Sigv Nesv 1I
Russell Poole (ed.) 2012, ‘Sigvatr Þórðarson, Nesjavísur 1’ 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. 558.
Fór ‘set forth’
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fara (verb; ferr, fór, fóru, farinn): go, travel
notes
[1-4]: On the trope of two forces approaching each other from different directions, see Note to Sigv Tryggfl 1/1-4. — [1] fór … ór ‘set forth … out of’: In TGT the repetition of sounds in these two opening words is used to illustrate one variety of the rhetorical vice of cacenphaton, Gk ‘ill-sounding’.
Fór ‘set forth’
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fara (verb; ferr, fór, fóru, farinn): go, travel
notes
[1-4]: On the trope of two forces approaching each other from different directions, see Note to Sigv Tryggfl 1/1-4. — [1] fór … ór ‘set forth … out of’: In TGT the repetition of sounds in these two opening words is used to illustrate one variety of the rhetorical vice of cacenphaton, Gk ‘ill-sounding’.
ór ‘out of’
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3. ór (prep.): out of
notes
[1] fór … ór ‘set forth … out of’: In TGT the repetition of sounds in these two opening words is used to illustrate one variety of the rhetorical vice of cacenphaton, Gk ‘ill-sounding’.
Vík ‘Vík’
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2. Vík (noun f.): [Vík, Viken]
at ‘’
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3. at (prep.): at, to
vári ‘spring’
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3. vár (noun n.): spring
válaust ‘without doubt’
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válauss (adj.): [without doubt]
notes
[2] válaust ‘without doubt’: The function of the adv., lit. ‘without calamity or danger’, is probably to vouch for the truth of the statement, as it does in ESk Geisl 37/6VII, but it could alternatively characterise the king’s action as decisive.
konungr ‘king’
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konungr (noun m.; °dat. -i, -s; -ar): king
austan ‘from the east’
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austan (adv.): from the east
þeir ‘they’
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hann (pron.; °gen. hans, dat. honum; f. hon, gen. hennar, acc. hana): he, she, it, they, them...
knyðu ‘’
knúðu ‘’
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knýja (verb): press forward, urge, drive
kníðu ‘urged’
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knýja (verb): press forward, urge, drive
[3] kníðu: so 51ˣ, 302ˣ, ‘knyðu’ FskBˣ, knúðu FskAˣ, 301ˣ
blô ‘black’
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blár (adj.): black
notes
[3, 4] blô borð ‘the black planks’: Black probably because tarred. This is among the few references to the colour of ships’ hulls in the skaldic corpus (Jesch 2001a, 144).
báðir ‘both’
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báðir (pron.; °gen. beggja (báðra), nom./acc. n. bǽði): both
borð ‘planks’
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borð (noun n.; °-s; -): side, plank, board; table
notes
[3, 4] blô borð ‘the black planks’: Black probably because tarred. This is among the few references to the colour of ships’ hulls in the skaldic corpus (Jesch 2001a, 144).
en ‘and’
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2. en (conj.): but, and
jarl ‘jarl’
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jarl (noun m.; °-s, dat. -i; -ar): poet, earl
kom ‘came’
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koma (verb; kem, kom/kvam, kominn): come
norðan ‘from the north’
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norðan (adv.): from the north
Kannk ‘I am able’
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3. kanna (verb): know, be able
notes
[5, 6, 7, 8] kannk segja sigrviðum, þeims skôru sund* þar ôrum, œrin skil ‘I am able to tell the victory-trees [WARRIORS], those who cut the sea there with their oars, sufficient information’: Sigvatr asserts his entitlement to give an authoritative account of the engagement in front of an audience of persons who had themselves participated. Finnur Jónsson’s emendation of ôrum to órut in l. 7 (Skj B) gives þeims órut þar ‘who were not there’, producing a contrast with the skald, but emendation is unnecessary, as shown by Fidjestøl (1982, 227-8: see Note to l. 7 below).
sigr ‘the victory’
kennings
sigrviðum,‘the victory-trees, ’
= WARRIORS
the victory-trees, → WARRIORS
notes
[5, 6, 7, 8] kannk segja sigrviðum, þeims skôru sund* þar ôrum, œrin skil ‘I am able to tell the victory-trees [WARRIORS], those who cut the sea there with their oars, sufficient information’: Sigvatr asserts his entitlement to give an authoritative account of the engagement in front of an audience of persons who had themselves participated. Finnur Jónsson’s emendation of ôrum to órut in l. 7 (Skj B) gives þeims órut þar ‘who were not there’, producing a contrast with the skald, but emendation is unnecessary, as shown by Fidjestøl (1982, 227-8: see Note to l. 7 below).
viðrum ‘’
viðum ‘trees’
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1. viðr (noun m.; °-ar, dat. -i/-; -ir, acc. -u/-i): wood, tree < sigrviðr (noun m.)
