Sigv Víkv 8^I

Veitk, at víga mœtir
Vinðum háttr inn átta
— styrkr gekk vǫrðr at virki
verðungar — styr gerði.
Sinn môttut bœ banna
borg Kantara — sorgar
mart fekksk prúðum Pǫrtum —
portgreifar Ôleifi.

Veitk, at {mœtir víga}, háttr Vinðum, gerði inn átta styr; {styrkr vǫrðr verðungar} gekk at virki. Portgreifar môttut banna Ôleifi bœ sinn, Kantaraborg; mart sorgar fekksk prúðum Pǫrtum.

I know that {the meeter of battles} [WARRIOR], dangerous to Wends, held the eighth battle; {the strong guardian of the troop} [RULER] advanced against the fortification. The townreeves were not able to ban Óláfr from their city, Canterbury; much sorrow was caused for the proud Partar.

Mss: Kˣ(227r) (Hkr); Holm2(7r), R686ˣ(12v), J2ˣ(122v-123r), 325VI(6va), 73aˣ(20v), 78aˣ(20r), 68(6r), 61(80ra), 75c(3r), 325V(8vb), 325VII(2r), Bb(127ra), Flat(80rb-va), Tóm(96v) (ÓH); FskBˣ(40v), FskAˣ(154) (Fsk, ll. 1-4); DG8(73v) (ÓHLeg, ll. 1-4)

Readings: [1] mœtir: hneitir 325VI, 78aˣ, meitir 325V    [2] Vinðum: vǫndum 325VI, 73aˣ, vǫndu 78aˣ, virðum 61;    háttr: hátt 325VI, 73aˣ, 78aˣ, 325V, FskBˣ, FskAˣ, DG8, hættr 61, Bb, hóttr 325VII;    inn: enn Holm2, 68, en R686ˣ, 325VI, 75c, Bb, it 61, DG8, ek FskBˣ    [3] styrkr: ‘strycr’ Holm2;    gekk: fekk J2ˣ, helt FskBˣ, FskAˣ, DG8;    virki: verki J2ˣ, Tóm    [4] styr: frið 75c;    gerði: gjǫrðu Tóm    [5] môttut: môttuð Holm2, R686ˣ, J2ˣ, 78aˣ, 75c, 325VII, máttit 68, máttu Bb, Tóm    [6] Kantara‑: ‘kantra’ R686ˣ, ‘kantera’ 325VII, Flat;    sorgar: sorgir R686ˣ, Bb    [7] fekksk: so Holm2, R686ˣ, J2ˣ, 325VI, 73aˣ, 78aˣ, 68, 61, 325V, 325VII, Flat, Tóm, fekk Kˣ, 75c, Bb, DG8    [8] port‑: ‘por‑’ J2ˣ, 68, ‘fort’ 325V;    ‑greifar: ‘‑greifir’ R686ˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 225, Skj BI, 214-15, Skald I, 112, NN §613; Hkr 1893-1901, II, 21, IV, 111, ÍF 27, 20-21, Hkr 1991, I, 263-4 (ÓHHkr ch. 15); ÓH 1941, I, 47 (ch. 24), Flat 1860-8, II, 20; Fsk 1902-3, 142 (ch. 25), ÍF 29, 169 (ch. 27); ÓHLeg 1922, 13, ÓHLeg 1982, 54-5; Fell 1981b, 116-17, Jón Skaptason 1983, 60, 223-4.

Context:

In ÓH-Hkr, Óláfr leads an army in a battle at Canterbury which culminates in their sacking of the town. The stanza is cited after Ótt Hfl 10. Fsk and ÓHLeg note that Óláfr’s eighth battle at Canterbury was once more against Danes, together with Wends; Fsk adds that they were Danakonungs menn ‘the men of the king of the Danes’.

