Sigv Erlfl 8^I

Drakk eigi ek drykkju
dag þann, es mér sǫgðu
Erlings tál, at jólum
allglaðr, þess’s réð Jaðri.
Hans mun dráp of drúpa
dýrmennis mér kenna;
hǫfuð bôrum vér hæra
— hart morð vas þat — forðum.

Ek drakk eigi drykkju allglaðr at jólum þann dag, es sǫgðu mér tál Erlings, þess’s réð Jaðri. Dráp hans, dýrmennis, mun kenna mér of drúpa; vér bôrum hǫfuð hæra forðum; þat vas hart morð.

I did not drink my drink very happily [lit. happy] at Christmas on the day when they told me of the betrayal of Erlingr, the one who ruled Jæren. The killing of him, the splendid person, will cause me to droop; we [I] carried our head higher before; that was a harsh murder.

Mss: Flat(187va) (Flat); DG8(94r) (ÓHLeg)

Readings: [1] drykkju: so DG8, drekkju Flat    [3] tál: fall DG8    [6] ‑mennis: ‘‑nænings’ DG8;    mér: om. DG8    [7] vér: so DG8, þá Flat

Editions: Skj AI, 246, Skj BI, 230, Skald I, 119, NN §§1853A, 1863, 2258; Flat 1860-8, III, 244, ÓH 1941, II, 691; ÓHLeg 1922, 65, ÓHLeg 1982, 156-7; Jón Skaptason 1983, 120, 266.

Context: In Flat, the stanza is cited within the section preserving articuli from Styrmir Kárason. It appears after Ólhelg Lv 7, with no context beyond remarks that both stanzas were recited after Erlingr’s death and that Sigvatr spoke the present stanza. For ÓHLeg, see Context to st. 3, above.

Notes: [3-4]: As pointed out by Kock (NN §2258), Sigvatr is here inconsistent as to whether j alliterates as a vowel or a consonant, with jólum alliterating with Erlingr and allglaðr while Jaðri remains outside the alliterative scheme. — [4] þess’s réð Jaðri ‘the one who ruled Jæren’: See Notes to sts 2/5-6 and 7/2-3 above. — [5, 6] hans, dýrmennis ‘of him, the splendid person’: The pron. and noun seem to be in apposition (Kock offers parallels in NN §1863). Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) emends to þess (dýrmennis) ‘that (splendid person)’. — [5] of drúpa ‘droop’: I.e. be bowed down in sorrow. Cf. the description of sorrowing men burying their heads in their cloaks in Sigv Berv 13/5-8^II, and Note to l. 6 ad loc. Of 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. 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.
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. ÓHLeg 1982 = Heinrichs, Anne et al., eds and trans. 1982. Olafs saga hins helga: Die ‘Legendarische Saga’ über Olaf den Heiligen (Hs. Delagard. saml. nr. 8^II). Heidelberg: Winter.
8. 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.
9. ÓHLeg 1922 = Johnsen, Oscar Albert, ed. 1922. Olafs saga hins helga efter pergamenthåndskrift i Uppsala Universitetsbibliotek, Delagardieske samling nr. 8^II. Det norske historiske kildeskriftfond skrifter 47. Kristiania (Oslo): Dybwad.
10. Internal references
11. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Óláfs saga helga (Legendary)’ 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=31> (accessed 23 April 2024)
12. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Flateyjarbók’ 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=44> (accessed 23 April 2024)
13. Russell Poole (ed.) 2012, ‘Óláfr inn helgi Haraldsson, Lausavísur 7’ 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. 526.
14. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Sigvatr Þórðarson, Bersǫglisvísur 13’ 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. 24-5.