[5] ‑viðum: ‘vidrum’ 301ˣ
kennings
sigrviðum,‘the victory-trees, ’
= WARRIORS
the victory-trees, → WARRIORS
notes
[5, 6, 7, 8] kannk segja sigrviðum, þeims skôru sund* þar ôrum, œrin skil ‘I am able to tell the victory-trees [WARRIORS], those who cut the sea there with their oars, sufficient information’: Sigvatr asserts his entitlement to give an authoritative account of the engagement in front of an audience of persons who had themselves participated. Finnur Jónsson’s emendation of ôrum to órut in l. 7 (Skj B) gives þeims órut þar ‘who were not there’, producing a contrast with the skald, but emendation is unnecessary, as shown by Fidjestøl (1982, 227-8: see Note to l. 7 below).
segja ‘to tell’
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segja (verb): say, tell
notes
[5, 6, 7, 8] kannk segja sigrviðum, þeims skôru sund* þar ôrum, œrin skil ‘I am able to tell the victory-trees [WARRIORS], those who cut the sea there with their oars, sufficient information’: Sigvatr asserts his entitlement to give an authoritative account of the engagement in front of an audience of persons who had themselves participated. Finnur Jónsson’s emendation of ôrum to órut in l. 7 (Skj B) gives þeims órut þar ‘who were not there’, producing a contrast with the skald, but emendation is unnecessary, as shown by Fidjestøl (1982, 227-8: see Note to l. 7 below).
notes
[6] sund* ‘the sea’: Various interpretations address the problems of the helmingr: the function of sunds, and the fact that skôru ‘cut’ seems to lack an object. (a) Following ÍF 29, the minor emendation of sunds to sund ‘sea’ is adopted here. This provides an object for skôru ‘cut’, which would be normal (cf. ESk Run 10/1II skark sund súðum ‘I cut the sea with ship-sides’, LP: skera 1, and Jesch 2001a, 177). Although the word order is convoluted this is often a feature of Sigvatr’s style, and it might well account for the presumed corruption. (b) Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) emends more drastically: sunds to n. nom. pl. sund ‘inlets’, and skôru ‘cut’ (l. 8) to m. v. skôrusk, producing sund skôrusk ‘inlets were cut’. (c) Ms. sunds could be retained as a gen. defining fundir ‘encounters’, hence ‘encounters of the sea, naval encounters’. Skôru ‘cut’ is then left without formal object, but this finds a partial parallel in Hharð Gamv 2II súð sneið ‘the hull sliced’ (noted by Jesch 2001a, 177); or an object is provided if sund ‘the sea’ is understood from sunds; cf. interpretation (a) in Note to st. 2/7. (d) Sunds could alternatively be construed as an adverbial gen. of location, ‘at sea’ (cf. Poole 2004).
hvé ‘as to how’
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hvé (conj.): how
þeira ‘their’
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hann (pron.; °gen. hans, dat. honum; f. hon, gen. hennar, acc. hana): he, she, it, they, them...
o᷎rem ‘’
æirinn ‘’
œrinn ‘’
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œrinn (adj.): ample, sufficient
œrin ‘sufficient’
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œrinn (adj.): ample, sufficient
[7] œrin: so corrected from ‘[…]en’ 51ˣ, ‘æirinn’ FskBˣ, ‘o᷎rem’ 302ˣ, œrinn FskAˣ, 301ˣ
notes
[5, 6, 7, 8] kannk segja sigrviðum, þeims skôru sund* þar ôrum, œrin skil ‘I am able to tell the victory-trees [WARRIORS], those who cut the sea there with their oars, sufficient information’: Sigvatr asserts his entitlement to give an authoritative account of the engagement in front of an audience of persons who had themselves participated. Finnur Jónsson’s emendation of ôrum to órut in l. 7 (Skj B) gives þeims órut þar ‘who were not there’, producing a contrast with the skald, but emendation is unnecessary, as shown by Fidjestøl (1982, 227-8: see Note to l. 7 below).
skil ‘information’
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skil (noun n.; °; -): knowledge
notes
[5, 6, 7, 8] kannk segja sigrviðum, þeims skôru sund* þar ôrum, œrin skil ‘I am able to tell the victory-trees [WARRIORS], those who cut the sea there with their oars, sufficient information’: Sigvatr asserts his entitlement to give an authoritative account of the engagement in front of an audience of persons who had themselves participated. Finnur Jónsson’s emendation of ôrum to órut in l. 7 (Skj B) gives þeims órut þar ‘who were not there’, producing a contrast with the skald, but emendation is unnecessary, as shown by Fidjestøl (1982, 227-8: see Note to l. 7 below).
