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Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Sigv Erlfl 5I

Judith Jesch (ed.) 2012, ‘Sigvatr Þórðarson, Flokkr about Erlingr Skjálgsson 5’ 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. 636.

Sigvatr ÞórðarsonFlokkr about Erlingr Skjálgsson
456

Ǫndurða bað, jarðar,
Erlingr, sás vel lengi
geymði lystr, — né lamðisk
landvǫrn — klóask ǫrnu,
þás hann at sig sǫnnum
— sá vas áðr búinn ráða
ats — við Útstein hizi
Ôleif of tók môlum.

Erlingr, sás lystr geymði lengi jarðar vel — né lamðisk landvǫrn —, bað ǫrnu klóask ǫndurða, þás hann of tók Ôleif sǫnnum môlum at sig hizi við Útstein; sá vas áðr búinn ráða ats.

Erlingr, who, joyful, ruled the land well for a long time — his defence of territory did not fail — said eagles should fight face to face, when he addressed Óláfr with true words after the battle there by Utstein; he was previously ready to carry out the attack.

Mss: (432r) (Hkr); Holm2(57v-58r), J2ˣ(208v), 321ˣ(217), 73aˣ(178v), 68(57v), Holm4(55va), 61(116va), 325V(68vb), 325VII(31v), Bb(189ra), Flat(119ra), Tóm(146v) (ÓH)

Readings: [1] Ǫndurða: ǫndverða 73aˣ, Holm4, 61, 325V, Flat, Tóm, ‘Anverþa’ 325VII    [2] sás (‘sa er’): sá 325V    [3] lystr: halr 61;    né: né hér Bb;    lamðisk: ek lasta J2ˣ, hamðisk 61    [4] land‑: hand 61;    ‑vǫrn: ‑vǫrðr Bb;    klóask: klóar 321ˣ    [5] hann: snjallr corrected from ‘þniallr’ Bb;    at: und 321ˣ, 73aˣ, á Bb;    sig: sik Holm2, J2ˣ, 73aˣ, 68, Holm4, svik 61, 325V, 325VII, Bb, Flat, Tóm;    sǫnnum: sǫnnu 61, Bb, Flat, Tóm    [6, 7] áðr búinn ráða ats: ‘[…]’ Holm4    [6] búinn: munuð 61, numinn Bb, Flat, unninn Tóm    [7] ats: snjallr 61, 325V, 325VII, Bb, Flat, Tóm;    hizi: hizig 321ˣ, illra 61, 325V, 325VII, Bb, Tóm, illa Flat    [8] Ôleif: Óláfr J2ˣ, 321ˣ, 73aˣ, 61, 325V, 325VII, ‘O.’ Tóm;    of tók (‘um toc’): ok tók J2ˣ, 73aˣ, 61, Tóm, ‘vm […]’ Holm4, tekit Flat;    môlum: ‘malo’ Holm2, ‘[…]’ Holm4

Editions: Skj AI, 245, Skj BI, 229, Skald I, 119, NN §2475Hkr 1893-1901, II, 406, IV, 156, ÍF 27, 316-17, Hkr 1991, II, 484 (ÓHHkr ch. 176); ÓH 1941, I, 484 (ch. 172), Flat 1860-8, II, 310; Jón Skaptason 1983, 117, 264.

Context: King Óláfr comes face to face with Erlingr and speaks to him.

Notes: [1, 4] bað ǫrnu klóask ǫndurða ‘said eagles should fight face to face’: Eagles, with ravens and wolves, are ‘beasts of battle’ traditionally alluded to in skaldic verse as consumers of carrion rather than fighters (cf. st. 1/2, 4), but here the image is rather of two opponents of equally high status. For a comparable use of haukr ‘hawk’, see Note to Arn Hryn 3/5II. — [2] Erlingr: Finnur Jónsson (Hkr 1893-1901, II; Skj B) prints Erlengr, presumably to improve the aðalhending with lengi. This form is not found in any mss, though some of them abbreviate the name, making the vowel uncertain. — [5-8]: (a) Finnur Jónsson (Hkr 1893-1901, IV; Skj B) proposed that this helmingr contained the phrase ráðasǫnnum môlum, separated by tmesis, translating indholdssande ord ‘words with true content’, though ráðasannr does not appear in LP and it is not clear what the first element adds to the meaning. (b) Kock (NN §2475) proposed the interpretation followed here, on the grounds of the common occurrence in skaldic verse of a clause contained within one line and the first, monosyllabic, word of the following line. Sigvatr uses a similar construction in Víkv 6/2-3, 11/3-4, Vestv 6/3-4 and (with a disyllable in the following line) in st. 7/7-8 below. — [6-7] búinn ráða ats ‘ready to carry out the attack’: More literally, ‘ready for the actions of attack’. Ráða here is not the verb ‘decide, rule etc.’, which does not normally take a gen. object, but rather the gen. pl. of ráð n. which, in the sense ‘plan, action’ (LP: ráð 2), often appears in the pl. Búinn takes the gen. in this type of phrase. — [7] við Útstein ‘by Utstein’: Útsteinn is also named in BjHall Kálffl 2/4. It is on the island now called Klosterøy, just east of a line between Bokn and Tunge (see Note to st. 3/2-4), and approximately halfway between them. It appears to have been one of the royal farms of Haraldr hárfagri ‘Fair-hair’ (see Þhorn Harkv 9/4 and ÍF 26, 143) and was later the site of an Augustinian monastery. — [7] hizi ‘there’: The adv., or its variant hizig, occurs in three further contexts where the site of a sea-battle is named (LP: hizig). — [8] of tók ... môlum ‘addressed ... with ... words’: Cf., e.g., Þfagr Sveinn 9/6II es tókusk orðum ‘when they began to exchange words’. Of here is the expletive particle.

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. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
  4. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
  5. 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.
  6. 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.
  7. 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.
  8. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
  9. Hkr 1893-1901 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1893-1901. Heimskringla: Nóregs konunga sǫgur af Snorri Sturluson. 4 vols. SUGNL 23. Copenhagen: Møller.
  10. Hkr 1991 = Bergljót S. Kristjánsdóttir et al., eds. 1991. Heimskringla. 3 vols. Reykjavík: Mál og menning.
  11. 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.
  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 29 March 2024)
  14. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Arnórr jarlaskáld Þórðarson, Hrynhenda, Magnússdrápa 3’ 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. 185-6.
  15. Alison Finlay (ed.) 2012, ‘Bjarni gullbrárskáld Hallbjarnarson, Kálfsflokkr 2’ 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. 880.
  16. Judith Jesch (ed.) 2012, ‘Sigvatr Þórðarson, Víkingarvísur 6’ 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. 541.
  17. Judith Jesch (ed.) 2012, ‘Sigvatr Þórðarson, Vestrfararvísur 6’ 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. 623.
  18. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Þorleikr fagri, Flokkr about Sveinn Úlfsson 9’ 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. 321.
  19. R. D. Fulk (ed.) 2012, ‘Þorbjǫrn hornklofi, Haraldskvæði (Hrafnsmál) 9’ 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. 103.
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