Sigv ErfÓl 17^I

Þollr dylr saðrar snilli
seims, en þat veitk heiman,
— hverr sæi Hunds verk stœrri
hugstórs —, es frýr Þóri,
es þvergarða þorði
Þróttr, hinns framm of sótti,
glyggs í gǫgn at hǫggva
gunnranns konungmanni.

{Þollr seims}, es frýr Þóri, dylr saðrar snilli, en veitk þat heiman — hverr sæi stœrri verk hugstórs Hunds? —, es {Þróttr {þvergarða {glyggs {gunnranns}}}}, hinns of sótti framm, þorði at hǫggva í gǫgn konungmanni.

{The fir-tree of gold} [MAN] who reproaches Þórir conceals true valour, and I know that from home — who might have seen greater deeds of the mighty-hearted [Þórir] Hundr (‘Dog’)? —, when {the Þróttr <= Óðinn> {of the cross-fences {of the storm {of the battle-hall}}}} [SHIELD > BATTLE > SHIELD > WARRIOR], the one who pressed forwards, dared to strike at the royal person.

Mss: Kˣ(471r) (Hkr); Holm2(68r), J2ˣ(227r), 73aˣ(201v), Holm4(63vb), 61(125va), 325V(81ra), 325VII(38r), Flat(124vb), Tóm(156r) (ÓH)

Readings: [1] dylr: dyli 73aˣ;    snilli: so all others, ‘snylli’ Kˣ    [2] en: om. Holm4, er Tóm;    þat veitk (‘þat veit ec’): þat veit Holm2, ek þat veit J2ˣ, veit ek Holm4, ‘þ(ar v)eit ek’(?) 61, þat frá ek Flat, þar veit ek Tóm;    heiman: heima Flat    [3] hverr: hver 73aˣ, 325V, hvers Tóm;    sæi: sé 73aˣ, 325V, Tóm, sér 61;    stœrri: stœrra 61    [4] es (‘er’): enn 61, 325VII, Flat, Tóm;    frýr: vann 61, Flat, Tóm, ‘fir’ with vann written above 325VII;    Þóri: ‘[…]’ 61, ‘þore(s)’(?) 325VII, Þórir Flat, Tóm    [5] es (‘er’): enn Holm2, en Holm4, ‘[…]’ 61;    þver‑: ‘[…]’ 61    [6] Þróttr: þrótt J2ˣ, þrjótr 61, Tóm;    hinn: om. Flat;    of: om. J2ˣ, 73aˣ, 61, 325V    [7] glyggs: ‘g[…]’ 61, gnýs Flat, Tóm;    í gǫgn: ‘[…]gn’ 61    [8] ‑ranns: ‑ramms J2ˣ, ‑rakkr 61, Flat, ‑rammr Tóm;    konung‑: konungs 73aˣ, 61, Tóm

Editions: Skj AI, 261-2, Skj BI, 243, Skald I, 126, NN §664; Hkr 1893-1901, II, 493, IV, 170, ÍF 27, 384, Hkr 1991, II, 533 (ÓHHkr ch. 228); ÓH 1941, I, 574 (ch. 226), Flat 1860-8, II, 356; Jón Skaptason 1983, 172, 306-7.

Context: See Context to st. 16. Þórir strikes back at King Óláfr and they exchange blows. Óláfr’s sword continues to be useless where Þórir is protected by his reindeer skins, but he does manage to wound him on the arm.

Notes: [2] veitk þat heiman ‘I know that from home’: It is not clear which statement this refers to. The precise antecedent of þat n. ‘that’ cannot be the f. snilli ‘valour’. It may be the fact of Þórir’s valour (so Hkr 1893-1901, IV) or the fact that some question it (so ÍF 27). ‘Home’ presumably means Norway, where Sigvatr lived for much of his life; see his Biography above, and Note to st. 15/7. — [3] hverr sæi stœrri verk … Hunds ‘who might have seen greater deeds of … Hundr (“Dog”)’: (a) The comp. adj. stœrri ‘greater’ is taken here, as by most previous eds, as absolute, without an explicit specification of what the verk ‘deeds’ are greater than. (b) Jón Skaptason (1983, 172) would link it with the second helmingr, reading es in l. 5 as ‘<than> when’. (c) Kock (NN §664) prefers the reading hver séi Hunds verk stœrri ‘which deeds of the Dog might be greater?’, but this has less support in the mss. — [3] Hunds ‘Hundr (“Dog”)’: The word hundr ‘dog’ can be used as a term of abuse (Fritzner: hundr). Fidjestøl (1987) analyses the irony in the derogatory connotations of hundr, while the poet is simultaneously praising Þórir’s valour, and traces this continuing ambivalence towards him in later sources. — [5, 6, 7, 8] Þróttr þvergarða glyggs gunnranns ‘the Þróttr <= Óðinn> of the cross-fences of the storm of the battle-hall [SHIELD > BATTLE > SHIELD > WARRIOR]’: This kenning is unusual for its number of elements and conjures up an image of Þórir defensively barricading himself in at the very moment when he strikes out at Óláfr, one of the several ironies of this stanza. Jón Skaptason (1983, 306) thought the kenning was ‘much too complex to be characteristic of Sigvat’ and found the ‘double use of shield disquietingly redundant’ but was unable to construe the stanza any differently.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
3. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. 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.
5. Fritzner = Fritzner, Johan. 1883-96. Ordbog over det gamle norske sprog. 3 vols. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske forlagsforening. 4th edn. Rpt. 1973. Oslo etc.: Universitetsforlaget.
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. Fidjestøl, Bjarne. 1987. ‘Legenda om Tore Hund’. In Hagland et al. 1987, 38-51.
12. Internal references
13. (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 18 April 2024)