þeims ‘those’
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2. er (conj.): who, which, when
notes
[5, 6, 7, 8] kannk segja sigrviðum, þeims skôru sund* þar ôrum, œrin skil ‘I am able to tell the victory-trees [WARRIORS], those who cut the sea there with their oars, sufficient information’: Sigvatr asserts his entitlement to give an authoritative account of the engagement in front of an audience of persons who had themselves participated. Finnur Jónsson’s emendation of ôrum to órut in l. 7 (Skj B) gives þeims órut þar ‘who were not there’, producing a contrast with the skald, but emendation is unnecessary, as shown by Fidjestøl (1982, 227-8: see Note to l. 7 below).
ôrum ‘with their oars’
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1. ár (noun f.; °-ar, dat. u/-; -ar/-ir(LandslBorg 151b²¹)): oar
notes
[5, 6, 7, 8] kannk segja sigrviðum, þeims skôru sund* þar ôrum, œrin skil ‘I am able to tell the victory-trees [WARRIORS], those who cut the sea there with their oars, sufficient information’: Sigvatr asserts his entitlement to give an authoritative account of the engagement in front of an audience of persons who had themselves participated. Finnur Jónsson’s emendation of ôrum to órut in l. 7 (Skj B) gives þeims órut þar ‘who were not there’, producing a contrast with the skald, but emendation is unnecessary, as shown by Fidjestøl (1982, 227-8: see Note to l. 7 below). — [7] ôrum ‘with their oars’: The interpretation of ms. orom as dat. pl. of ár ‘oar’ is due to Fidjestøl (1982, 227-8) and renders unnecessary the very complex interpretations by Finnur Jónsson (Skj B), Kock (NN §618) and Bjarni Einarsson (ÍF 29).
ôrum ‘with their oars’
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1. ár (noun f.; °-ar, dat. u/-; -ar/-ir(LandslBorg 151b²¹)): oar
notes
[5, 6, 7, 8] kannk segja sigrviðum, þeims skôru sund* þar ôrum, œrin skil ‘I am able to tell the victory-trees [WARRIORS], those who cut the sea there with their oars, sufficient information’: Sigvatr asserts his entitlement to give an authoritative account of the engagement in front of an audience of persons who had themselves participated. Finnur Jónsson’s emendation of ôrum to órut in l. 7 (Skj B) gives þeims órut þar ‘who were not there’, producing a contrast with the skald, but emendation is unnecessary, as shown by Fidjestøl (1982, 227-8: see Note to l. 7 below). — [7] ôrum ‘with their oars’: The interpretation of ms. orom as dat. pl. of ár ‘oar’ is due to Fidjestøl (1982, 227-8) and renders unnecessary the very complex interpretations by Finnur Jónsson (Skj B), Kock (NN §618) and Bjarni Einarsson (ÍF 29).
at ‘place’
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3. at (prep.): at, to
bæcusz ‘’
breculz ‘’
bôrusk ‘took’
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3. bera (verb; °berr; bar, báru; borinn): bear, carry
[8] bôrusk: ‘breculz’ FskAˣ, ‘bæcusz’ 301ˣ
þar ‘there’
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þar (adv.): there
notes
[5, 6, 7, 8] kannk segja sigrviðum, þeims skôru sund* þar ôrum, œrin skil ‘I am able to tell the victory-trees [WARRIORS], those who cut the sea there with their oars, sufficient information’: Sigvatr asserts his entitlement to give an authoritative account of the engagement in front of an audience of persons who had themselves participated. Finnur Jónsson’s emendation of ôrum to órut in l. 7 (Skj B) gives þeims órut þar ‘who were not there’, producing a contrast with the skald, but emendation is unnecessary, as shown by Fidjestøl (1982, 227-8: see Note to l. 7 below).
vôru ‘’
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2. vera (verb): be, is, was, were, are, am
notes
[5, 6, 7, 8] kannk segja sigrviðum, þeims skôru sund* þar ôrum, œrin skil ‘I am able to tell the victory-trees [WARRIORS], those who cut the sea there with their oars, sufficient information’: Sigvatr asserts his entitlement to give an authoritative account of the engagement in front of an audience of persons who had themselves participated. Finnur Jónsson’s emendation of ôrum to órut in l. 7 (Skj B) gives þeims órut þar ‘who were not there’, producing a contrast with the skald, but emendation is unnecessary, as shown by Fidjestøl (1982, 227-8: see Note to l. 7 below).
Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses
In Fsk, the citation of st. 1 is preceded by a summary of the battle at Nesjar, noting that Óláfr had the victory and that Sveinn jarl narrowly evaded capture, thanks to Einarr þambarskelfir. It is followed by a comment that Sigvatr composed the poem (kvæðit) when the events were of recent occurrence (ný orðin), and that he had been present at the battle; further stanzas are announced. In TGT, the first line is cited to illustrate cacenphaton (see Note to l. 1).
Although st. 3 has already been cited in Fsk, this stanza is stated there to be first in the poem: Sigvatr hefr svá Nesjavísur ‘Sigvatr begins Nesjavísur thus’.
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