Sigv Nesv 2^I

Veitti sókn, þars sótti,
siklingr firum mikla
— blóð fell rautt á Róða
rein — í hǫfn at Sveini.
Snjallr helt at, sás olli,
eirlaust konungr, þeira,
en Sveins liðar, sínum,
saman bundu skip, fundi.

Siklingr veitti firum mikla sókn, þars sótti í hǫfn at Sveini; blóð fell rautt á {rein Róða}. Snjallr konungr, sás olli fundi þeira, helt at eirlaust sínum, en liðar Sveins bundu skip saman.

The king gave the men a great onslaught, where he advanced into the harbour against Sveinn; blood fell red on {the strip of land of Róði <sea-king>} [SEA]. The brave king, who brought about their encounter, steered on relentlessly with his [ships], and Sveinn’s supporters tied the ships together.

Mss: Kˣ(250v), papp18ˣ(75v) (Hkr); Holm2(12v), R686ˣ(25r), 972ˣ(85va), J1ˣ(158r), J2ˣ(134r), 325VI(10vb), 321ˣ(53), 73aˣ(34v), 78aˣ(31v), 68(11v), 61(84vb), Holm4(4va), 325V(16ra), 325VII(5r), Bb(135ra), Flat(83va), Tóm(102r) (ÓH)

Readings: [1] Veitti: veittu Holm4, 325V, Tóm;    sókn: ‘soc(h)’(?) Holm4;    þars (‘þar er’): þá er R686ˣ, 972ˣ;    sótti: ‘soti’ 61, sætti 325VII    [2] siklingr: siklingum 78aˣ;    firum: ‘fírrum’ Tóm;    mikla: ‘mikka’ J1ˣ    [3] rautt: ‘rǫtt’ 321ˣ;    á: í 73aˣ, 61;    Róða: rauða papp18ˣ, 972ˣ, 325VI, 321ˣ, 73aˣ, 78aˣ, 68, 325V, rjóða 61, roðna Flat, Tóm    [4] rein: reini 68;    Sveini: svein J1ˣ, om. 78aˣ    [5] Snjallr: ‘snallr’ R686ˣ, J1ˣ;    at: om. Tóm;    sás (‘sa er’): þar er Holm2, R686ˣ, J1ˣ, J2ˣ, 325VI, 321ˣ, 73aˣ, 78aˣ;    olli: ollu J1ˣ, J2ˣ    [6] konungr þeira: om. 78aˣ    [7] Sveins: sveinn 68;    liðar: síðar 325V, lið er Flat;    sínum: sýnum Holm2, sínu 325V, sunnum 325VII, at sǫnnu Flat, sǫnnu Tóm    [8] saman: ‘samm‑’ R686ˣ;    bundu: so 73aˣ, 68, 61, Flat, Tóm, bundusk Kˣ, papp18ˣ, Holm2, R686ˣ, 972ˣ, J1ˣ, J2ˣ, 325VI, 321ˣ, 78aˣ, Holm4, 325V, 325VII, Bb;    skip: lið 68, 61;    fundi: sundi 325VII, Flat, Tóm

Editions: Skj AI, 228-9, Skj BI, 217, Skald I, 113; Hkr 1893-1901, II, 69, IV, 119-20, ÍF 27, 60-1 (ÓHHkr ch. 49); Fms 4, 97, Fms 12, 78, ÓH 1941, I, 91 (ch. 40), Flat 1860-8, II, 43; CPB II, 127, Poole 2005d, 172.

Context: This occurs in ÓH-Hkr as the first stanza cited from Nesv. The king’s preparations are described, including the arming of his men and the saying of the devotional Hours, followed by a bald statement that the battle commenced.

Notes: [1] sókn; sótti ‘onslaught; advanced’: Sigvatr juxtaposes etymologically related words, a device found elsewhere in skaldic poetry and reminiscent of the figura etymologica of classical rhetoric. Another instance occurs, similarly positioned, in st. 3/1. — [3] blóð fell ‘blood fell’: Finnur Jónsson (Hkr 1893-1901, IV) notes the anticipation of events to be described more fully in the subsequent narrative. — [3-4] rein Róða ‘the strip of land of Róði <sea-king> [SEA]’: The variant readings in the mss of Nesv suggest that the heiti Róði had become obscure. In the þulur (Þul Sækonunga 3/7^III, Þul Sea-kings 1/5^III), Róði is listed as a sea-king (cf. LP: 1. Róði) but perhaps as an ex post facto rationalisation of a poorly understood word for ‘tempest, storm, the deep’ that enters into various idioms (Fritzner: róði; cf. Jón Skaptason 1983, 231). — [4] hǫfn ‘the harbour’: Nesjar, the site of the battle, comprises the headlands between Langesundsfjorden and Tønsbergfjorden in Vestfold. The battle has been located off the present-day Brunlanes peninsula, perhaps in or near the harbour of Nevlunghavn (Johnsen 1916, 37-8; Krag 2003b, 193). — [7] sínum ‘with his [ships]’: (a) The syntax assumed here and in ÍF 27 is highly compressed, with skipum left tacit (clarified by skip in the final line of the helmingr), evidently confusing some copyists but nevertheless fully compatible with Sigvatr’s idiom (cf. st. 1/6, interpretation (c)). (b) Finnur Jónsson (Hkr 1893-1901, IV; Skj B; followed in Skald) avoids complex syntax by opting for the (poorly supported) reading sýnum, which he takes with fundi in the sense of ‘overt, unavoidable’. — [8] bundu skip saman ‘tied the ships together’: Sea-battles were fought similarly to land-battles, with the combatants able to pursue the enemy from one ship to another (cf. Jesch 2001a, 211).

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. Fms = Sveinbjörn Egilsson et al., eds. 1825-37. Fornmanna sögur eptir gömlum handritum útgefnar að tilhlutun hins norræna fornfræða fèlags. 12 vols. Copenhagen: Popp.
4. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 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. Jesch, Judith. 2001a. Ships and Men in the Late Viking Age: The Vocabulary of Runic Inscriptions and Skaldic Verse. Woodbridge: Boydell.
7. CPB = Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and F. York Powell, eds. 1883. Corpus poeticum boreale: The Poetry of the Old Northern Tongue from the Earliest Times to the Thirteenth Century. 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon. Rpt. 1965, New York: Russell & Russell.
8. 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.
9. Fritzner = Fritzner, Johan. 1883-96. Ordbog over det gamle norske sprog. 3 vols. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske forlagsforening. 4th edn. Rpt. 1973. Oslo etc.: Universitetsforlaget.
10. 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.
11. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
12. Hkr 1893-1901 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1893-1901. Heimskringla: Nóregs konunga sǫgur af Snorri Sturluson. 4 vols. SUGNL 23. Copenhagen: Møller.
13. 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.
14. Johnsen, Oscar Albert. 1916. Olav Haraldssons ungdom indtil slaget ved Nesjar. Kristiania [Oslo]: Dybwad.
15. Poole, Russell. 2005d. ‘The Nesjavísur of Sigvatr Þórðarson’. MS 15, 171-98.
16. Krag, Claus. 2003b. ‘The Early Unification of Norway’. In Helle 2003, 184-201.
17. Internal references
18. (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 26 April 2024)
19. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Heiti for sea-kings 1’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 988.
20. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Sækonunga heiti 3’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 681.
21. Russell Poole 2012, ‘ Sigvatr Þórðarson, Nesjavísur’ 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. 555. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1357> (accessed 26 April 2024)