Sigv Lv 9I
R. D. Fulk (ed.) 2012, ‘Sigvatr Þórðarson, Lausavísur 9’ 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. 710.
Sendi ‘sent’
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senda (verb): send
mér ‘to me’
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ek (pron.; °mín, dat. mér, acc. mik): I, me
inn ‘The’
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2. inn (art.): the
þengill ‘prince’
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þengill (noun m.): prince, ruler
drengi ‘his fellows’
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drengr (noun m.; °-s, dat. -; -ir, gen. -ja): man, warrior
munk ‘I shall probably’
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munu (verb): will, must
heldr ‘rather’
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heldr (adv.): rather
at ‘at’
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3. at (prep.): at, to
hróðri ‘encomium’
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hróðr (noun m.): encomium, praise
hnytr ‘nuts’
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1. hnot (noun f.; °; hnøtr/hnetr, gen. hnata): nut
[4] hnytr: so 73aˣ, 71ˣ, 76aˣ, nætr DG8, hnetr Flat, Tóm
notes
[4] hnytr ‘nuts’: The usual form is hnetr, but Kock (NN §2010B) is right that hnytr, the form required by the aðalhending, is what should be expected on an etymological basis. It is not surprising that a word as uncommon in literature as this should not happen to be attested elsewhere in its older form.
þjóð ‘great’
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þjóð (noun f.; °-ar, dat. -/-u; -ir): people < þjóðkonungr (noun m.): mighty king
konungr ‘king’
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konungr (noun m.; °dat. -i, -s; -ar): king < þjóðkonungr (noun m.): mighty king
snytrask ‘grow wise’
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snytra (verb): [grow wise]
[4] snytrask: so Flat, 71ˣ, 76aˣ, vitrask DG8, letjask Tóm, ‘snytras’ 73aˣ
notes
[4] snytrask ‘grow wise’: The verb is found nowhere else, but Kock (NN §2010A) rightly points out that it is presupposed by the agent noun snytrir ‘one who makes wise’ (LP: snytrir). The reading letjask ‘to become unwilling or slow’ chosen by Konráð Gíslason (1892, 39) and by Finnur Jónsson (Skj B, and so also hnetr for hnytr, for the sake of the hending) may in fact be cleverer, but it is found only in Tóm, whose readings for this stanza are generally unreliable. It is easy to explain why snytrask should have been altered to letjask (to rhyme with hnetr once it replaced the older hnytr), but it would not be easy to explain the reverse alteration. What Sigvatr seems to mean, with high irony, is that some day he will learn to compose verses commensurate with the king’s gifts to him. Jón Skaptason (1983, 192) takes the meaning to be ‘I shall not soon become wise (or: lazy) from praising [you]’. Poole (2005a, 273), largely in agreement with Kock, translates, ‘it will be a long time before I devote more art to praise poetry’, and it is quite possible that this is what is meant.
Opt ‘often’
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opt (adv.): often
notes
[5, 7] môl endask opt ‘meals often come to an end’: Môl is probably to be taken as a pun, since it may mean ‘meals’ (in reference to the nuts), ‘tales’ (the one Sigvatr is telling), and ‘matters, affairs’, especially legal affairs (in reference to the dividing of the supposed inheritance). Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) hesitatingly takes the meaning to be ‘words are often fulfilled, come true’, and if this is the sense, Sigvatr may be chiding Óláfr for the miserliness of the ‘inheritance’ (or gifts) he provides his poets. That is, ‘as we should divide an inheritance’ may turn out to be an actual case of poor reward, not merely a comparison. But endask, though it may mean ‘to turn out’, is not otherwise attested in the sense ‘come true’. Kock (NN §2010) construes opt with bað ‘asked, told’ (l. 5) in the main clause, where it makes no obvious sense (whereas in the intercalary clause it may have a universalizing, satirically gnomic function), and this in turn obliges him to ignore en ‘and, but’ in l. 5, which he takes as enn in NN §2010D, dismissing it as not needing translation. The purpose of these rearrangements is to allow him to interpret endask môl to mean ‘the poem comes to an end’, parallel to endisk leyfð ‘the praise ends’ and lýkk vísu nú ‘I close my verse now’ in Lv 6/7-8. Jón Skaptason (1983, 192) translates, ‘Disputes often drag on (?)’.
en ‘and’
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2. en (conj.): but, and
okkr ‘and me’
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vér (pron.; °gen. vár, dat./acc. oss): we, us, our
notes
[5, 6] okkr ... Óttar ‘Óttarr and me’: So Kock (NN §2010E, followed by ÓHLeg 1982 and by Jón Skaptason 1983), criticizing Finnur Jónsson’s reading of Óttarr as a vocative in Skj B. For Óttarr svarti ‘the Black’ (Ótt), see the skald Biography.
skipta ‘to divide’
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skipta (verb): share, divide, exchange
Óttar ‘Óttarr’
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Óttarr (noun m.): Óttarr
notes
[5, 6] okkr ... Óttar ‘Óttarr and me’: So Kock (NN §2010E, followed by ÓHLeg 1982 and by Jón Skaptason 1983), criticizing Finnur Jónsson’s reading of Óttarr as a vocative in Skj B. For Óttarr svarti ‘the Black’ (Ótt), see the skald Biography.
