Judith Jesch (ed.) 2012, ‘Sigvatr Þórðarson, Erfidrápa Óláfs helga 20’ 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. 689.
Áðr vitu eigi meiðar
ógnar skers né hersa
— þjóð réð þengils dauða —
þann styrk búandmanna,
es slíkan gram sóknum
sárelds viðir felldi
— mǫrg lá dýr í dreyra
drótt — , sem Ôleifr þótti.
{Meiðar {skers ógnar}} vitu eigi áðr þann styrk búandmanna né hersa — þjóð réð dauða þengils —, es {viðir {sárelds}} felldi sóknum slíkan gram, sem Ôleifr þótti; mǫrg dýr drótt lá í dreyra.
{The trees {of the skerry of battle}} [SHIELD > WARRIORS] did not previously recognise that strength of the farmers nor of the hersar — the people caused the death of the prince — by which {the trees {of the wound-fire}} [SWORD > WARRIORS] could fell in the onslaught such a ruler as Óláfr was thought to be; many a noble retinue lay [dead] in the gore.
Mss: Kˣ(477v) (Hkr); Holm2(69v), J2ˣ(230r-v), 321ˣ(263-264), 73aˣ(205v), Holm4(65va), 61(127ra), 325V(83rb), 325VII(39v), Bb(200vb), Flat(126ra), Tóm(157v) (ÓH)
Readings: [1] Áðr: ‘[…]ðr’ Tóm; eigi meiðar: eigi meiðr J2ˣ, þat eigi 73aˣ, 325V [2] ógnar: ógna 73aˣ; skers: skorts 321ˣ, setrs 73aˣ, 325V; hersa: hersar J2ˣ, Flat, þessa 325VII, herða Bb [4] búand‑: ‘bond’ Flat, búanda Tóm [5] slíkan: so Holm2, J2ˣ, 321ˣ, 73aˣ, Holm4, 61, 325V, 325VII, Flat, Tóm, slíka Kˣ, slíkar Bb [6] sár‑: sárir 321ˣ; viðir: við 321ˣ, viðar Bb, undir Flat; felldi: felldu J2ˣ, 73aˣ, Holm4, 325V, 325VII, foldu 321ˣ [8] Ôleifr: Ôleif J2ˣ, Flat; þótti: sótti 325VII
Editions: Skj AI, 262, Skj BI, 243-4, Skald I, 126; Hkr 1893-1901, II, 505, IV, 173, ÍF 27, 394, Hkr 1991, II, 540 (ÓHHkr ch. 235); ÓH 1941, I, 587 (ch. 235), Flat 1860-8, II, 366; Jón Skaptason 1983, 175, 308.
Context: As for st. 19.
Notes: [3] þjóð réð dauða þengils ‘the people caused the death of the prince’: In st. 14/4, Óláfr was still the þjóðkonungr ‘mighty king’, lit. ‘nation-king’; now he has been felled by the very people he once ruled. — [5] es ‘by which’: (a) Es is taken here as a rel. introducing a clause that appears to elaborate on þann styrk ‘that strength’ (l. 4). (b) It could alternatively be the conj. equivalent to at ‘that’ (LP: at 7). Skj B translates þann styrk ... es felldi as sådan magt ... at (mændene) fældede ‘such power that (the men) felled / could fell ...’. (c) Es could alternatively be the conj. ‘when, since, because’. — [6] felldi ‘could fell’: The subj. form of felldi ‘could fell, might fell’ expresses the fact that the outcome was unexpected.
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