Sigv Vestv 8I
Judith Jesch (ed.) 2012, ‘Sigvatr Þórðarson, Vestrfararvísur 8’ 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. 626.
Eið ‘oath’
(not checked:)
eið (noun n.; °-s; -): ?oath/headland
notes
[1, 3] allan eið ‘the whole oath’: Although the context is obscure, this expression makes sense if we imagine a reciprocal agreement between Sigvatr and Óláfr, with the poet now urging the king not to forget his part of the agreement, even though Sigvatr has been remiss on his part (i.e. by arriving late).
láta ‘do not let’
(not checked:)
láta (verb): let, have sth done
þú ‘’
(not checked:)
þú (pron.; °gen. þín, dat. þér, acc. þik): you
ýtir ‘Impeller’
(not checked:)
ýtir (noun m.): giver
kennings
Ýtir jarðar,‘Impeller of land, ’
= RULER
Impeller of land, → RULER
einn ‘alone’
(not checked:)
2. einn (pron.; °decl. cf. einn num.): one, alone
þótt ‘though’
(not checked:)
þótt (conj.): although
værak ‘was’
(not checked:)
2. vera (verb): be, is, was, were, are, am
seinni ‘later’
(not checked:)
seinn (adj.; °seinan; compar. seinni, superl. seinstr/seinastr): slow, late
jarðar ‘of land’
(not checked:)
jǫrð (noun f.; °jarðar, dat. -u; jarðir/jarðar(DN I (1367) 304)): ground, earth
kennings
Ýtir jarðar,‘Impeller of land, ’
= RULER
Impeller of land, → RULER
notes
[1, 3, 4] ýtir jarðar, mildr auðar ‘impeller of land [RULER], generous with wealth’: (a) Ýtir jarðar ‘impeller of land’ is adopted here as the best solution, though it is not a typical kenning since ýtir is normally coupled with determinants referring to treasure, ships or weapons (Meissner 307). (b) Mildr ýtir auðar jarðar ‘generous impeller of the wealth of the land’ (NN §636) takes auðar jarðar ‘wealth of the land’ as a bipartite determinant which is not itself a kenning. This is also possible, though unusual. (c) Jón Skaptason (1983) wonders whether auðr jarðar ‘wealth of the earth’ could be a gold-kenning, but parallels are lacking. (d) Finnur Jónsson’s solution involves radical emendation; see Note to ll. 1-4 above.
alla ‘’
(not checked:)
allr (adj.): all
notes
[1, 3] allan eið ‘the whole oath’: Although the context is obscure, this expression makes sense if we imagine a reciprocal agreement between Sigvatr and Óláfr, with the poet now urging the king not to forget his part of the agreement, even though Sigvatr has been remiss on his part (i.e. by arriving late).
verðask ‘be forgotten’
(not checked:)
1. verða (verb): become, be
notes
[3] verðask ‘be forgotten’: The m. v. form of verða is not widely attested and one would normally expect some kind of complement, such as in Vsp 45/2 (NK 10) at bǫnom verðaz ‘become each other’s slayers’ or með tjónum verðask ‘be forgotten, be subject to loss’ (CVC: verða C. 2). The proposed translation is therefore contextual and conjectural, though there is some evidence for verðask being used as synonymous with fyrirverðask ‘disappear, come to nothing’ (Fritzner IV: verða; cf. also NN §1934D).
auðar ‘with wealth’
(not checked:)
1. auðr (noun m.; °-s/-ar, dat. -i/-): wealth
notes
[1, 3, 4] ýtir jarðar, mildr auðar ‘impeller of land [RULER], generous with wealth’: (a) Ýtir jarðar ‘impeller of land’ is adopted here as the best solution, though it is not a typical kenning since ýtir is normally coupled with determinants referring to treasure, ships or weapons (Meissner 307). (b) Mildr ýtir auðar jarðar ‘generous impeller of the wealth of the land’ (NN §636) takes auðar jarðar ‘wealth of the land’ as a bipartite determinant which is not itself a kenning. This is also possible, though unusual. (c) Jón Skaptason (1983) wonders whether auðr jarðar ‘wealth of the earth’ could be a gold-kenning, but parallels are lacking. (d) Finnur Jónsson’s solution involves radical emendation; see Note to ll. 1-4 above.
mildr ‘generous’
(not checked:)
mildr (adj.; °compar. -ri/-ari, superl. -astr): mild, gentle, gracious, generous
an ‘than’
(not checked:)
2. an (conj.): than
vildak ‘I wished’
(not checked:)
vilja (verb): want, intend
Esa ‘It is not’
(not checked:)
2. vera (verb): be, is, was, were, are, am
fyr ‘because of’
(not checked:)
fyr (prep.): for, over, because of, etc.
