Sigv Lv 19^I

Dróttinn, hjalp, þeims dóttur
— dýrrs þínn vili — mína
heim ór heiðnum dómi
hóf ok nafn gaf Tófu.
Helt und vatr inn vitri
— varðk þeim feginn harða
morni — mínu barni
móðrakkr Haralds bróðir.

Dróttinn, hjalp, þeims hóf dóttur mína heim ór heiðnum dómi ok gaf nafn Tófu; dýrrs vili þínn. {Inn vitri, móðrakkr bróðir Haralds} helt barni mínu und vatr; varðk harða feginn þeim morni.

Lord, help him who lifted my daughter home out of heathendom and gave [her] the name Tófa; worthy is your will. {The wise, mind-bold brother of Haraldr} [= Óláfr] held my child under the water; I grew exceedingly glad about that morning.

Mss: DG8(91r) (ÓHLeg); Flat(187ra), Flat(92vb), Tóm(122v), 73aˣ(126v), 71ˣ(105r), 76aˣ(134v) (ÓH)

Readings: [1] dóttur: dœmir 71ˣ    [2] mína: minni DG8, Flat(92vb), 73aˣ, 71ˣ, 76aˣ, vinni Flat(187ra), skíri minni Tóm    [3] ór: af 73aˣ, 71ˣ, 76aˣ    [5] und: undir Flat(92vb), við 71ˣ;    vatr: so Flat(92vb), vatn DG8, 73aˣ, 71ˣ, 76aˣ, váttr Flat(187ra), Tóm    [6] harða: so Flat(187ra), Flat(92vb), Tóm, harðla DG8, 73aˣ, 71ˣ, 76aˣ    [8] ‑rakkr: ‘‑íackr’ Tóm

Editions: Skj AI, 268-9, Skj BI, 248-9, Skald I, 128; ÓHLeg 1849, 47, 110, ÓHLeg 1922, 57, ÓHLeg 1982, 134-5; Fms 5, 177, Fms 12, 109, ÓH 1849, 47, 110, Flat 1860-8, II, 112, III, 241, ÓH 1941, II, 687, 699, 700; Konráð Gíslason 1892, 42, 202-13, Jón Skaptason 1983, 193, 319.

Context: King Óláfr shows Sigvatr honour by standing godfather to his daughter; in Flat(187ra) it is added that the daughter’s name was Tófa. In 73aˣ it is said that both the king and queen stood godparents to the girl.

Notes: [All]: On the date and nature of the stanza, see Note to l. 8. — [2] mína ‘my’: This reading, found in none of the mss, was first adopted in CPB II, 142. Konráð Gíslason (1892, 203) explains that mína must have been altered to minni (dat. sg.) ‘my’ by a copyist who pronounced þínn with a short vowel and who believed that vowel plus -nn- could not rhyme with vowel plus -n- (cf., e.g., Lv 3/4 and Note). — [3-4] hóf ór heiðnum dómi ‘lifted out of heathendom’: Konráð Gíslason (1892, 205) argues that this is a secondary meaning for the phrase, and the meaning here should be the original one, ‘(lift up an unbaptized infant and) hold it over the baptismal font’. Olsen (1954, 190) compares the ecclesiastical expression suscipere de baptismo, lit. ‘lift out of baptism’. — [4] Tófu ‘Tófa’: Olsen (1954, 193-5) argues that Óláfr named her after the sister of Sigvaldi jarl, patron of Sigvatr’s father (see Note to Lv 18/8). — [5] vatr ‘the water’: This early variant form of vatn is also evidenced in some mss of ESk Sigdr I 4/8^II: hvatr Jórðánar vatri (see Note ad loc.). Sigvatr uses vatn- (: vitni) in Lv 23/5. See Konráð Gíslason (1892, 205-8, 213). — [7] morni ‘morning’: This dat. sg. form of morgunn/morginn is indicated by the skothending on barni; cf. Anon Pét 51/8^VII morni : forna, and see LP: morgunn. — [8] bróðir Haralds ‘brother of Haraldr [= Óláfr]’: Óláfr was the half-brother of Haraldr harðráði Sigurðarson. But if, as Finnur Jónsson supposes (Skj), this lausavísa dates to the period 1020-7, Haraldr would have been a young boy at the time, and it seems unlikely that Óláfr should be praised as the brother of a child. Such a phrase would be more appropriate after Haraldr, aged fifteen, had fought by Óláfr’s side in the autumn of 1030 at the battle of Stiklastaðir (Stiklestad), where Óláfr died. Accordingly, Olsen (1954, 189-92; so earlier Konráð Gíslason 1892, 203) takes Dróttinn, hjalp þeim ‘Lord, help him’ (l. 1) to be a plea for the repose of Óláfr’s soul, and this would date the stanza between the autumn of 1030 and 3 August 1031, when Óláfr was declared a saint. (See Edwards 1982-3, 38-9 for petitions containing hjalp in skaldic and runic contexts.) This would put the composition of the stanza into the same period as that of Lv 18, to which Olsen sees it as a companion.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Fms = Sveinbjörn Egilsson et al., eds. 1825-37. Fornmanna sögur eptir gömlum handritum útgefnar að tilhlutun hins norræna fornfræða fèlags. 12 vols. Copenhagen: Popp.
3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. 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.
5. Edwards, Diana C. 1982-3. ‘Christian and Pagan References in Eleventh-Century Norse Poetry: The Case of Arnórr Jarlaskáld’. SBVS 21, 34-53.
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. 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. 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.
11. 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.
12. Konráð Gíslason, ed. 1892a. Udvalg af oldnordiske skjaldekvad, med anmærkninger. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
13. Olsen, Magnus. 1954. ‘Tova Sigvatsdatter’. MM, 189-96.
14. ÓHLeg 1849 = Keyser, R. and C. R. Unger. eds. 1849. Olafs saga hins helga: En kort saga om kong Olaf den Hellige fra anden halvdeel af det tolfte aarhundrede. Efter et gammelt pergaments-haandskrift i Universitets-bibliotheket i Upsala. Christiania (Oslo): Feilberg & Landmark.
16. Internal references
17. Kari Ellen Gade 2009, ‘(Biography of) Haraldr harðráði Sigurðarson’ 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. 35-56.
18. David McDougall (ed.) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Pétrsdrápa 51’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 841-2.
19. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Einarr Skúlason, Sigurðardrápa I 4’ 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. 540-1.
20. Matthew Townend (ed.) 2012, ‘Þórarinn loftunga, Glælognskviða 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. 875.