion of w. o., in which the prep. at móti ‘against’ is placed after the noun it qualifies (skjǫldungi ‘ruler’).

Notes: [1] ætla ‘intend [to revolt]’: Verbs of motion (here: ‘revolt, go against’) can be suppressed with the verb ætla. The variant m. v. ætlask lit. ‘intend for themselves’ (so Skj B; Skald; ÍF 28) is also possible, but, because ætla is higher up on the stemma, that form has been adopted in the present edn. — [3] hárir menn ‘grey-haired men’: Indicating that the impending uprising against Magnús is premeditated and not an act of youthful rashness. — [4] hót ‘threat’: Skj B construes this with the cl. es heyrik ‘as I hear’ (l. 3). — [5] hneppta ‘hang’: Hap. leg. The different spellings show that the scribes had problems understanding the word. The verb hneppta is derived from hnepptr ‘scanty, narrow, scarce’, p. p. of hneppa ‘squeeze, force’, and the sense is that the assembly members are bowing their heads down and forcing their noses into their cloaks (see LP: hnepta). — [6] í feldi (m. dat. sg.) ‘into their cloaks’: Lit. ‘into the cloak’. The variant form felda (m. acc. pl.; so Skj B; Skald; ÍF 29, 214-15) implies motion (into the cloaks), whereas the dat. feldi indicates ‘motion in situ’. Hiding one’s head in a cloak is an indication of unhappiness and frustration (see ÍF 2, 148; Egill Lv 16/5-8V; Note to Anon (MH) [7]). — [7] þegna (m. acc. pl.) ‘followers’: Here þegnar seems to include people who were in close allegiance with Magnús (like Sigvatr himself) rather than ‘subjects’ in general (see Note to st. 11/2 above). — [8] þingmenn ‘assembly members’: A þingmaðr was a man belonging to a specific legal district (þing), and the word is translated here (somewhat loosely) as ‘assembly member’.

References

  1. Bibliography
  2. TGT 1884 = Björn Magnússon Ólsen, ed. 1884. Den tredje og fjærde grammatiske afhandling i Snorres Edda tilligemed de grammatiske afhandlingers prolog og to andre tillæg. SUGNL 12. Copenhagen: Knudtzon.
  3. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
  4. Fms = Sveinbjörn Egilsson et al., eds. 1825-37. Fornmanna sögur eptir gömlum handritum útgefnar að tilhlutun hins norræna fornfræða fèlags. 12 vols. Copenhagen: Popp.
  5. SnE 1848-87 = Snorri Sturluson. 1848-87. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar: Edda Snorronis Sturlaei. Ed. Jón Sigurðsson et al. 3 vols. Copenhagen: Legatum Arnamagnaeanum. Rpt. Osnabrück: Zeller, 1966.
  6. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
  7. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
  8. 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.
  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 4to med varianter fra andre håndskrifter. 2 vols. Det norske historiske kildeskriftfond skrifter 53. Oslo: Dybwad.
  11. Mork 1928-32 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1928-32. Morkinskinna. SUGNL 53. Copenhagen: Jørgensen.
  12. ÍF 2 = Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar. Ed. Sigurður Nordal. 1933.
  13. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
  14. Ágr 1995 = Driscoll, Matthew J., ed. and trans. 1995. Ágrip af Nóregskonungasǫgum: A Twelfth-Century Synoptic History of the Kings of Norway. Viking Society for Northern Research Text Series 10. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
  15. E 1916 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1916. Eirspennill: AM 47 fol. Nóregs konunga sǫgur: Magnús góði – Hákon gamli. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske historiske kildeskriftskommission.
  16. ÍF 29 = Ágrip af Nóregskonunga sǫgum; Fagrskinna—Nóregs konungatal. Ed. Bjarni Einarsson. 1985.
  17. 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.
  18. Louis-Jensen, Jonna. 1970b. ‘Et forlæg til Flateyjarbók? Fragmenterne AM 325 IV ß og XI, 3 4to’. Opuscula 4. BA 30, 141-58. Copenhagen: Munksgaard.
  19. TGT 1927 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1927b. Óláfr Þórðarson: Málhljóða- og málskrúðsrit. Grammatisk-retorisk afhandling. Det kgl. Danske Videnskabernes Selskab. Historisk-filologiske meddelelser 13, 2. Copenhagen: Høst.
  20. Internal references
  21. (forthcoming), ‘ Óláfr hvítaskáld Þórðarson, The Third Grammatical Treatise’ in Tarrin Wills (ed.), The Third Grammatical Treatise. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=32> (accessed 28 March 2024)
  22. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Magnúss saga góða ok Haralds harðráða’ 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=147> (accessed 28 March 2024)
  23. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2022, ‘Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar 23 (Egill Skallagrímsson, Lausavísur 16)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross, Kari Ellen Gade and Tarrin Wills (eds), Poetry in Sagas of Icelanders. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 5. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 210.
  24. Kari Ellen Gade 2009, ‘ Anonymous, Lausavísa from Magnúss saga góða ok Haralds harðráða’ 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, pp. 813-14. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=3086> (accessed 28 March 2024)
  25. Not published: do not cite ()
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