mál ‘an agreement’
(not checked:)
1. mál (noun n.; °-s; -): speech, matter
þats ‘that’
(not checked:)
þats (conj.): that, which
mála ‘a hired’
(not checked:)
2. máli (noun m.; °-a; dat. -um): agreement
man ‘’
(not checked:)
munu (verb): will, must
þú ‘you’
(not checked:)
þú (pron.; °gen. þín, dat. þér, acc. þik): you
lætr ‘allow’
(not checked:)
láta (verb): let, have sth done
hér ‘here’
(not checked:)
hér (adv.): here
vanðan ‘to become accustomed’
(not checked:)
2. venja (verb): accustom, train
lǫng ‘long-lasting’
(not checked:)
langr (adj.; °compar. lengri, superl. lengstr): long
þǫrf ‘need’
(not checked:)
þǫrf (noun f.; °þarfar; þarfar/þarfir): need
mun ‘will have’
(not checked:)
munu (verb): will, must
gram ‘kings’
(not checked:)
1. gramr (noun m.): ruler
gengit ‘’
(not checked:)
2. ganga (verb; geng, gekk, gengu, genginn): walk, go
gestr ‘hired man’
(not checked:)
gestr (noun m.): guest, stranger
Knúts ‘Knútr’s’
(not checked:)
Knútr (noun m.): Knútr
vas ‘was’
(not checked:)
2. vera (verb): be, is, was, were, are, am
ek ‘I’
(not checked:)
ek (pron.; °mín, dat. mér, acc. mik): I, me
flestum ‘most’
(not checked:)
fleiri (adj. comp.; °superl. flestr): more, most
Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses
|
Eið láta þú, ýtir, |
Impeller of land [RULER], generous with wealth, do not let the whole oath be forgotten, though I alone was later than I wished. It is not because of an agreement that you allow a hired soldier to become accustomed here; most kings will have a long-lasting need for a following; I was Knútr’s hired man.
The stanza follows from st. 7, with only a brief introductory phrase.
[1-4]: To make sense of this helmingr, Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) proposed emending verðask ‘be forgotten’ to verða ‘become, apply to’ and auðar ‘of the treasure’ (somewhat improbably) to ófnis ‘of the snake’ (in the gold-kenning jarðar ófnis ‘of the ground of the snake’), giving a reading ‘Do not allow, generous prince, one oath to apply to all, even though I came later than I wished’. Kock (NN §636, followed by Jón Skaptason 1983, 111 and this edn) proposed a reading with only one emendation, of f. acc. sg. alla ‘all’ to m. acc. sg. allan. — [5-8]: Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) only managed to make partial sense of this helmingr, while Kock (NN §637) made some sort of sense of it only by ‘a considerable stretching of the language’ (Jón Skaptason 1983, 253, who nevertheless follows Kock ‘for lack of a better alternative’). All three eds assume that ms. ‘man’ in l. 6 stands for mann ‘man’ and Kock silently emends gengit (p. p. of ganga ‘go’) in l. 7 to gengis (gen. sg. of gengi ‘follower, following’), adopted by Jón Skaptason without comment. These are accepted in the current interpretation. Kock’s ‘stretching of the language’ assumes further that mála ‘paint’ (cf. Fritzner: mála), not otherwise attested in this period, is here used in the meaning ‘depict, expound’ (referring to the poet’s account of things) and that venja means ‘attract’, based on an OE parallel, since ON ones are lacking. At the same time, he takes fyr mál to mean ‘against (our) agreement’, giving overall: ej mot avtal är min skildring: | mannen drager här du til dig; | varje kung — Knuts jäst jag varit — | har av följe långt behov ‘my account is not against our agreement: you attract the man here to you; every king — I have been Knut’s guest — has a long need of followers’. It is instead proposed in this edn that mál and mála are both best interpreted as words from a semantic field appropriate to a king’s court, in which the word gestr (l. 8) is also significant. Finnur Jónsson (Skj B; LP: 2. máli) interprets mála as a form of máli m. ‘agreed wage’ although it can be difficult to separate this from forms of mál ‘agreement’ (cf. Sigv Lv 6/4, translated as ‘agreement’ in this edn). It is tentatively proposed here that mála be construed with mann, giving a phrase equivalent to the cpd málamann (acc. sg.) ‘waged man, man in the paid service of another, especially a prince or chieftain’ (Fritzner: málamaðr). This would fit well with gestr ‘hired man’ in l. 8, which in later texts also refers to a particular class of waged men at the Norwegian court (Fritzner: gestr 3). Sigvatr was surely more than just a ‘guest’ or visitor at Knútr’s court; his composition of Knútdr suggests he was a paid court poet, and payments are also referred to in Vestv (st. 5). Hence in ll. 5-6 Sigvatr could be contrasting his previous state as a (relatively lowly) hired man with Knútr with the welcome he expects or has received from Óláfr. So, it is not because of a mere mál ‘wage agreement’ that Óláfr allows the former málamaðr ‘hired man’ of Knútr to become accustomed to his court, but rather because of the oath he has sworn him (cf. Note to ll. 1, 3 above). The proposed solution, while still uncertain, is put forward as a small advance on previous ones, fits well with st. 7/1-4, at least as interpreted above, and has the additional merit of relatively straightforward syntax.
Stanza/chapter/text segment
Use the buttons at the top of the page to navigate between stanzas in a poem.
Information tab
- text: if the stanza has been published, the edited text of the stanza and translation are here; if it hasn't been published an old edition (usually Skj) is given for reference
- sources: a list of the manuscripts or inscriptions containing this stanza, with page and line references and links (eye button) to images where available, and transcription where available
- readings: a list of variant manuscript readings of words in the main text
- editions and texts: a list of editions of the stanza with links to the bibliography; and a list of prose works in which the stanza occurs, allowing you to navigate within the prose context
- notes and context: notes not linked to individual words are given here, along with the account of the prose context for the stanza, where relevant
Interactive tab
The text and translation are given here, with buttons to toggle whether the text is shown in the verse order or prose word order. Clicking on indiviudal words gives dictionary links, variant readings, kennings and notes, where relevant.
Full text tab
This is the text of the edition in a similar format to how the edition appears in the printed volumes.
Chapter/text segment
This view is also used for chapters and other text segments. Not all the headings shown are relevant to such sections.