í ‘in’
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í (prep.): in, into
dróttinn ‘lord’
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dróttinn (noun m.; °dróttins, dat. dróttni (drottini [$1049$]); dróttnar): lord, master
notes
[5, 7] môl endask opt ‘meals often come to an end’: Môl is probably to be taken as a pun, since it may mean ‘meals’ (in reference to the nuts), ‘tales’ (the one Sigvatr is telling), and ‘matters, affairs’, especially legal affairs (in reference to the dividing of the supposed inheritance). Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) hesitatingly takes the meaning to be ‘words are often fulfilled, come true’, and if this is the sense, Sigvatr may be chiding Óláfr for the miserliness of the ‘inheritance’ (or gifts) he provides his poets. That is, ‘as we should divide an inheritance’ may turn out to be an actual case of poor reward, not merely a comparison. But endask, though it may mean ‘to turn out’, is not otherwise attested in the sense ‘come true’. Kock (NN §2010) construes opt with bað ‘asked, told’ (l. 5) in the main clause, where it makes no obvious sense (whereas in the intercalary clause it may have a universalizing, satirically gnomic function), and this in turn obliges him to ignore en ‘and, but’ in l. 5, which he takes as enn in NN §2010D, dismissing it as not needing translation. The purpose of these rearrangements is to allow him to interpret endask môl to mean ‘the poem comes to an end’, parallel to endisk leyfð ‘the praise ends’ and lýkk vísu nú ‘I close my verse now’ in Lv 6/7-8. Jón Skaptason (1983, 192) translates, ‘Disputes often drag on (?)’.
môl ‘Meals’
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1. mál (noun n.; °-s; -): speech, matter
notes
[5, 7] môl endask opt ‘meals often come to an end’: Môl is probably to be taken as a pun, since it may mean ‘meals’ (in reference to the nuts), ‘tales’ (the one Sigvatr is telling), and ‘matters, affairs’, especially legal affairs (in reference to the dividing of the supposed inheritance). Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) hesitatingly takes the meaning to be ‘words are often fulfilled, come true’, and if this is the sense, Sigvatr may be chiding Óláfr for the miserliness of the ‘inheritance’ (or gifts) he provides his poets. That is, ‘as we should divide an inheritance’ may turn out to be an actual case of poor reward, not merely a comparison. But endask, though it may mean ‘to turn out’, is not otherwise attested in the sense ‘come true’. Kock (NN §2010) construes opt with bað ‘asked, told’ (l. 5) in the main clause, where it makes no obvious sense (whereas in the intercalary clause it may have a universalizing, satirically gnomic function), and this in turn obliges him to ignore en ‘and, but’ in l. 5, which he takes as enn in NN §2010D, dismissing it as not needing translation. The purpose of these rearrangements is to allow him to interpret endask môl to mean ‘the poem comes to an end’, parallel to endisk leyfð ‘the praise ends’ and lýkk vísu nú ‘I close my verse now’ in Lv 6/7-8. Jón Skaptason (1983, 192) translates, ‘Disputes often drag on (?)’.
sem ‘as’
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sem (conj.): as, which
myndim ‘we would’
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munu (verb): will, must
[7] myndim: so Flat, ‘minndi’ DG8, mundum Tóm, 73aˣ, 71ˣ, 76aˣ
manndjarfr ‘the man-bold’
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manndjarfr (adj.): [man-bold]
fǫður ‘a father’s’
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faðir (noun m.): father < fǫðurarfr (noun m.): paternal inheritance
arfi ‘inheritance’
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arfr (noun m.; °-s, dat. -i/-(Frost 215¹²); -ar): inheritance < fǫðurarfr (noun m.): paternal inheritance
[8] ‑arfi: arfinn 71ˣ
Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses
After Sigvatr and his nephew, the skald Óttarr svarti, have served King Óláfr for a long time, they are not as valued as they had once been. One day the king sends them nuts from his table, and Sigvatr composes this stanza. Except in Tóm, the prose adds, either before or after the stanza, that the king tells them to divide the nuts between them as evenly as if they were dividing their paternal inheritance. After Sigvatr delivers the stanza, Óttarr speaks another (Ótt Lv 1). In all the texts but ÓHLeg, it is said that the king smiles at hearing the two stanzas.
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