Sigv Nesv 4^I

Vasa sigmána Sveini
sverða gnýs at frýja,
gjóðs né góðrar hríðar
gunnreifum Ôleifi,
þvít kvistingar kosta
— koma herr í stað verra —
ôttu sín, þars sóttusk
seggir, hvárirtveggja.

Vasa at frýja Sveini {gnýs sverða} né gunnreifum Ôleifi {góðrar hríðar {gjóðs {sigmána}}}, þvít hvárirtveggja ôttu kosta kvistingar sín, þars seggir sóttusk; herr koma í verra stað.

There was no cause [lit. it was not] to reproach Sveinn {for the din of swords} [BATTLE], nor the battle-glad Óláfr {for the good storm {of the osprey {of the battle-moon}}} [SHIELD > RAVEN/EAGLE > BATTLE], because both parties had to strive for the maiming of each other, where men attacked; the army never came into a worse place.

Mss: Kˣ(251r), papp18ˣ(75v) (Hkr); Holm2(12v), R686ˣ(25r), 972ˣ(85va), J1ˣ(158v), J2ˣ(134v), 325VI(11ra), 75a(1r) (ll. 3-8), 73aˣ(34v), 78aˣ(32r), 68(11v), 61(84va), Holm4(4va-b), 325V(16ra), 325VII(5r), Bb(135ra), Flat(83va), Tóm(102r) (ÓH)

Readings: [1] Vasa (‘vara’): vart R686ˣ;    sig‑: svinn 61;    ‑mána: huglum 61, mara 325V, Flat, Tóm    [2] gnýs: ‘gnyrs’ 61;    frýja: corrected from ‘ṿerḍa’ Flat, freyja Tóm    [3] gjóðs: ‘gods’ R686ˣ, griðs 325VI, 73aˣ, 78aˣ;    góðrar: gǫrrar Holm2, R686ˣ, 972ˣ, J1ˣ, J2ˣ, 73aˣ, gildrar 61, gildar 325V, grárar Bb;    hríðar: corrected from liðar Kˣ, hirðar R686ˣ    [4] gunn‑: vinn‑ J1ˣ, ímun J2ˣ;    ‑reifum: ‑leifum Bb    [5] kvistingar: kvistungar R686ˣ, J1ˣ, J2ˣ, kvistingum 61;    kosta: kostu Holm2, 972ˣ, J2ˣ, 325VI, 75a, 78aˣ, 61, Bb, kossu R686ˣ, ‘kostri’ J1ˣ, kǫstu 73aˣ, 68    [6] herr: ‘herarr’ R686ˣ    [7] sín: sýn papp18ˣ, sínn Holm2, 972ˣ, 325VI, 75a, 73aˣ, 78aˣ, 68, Bb, sér Holm4, svá 325V, 325VII, Flat, Tóm;    sóttusk: sóttumsk Holm2, 972ˣ, sóttu 325VI, 73aˣ, 78aˣ, Bb    [8] seggir: sekir J2ˣ;    hvárir‑: corrected from ‘hverarir’ Holm2, hvárra J1ˣ, J2ˣ, 75a;    ‑tveggja: so 61, 325V, tveggju Kˣ, papp18ˣ, Holm2, R686ˣ, 972ˣ, J1ˣ, J2ˣ, 325VI, 75a, 78aˣ, 68, Holm4, 325VII, Bb, Flat, Tóm

Editions: Skj AI, 229, Skj BI, 218, Skald I, 113, NN §619; Hkr 1893-1901, II, 70, IV, 120-1, ÍF 27, 61-2 (ÓHHkr ch. 49); Fms 4, 98, Fms 12, 78-9, ÓH 1941, I, 92 (ch. 40), Flat 1860-8, II, 44; CPB II, 127, Poole 2005d, 173.

Context: The battle is extremely fierce, with many killed or wounded on both sides, and the outcome is in the balance for a long time.

Notes: [1, 3] hríðar gjóðs sigmána ‘storm of the osprey of the battle-moon [SHIELD > RAVEN/EAGLE > BATTLE]’: The similarity between l. 3 and st. 10/5-6, þás til góðs, en gjóði | gǫrt, has evidently confused some copyists. Various construals of the kenning elements in the helmingr are possible. (a) Hríðar (‘storm’, l. 3 end), gjóðs (‘osprey’, l. 3 beginning) and sigmána (‘battle-moon’, l. 1) seem to belong together, leaving gnýs sverða ‘din of swords’ as a separate and more straightforward battle-kenning contained in l. 2 (so ÍF 27, citing a parallel kenning, and adopted in this edn). (b) Finnur Jónsson (Hkr 1893-1901, IV; cf. NN §619) reads gnýs sigmána ‘din of victory-moons [SHIELD > BATTLE]’ and hríðar gjóðs sverða ‘storm of the osprey/falcon of swords [RAVEN > BATTLE]’. (c) Finnur Jónsson in Skj B reads góðs ‘good’ for gjóðs in l. 3, qualifying gnýs ‘din’, but this is weakly attested and apparently a lectio facilior; he reads gǫrrar ‘complete’ rather than góðrar ‘good’ later in the line.  — [5] kvistingar ‘for the maiming’: Or strictly ‘lopping’, which resonates with the metaphorical sigrviðir ‘trees of victory [WARRIORS]’ in st. 1/5. Guðbrandur Vigfússon (CPB II, 580) comments, ‘The men were cut down as saplings’, and cf. Jón Skaptason’s translation (1983, 72) as ‘dismembering’. — [5, 7] ôttu kosta kvistingar sín ‘had to strive for the maiming of each other’: The copyists appear to have been confused about the (admittedly complex) motifs and syntax. (a) In this edn kosta is preferred, as the reading of the main ms. and perhaps the lectio difficilior. The finite verb ôttu ‘had’ then governs inf. kosta ‘to strive, endeavour’, which in turn governs the gen. kvistingar ‘maiming’. The gen. pron. sín ‘of each other, of themselves’, referring to the two opposing forces, is then the object of kvistingar (cf. Hkr 1893-1901, IV). (b) The majority of mss have the noun kostu, acc. pl. from kostr ‘choice’. This is the reading preferred by Finnur Jónsson (Hkr 1893-1901; Skj B) and it may be correct, giving the sense ‘had the chance for their own maiming (to be maimed)’. — [6] herr ‘the army’: Presumably Sveinn’s (cf. st. 10/7), unless the sense is more grandly that no army has been in such straits. — [8] hvárirtveggja; seggir ‘both parties; men’: Hvárirtveggja is taken here as the pronominal subject of ôttu, hence ‘both parties had to’, and seggir as the subject of sóttusk ‘attacked’. Previous eds read seggir hvárir tveggja (ÍF 27) or seggir hvárra tveggja (Skj B) ‘the men of both parties’, seemingly taking hvárirtveggja as adjectival.

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. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
10. Hkr 1893-1901 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1893-1901. Heimskringla: Nóregs konunga sǫgur af Snorri Sturluson. 4 vols. SUGNL 23. Copenhagen: Møller.
11. Poole, Russell. 2005d. ‘The Nesjavísur of Sigvatr Þórðarson’. MS 15, 171-98.
12. Internal references
13. (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)