Russell Poole (ed.) 2012, ‘Sigvatr Þórðarson, Nesjavísur 11’ 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. 572.
Þess getk meir, at missi
morðôrr, sás fór norðan,
harða margr í hǫrðum
heimkvômu styr þeima.
Sǫkk af sunda blakki
sunnu mǫrg til grunna
(satts, at Sveini mœttum)
samknúta (vér úti).
Getk þess meir, at {harða margr morðôrr}, sás fór norðan, missi heimkvômu í þeima hǫrðum styr. Mǫrg samknúta sunnu sǫkk af {blakki sunda} til grunna; satts, at vér mœttum Sveini úti.
I declare this, moreover, that {very many a battle-envoy} [WARRIOR], who travelled from the north, will be missing out on his homecoming in that hard battle. Many a one joined with the sun sank from {the dark steed of the sounds} [SHIP] to the bottom; true it is, that we met Sveinn offshore.
Mss: Kˣ(254r), papp18ˣ(76v) (Hkr); Holm2(13r), R686ˣ(26v), 972ˣ(90va), J1ˣ(160v), J2ˣ(136v), 325VI(11va), 75a(2ra-b), 73aˣ(36r-v), 78aˣ(33v), 68(12r-v), 61(85ra), Holm4(5rb), 325V(16vb-17ra), 325VII(5v), Bb(135vb), Flat(83vb), Tóm(102v) (ÓH)
Readings: [1] Þess: þat var þess Bb; getk (‘get ec’): gekk ek Holm2; meir: ‘me[…]’ R686ˣ, meir added in margin 325VI; at: om. 325VI [2] morðôrr: ‘morð[...]’ Holm2, morðit 78aˣ; fór: kom Holm2, R686ˣ, 972ˣ, J1ˣ, J2ˣ, 325VI, 75a, 73aˣ, 78aˣ, Holm4; norðan: norðar Holm2, ‘niorðan’ J1ˣ [3] harða: harðla 325VI, 75a, 73aˣ, 78aˣ; margr: ‘ma[…]gr’ R686ˣ, magr 325V; hǫrðum: hǫrgum R686ˣ [4] þeima: þenna Bb [5] sunda: so R686ˣ, 972ˣ, J1ˣ, J2ˣ, 325VI, 75a, 73aˣ, 78aˣ, 68, 61, Holm4, 325V, 325VII, Flat, Tóm, syndi Kˣ, Holm2, ‘sinþi’ papp18ˣ, sundi Bb; blakki: blakk 325V [6] sunnu: sunnum Holm2, 325V, Bb, Tóm; mǫrg: ‘morgt’ Holm2, margr R686ˣ, J1ˣ, J2ˣ, 325VI, 75a, 73aˣ, 78aˣ, Bb [7] satts (‘satt er’): satt var 972ˣ, J1ˣ, J2ˣ, 68, 61, satt 75a, ‘sartt er’ Bb; at: om. Holm4; mœttum: máttum Holm2, R686ˣ, J1ˣ, J2ˣ, 325VI, 75a, 78aˣ, 325V, 325VII, Tóm, máttu Flat [8] samknúta (‘sám knuta’): ‘sa[…]vta’ Holm2, sann knúta 972ˣ, 325V, 325VII, Flat, Tóm; vér: var papp18ˣ
Editions: Skj AI, 231, Skj BI, 219, Skald I, 114, NN §§622, 1860; Hkr 1893-1901, II, 76, IV, 124-5, ÍF 27, 68-9 (ÓHHkr ch. 52); Fms 4, 104, Fms 12, 80-1, ÓH 1941, I, 98 (ch. 41), Flat 1860-8, II, 46; CPB II, 128, Poole 2005d, 176-7.
Context: The stanza follows a lengthy account of the battle and its aftermath. Sigvatr is said to have spoken this, and sts 12 and 14, during the battle.
Notes: [1] getk þess meir ‘I declare this, moreover’: The clause demarcation here follows Kock (NN §1860). Meir ‘more’ could alternatively qualify missi ‘will be missing’ (so Skj B). — [1] missi ‘will be missing out on’: ÓH-Hkr appears to have interpreted the pres. subj. form missi as indicating that st. 11 was composed before the full outcome of the battle was known (see Context above). Fsk by contrast states explicitly that all the stanzas it includes belong within Nesv (see Introduction). — [6, 8] mǫrg samknúta sunnu ‘many a one joined with the sun’: The phrase samknúta sunnu, although kenning-like, remains mysterious, and none of the available solutions is wholly satisfactory. (a) Just conceivably, Sigvatr is stigmatising the Trøndelag faction as heathen sun-worshippers (‘adherents of the sun’): on sun-worship in Norway, see Jón Hnefill Aðalsteinsson (1997, 126-9). The tenacity of Trøndelag and contiguous regions in maintaining pre-Christian worship under the Hlaðajarlar was notorious. The f. gender of samknúta would be unusual, and presumably insulting, in reference to warriors. (b) Finnur Jónsson’s tentative ‘knuckle-bone of the sun of the sea [GOLD > MAN (?)]’ (Hkr 1893-1901, IV; Skj B; also ÍF 27), is unconvincing. (c) Hjelmqvist (1913, 7), followed by Kock (NN §622), emends sunnu to sunnan, linking this with the variant reading margr so as to result in mången söderifrå ‘many from the south’; in this analysis the cpd samknúta is used substantively, to mean ‘[ships] bound together’ (1913, 19). This produces good sense but the presumed corruption of sunnan would be difficult to account for.
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