Matthew Townend (ed.) 2012, ‘Sigvatr Þórðarson, Knútsdrápa 4’ 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. 655.
Þurðu norðan
— namsk þat — með gram
til slétts svalir
Silunds kilir.
En með annan
Ǫnundr Dǫnum
á hendr at há
her sœnskan ferr.
Svalir kilir þurðu norðan með gram til slétts Silunds; þat namsk. En Ǫnundr ferr með annan, sœnskan her at há á hendr Dǫnum.
Cool keels rushed from the north with the ruler [Óláfr] to level Zealand; that has been learned. And Ǫnundr travels with another, Swedish army at the oars against the Danes.
Mss: Kˣ(405v) (Hkr); Holm2(51r), J2ˣ(195r), 321ˣ(180) (l. 1), 73aˣ(157v), 68(48v), Holm4(45ra), 61(111rb), 325V(57ra), 325VII(29v) (ll. 1-6), Bb(180va), Flat(114vb), Tóm(137v) (ÓH); FskBˣ(46v) (Fsk); DG8(92r) (ÓHLeg)
Readings: [1] Þurðu: þorðu Holm2, 68, 61, 325V, 325VII, DG8, þorðut Bb, Flat, þurði FskBˣ [2] namsk þat: þat namsk 73aˣ, ‘nanizs þat’ Bb; með: við DG8 [3] slétts: ‘slæs’ 68, ‘suez’ Tóm [4] Silunds: ‘silur’ Holm2, Selunds J2ˣ, 73aˣ, 325V, Bb, ‘salundz’ 61; kilir: skilit 61 [5] með annan: meðan Tóm, á annan veg DG8 [6] Ǫnundr Dǫnum: ‘ꜹnvn[…]’ 325VII [7] at há: fara 61, Bb, hônum Flat, FskBˣ, á Tóm, ‘hætte’ DG8 [8] her: herr 61, 325V, Flat, DG8; sœnskan: svænskan 73aˣ, DG8, senn skóg Tóm, ‘svænkan’ FskBˣ
Editions: Skj AI, 249, Skj BI, 233, Skald I, 121; Hkr 1893-1901, II, 350, IV, 142, ÍF 27, 270 (ÓHHkr ch. 145); ÓH 1941, I, 425 (ch. 135), Flat 1860-8, II, 276; Fsk 1902-3, 163 (ch. 27), ÍF 29, 184 (ch. 32); ÓHLeg 1922, 60, ÓHLeg 1982, 142-3.
Context: See Context to st. 3 above.
Notes: [1] þurðu ‘rushed’: Some mss appear to have substituted þorðu ‘dared’ (from þora, a common word) for þurðu (from þyrja, a word used only in poetry). — [3] slétts ‘level’: A popular adj. to qualify place names in skaldic verse: see LP: sléttr. — [4] Silunds ‘Zealand’: The Danish island of Zealand (Dan. Sjælland). The usual ON form is (nom. sg.) Selund, as witnessed by several ms. readings here and elsewhere (see LP: Selund for references). However, Silund is evidently an acceptable variant, deployed here to form an aðalhending on kilir. The name also varies between f. and n. gender; here the gen. sg. ‑s implies n. gender. — [6] Ǫnundr: King of the Swedes c. 1021-c. 1050 in succession to his father, Óláfr Eiríksson, and brother-in-law of Óláfr Haraldsson. — [7] at há ‘at the oars’: Hár ‘rowlock, oarport’ is a m. i-stem noun with endingless dat. sg. Here it has pl. or collective meaning and possibly gives the broader sense of ‘by ship’ (cf. Jesch 2001a, 155-6).
Use the buttons at the top of the page to navigate between stanzas in a poem.
The text and translation are given here, with buttons to toggle whether the text is shown in the verse order or prose word order. Clicking on indiviudal words gives dictionary links, variant readings, kennings and notes, where relevant.
This is the text of the edition in a similar format to how the edition appears in the printed volumes.
This view is also used for chapters and other text segments. Not all the headings shown are relevant to such sections.