Judith Jesch (ed.) 2012, ‘Sigvatr Þórðarson, Víkingarvísur 5’ 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. 540.
Víg vannt, hlenna hneigir,
hjǫlmum grimmt it fimmta
— þolðu hlýr fyr hári
hríð Kinnlimasíðu —,
þás við rausn at ræsis
reið herr ofan skeiðum,
enn í gegn at gunni
gekk hilmis lið rekkum.
{Hneigir hlenna}, vannt it fimmta víg, grimmt hjǫlmum — hlýr þolðu hríð fyr hári Kinnlimasíðu —, þás herr reið ofan við rausn at skeiðum ræsis, enn lið hilmis gekk í gegn rekkum at gunni.
{Oppressor of thieves} [JUST RULER = Óláfr], you won the fifth battle, dangerous to helmets — the bows suffered a storm off high Kinnlimasíða —, when the army rode down magnificently to the ruler’s warships and the leader’s troop advanced against warriors in battle.
Mss: Kˣ(224r) (Hkr); Holm2(6v), R686ˣ(11v), J2ˣ(121r), 325VI(6ra), 73aˣ(18v-19r), 78aˣ(17v), 68(5v), 61(79va), 325V(8ra), Bb(126rb), Flat(80ra), Tóm(96r) (ÓH)
Readings: [1] hneigir: ‘h(n)ęgir’(?) Bb [2] hjǫlmum: hǫlðum 61 [3] þolðu: þolðut 61, ‘þorldu’ Bb; fyr: á Holm2, R686ˣ, J2ˣ, 68, 325V, Bb, Flat, Tóm; hári: hára 325V [4] ‑síðu: ‘sudu’ Tóm [5] þás (‘þa er’): þar er Holm2, R686ˣ, 68, 325V, Bb, Flat, Tóm, þat er J2ˣ; at: so Holm2, R686ˣ, J2ˣ, 325VI, 73aˣ, 78aˣ, 68, 61, 325V, Bb, Tóm, at corrected from ok Kˣ, er Flat; ræsis: ‘ræsizt’ Tóm [6] reið: reiðr 325VI, 73aˣ, reiði 78aˣ, réð 325V; herr: hverr 68, ferð 325V, Flat, Tóm; ofan: ófám 325V; skeiðum: sverðum 325V, skeiðu Flat [7] gunni: grunni 73aˣ, ‘gunn’ Bb, gumnum Tóm [8] hilmis: ‘hilms’ 78aˣ; rekkum: rekkinn Bb
Editions: Skj AI, 224, Skj BI, 214, Skald I, 111; Hkr 1893-1901, II, 14-15, IV, 108, ÍF 27, 13, Hkr 1991, I, 259 (ÓHHkr ch. 11); ÓH 1941, I, 41 (ch. 22), Flat 1860-8, II, 18; Fell 1981b, 113-14, Jón Skaptason 1983, 57, 222.
Context: Having sailed to Frísland (Frisia) and waited out a storm, Óláfr goes ashore with his troop and the inhabitants ride down to meet them in battle.
Notes: [3, 4] hári Kinnlimasíðu ‘high Kinnlimasíða’: This is usually explained as Kennemerland, a coastal district in North Holland, with steep sand-dunes (Samplonius 1998, 93). Despite this, it is hard to imagine any Norwegian or Icelander describing anything in the Netherlands as ‘high’, or depicting the local army riding ‘down’ to the ships (l. 6). There are also philological difficulties; for further discussion, see Jesch (2001a, 82-3). — [7] enn ‘and’: The conj. en(n) ‘and, but’, rather than the adv. ‘again, further’, is indicated by the word order in ll. 7-8. Most eds including Skj B and ÍF 27 print the conj. in the form en, but enn is a possible form of the conj., produces a better rhyme with gunn- than en, and is the reading of all mss but Bb.
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