Notes: [All]: For the battle at Canterbury, see also Ótt Hfl 10. — [1-4]: ÓHLeg does not name Sigvatr, but attributes the lines merely to skalldet ‘the poet’. — [2] háttr Vinðum ‘dangerous to Wends’: It is not known why Óláfr is described thus, as there is otherwise no mention of Wends in connection with his youthful battles, though his namesake Óláfr Tryggvason is said to have attacked the Wends (e.g. Hfr Óldr 1). Háttr is established as the form of the adj. by the rhyme on átt-. This is the only known occurrence (LP: háttr), but it is clearly related to the nouns háski and hætta, both ‘danger’, and is equivalent to the adj. hættr ‘dangerous’ as in ÞjóðA Sex 2/7^II hættr Serkjum ‘dangerous to Serkir (Saracens)’ or Hfr Óldr 2/1, 2 hættr fjǫrvi Gota ‘dangerous to the life of the Gotar’. — [6] Kantaraborg ‘Canterbury’: See Note to Ótt Hfl 10/4. — [7] fekksk ‘was caused’: This reading is found in several ÓH mss across all three classes. The alternative fekk would give mart fekk sorgar prúðum Pǫrtum, either ‘he provided much sorrow to the proud Partar’ or ‘much caused sorrow to the proud Partar’. — [7] prúðum ‘proud’: Another early loan-word, possibly borrowed from OE rather than directly from OFr. (AEW: prúðr); Sigvatr uses it again in Austv 12/2. — [7] Pǫrtum ‘Partar’: Who or (less likely) what is intended by this term, which also occurs in ESk Run 9/3^II, is unknown; thorough studies by Poole (1980) and Townend (1998, 62-5) have not resolved the question. — [8] portgreifar ‘the town reeves’: In this context, it is clear that this word must have been a borrowing from the frequently-attested OE port-gerēfa ‘town reeve’ (a form of local official). It is however difficult to derive ON greifi directly from OE, and MLG is the most likely alternative (Hofmann 1955, 82; AEW: greifi). This example suggests that the simplex was already known, and that it influenced the form in which the OE cpd was borrowed. Sigvatr also uses it later, though with a Norwegian referent, in Berv 14/8^II; see Note.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
3. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. AEW = Vries, Jan de. 1962. Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 2nd rev. edn. Rpt. 1977. Leiden: Brill.
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. Fell, Christine E. 1981b. ‘Víkingarvísur’. In Dronke et al. 1981, 106-22.
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. ÓHLeg 1982 = Heinrichs, Anne et al., eds and trans. 1982. Olafs saga hins helga: Die ‘Legendarische Saga’ über Olaf den Heiligen (Hs. Delagard. saml. nr. 8^II). Heidelberg: Winter.
10. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
11. Hkr 1893-1901 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1893-1901. Heimskringla: Nóregs konunga sǫgur af Snorri Sturluson. 4 vols. SUGNL 23. Copenhagen: Møller.
12. Hkr 1991 = Bergljót S. Kristjánsdóttir et al., eds. 1991. Heimskringla. 3 vols. Reykjavík: Mál og menning.
13. Fsk 1902-3 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1902-3. Fagrskinna: Nóregs kononga tal. SUGNL 30. Copenhagen: Møller.
14. Hofmann, Dietrich. 1955. Nordisch-englische Lehnbeziehungen der Wikingerzeit. BA 14. Copenhagen: Munksgaard.
15. ÍF 29 = Ágrip af Nóregskonunga sǫgum; Fagrskinna—Nóregs konungatal. Ed. Bjarni Einarsson. 1985.
16. 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.
17. ÓHLeg 1922 = Johnsen, Oscar Albert, ed. 1922. Olafs saga hins helga efter pergamenthåndskrift i Uppsala Universitetsbibliotek, Delagardieske samling nr. 8^II. Det norske historiske kildeskriftfond skrifter 47. Kristiania (Oslo): Dybwad.
18. Poole, Russell. 1980. ‘In Search of the Partar’. SS 52, 264-77.
19. Townend, Matthew. 1998. English Place-Names in Skaldic Verse. English Place-Name Society extra ser. 1. Nottingham: English Place-Name Society.
20. Internal references
21. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Óláfs saga helga (Legendary)’ 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=31> (accessed 19 April 2024)
22. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Óláfs saga helga’ 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=53> (accessed 19 April 2024)
23. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Fagrskinna’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=56> (accessed 19 April 2024)
24. Diana Whaley 2012, ‘(Biography of) Óláfr Tryggvason’ 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. 383.
25. (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 19 April 2024)
26. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Einarr Skúlason, Runhenda 9’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 557-8.
27. Matthew Townend (ed.) 2012, ‘Óttarr svarti, Hǫfuðlausn 10’ 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. 753.
28. R. D. Fulk (ed.) 2012, ‘Sigvatr Þórðarson, Austrfararvísur 12’ 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. 600.
29. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Sigvatr Þórðarson, Bersǫglisvísur 14’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 25-6.
30. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Þjóðólfr Arnórsson, Sexstefja 2’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 113-14.
31. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2012, ‘Hallfreðr vandræðaskáld Óttarsson, Óláfsdrápa 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. 392.
32. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2012, ‘Hallfreðr vandræðaskáld Óttarsson, Óláfsdrápa 2’ 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. 393.