R. D. Fulk (ed.) 2012, ‘Sigvatr Þórðarson, Lausavísur 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. 714.
Hafa allframir jǫfrar
út sín hǫfuð Knúti
fœrð ór Fífi norðan
— friðkaup vas þat — miðju.
Seldi Ôleifr aldri
(opt vá sigr) inn digri
haus í heimi (þvísa
hann) engum svá manni.
Allframir jǫfrar hafa fœrð Knúti hǫfuð sín út norðan ór miðju Fífi; þat vas friðkaup. Ôleifr inn digri seldi aldri haus svá engum manni í heimi; hann vá opt sigr þvísa.
The most outstanding lords have presented their heads to Knútr from the north out of mid Fife; it was the price of peace. Óláfr the Stout never surrendered his skull thus to anyone in the world; he has often won victory for that reason.
Mss: Holm2(41v), 325V(44va), 972ˣ(297va), J2ˣ(183r), 325VI(30ra), 75a(31ra), 73aˣ(134v-135r), 68(40r), 61(104vb-105ra), Holm4(34vb), 325VII(23v), Bb(171va), Flat(111vb), Tóm(129v), 325XI 2 g(2vb) (ÓH); Kˣ(370r) (Hkr)
Readings: [1] ‑framir: framar 73aˣ, ‘[…]’ 325XI 2 g; jǫfrar: ‘[…]’ 325XI 2 g [2] út: ‘[…]’ 325XI 2 g; sín: sinn Flat, ‘[…]’ 325XI 2 g; hǫfuð: hǫfðuð Bb; Knúti: ‘hnuti’ Tóm [3] fœrð: so 325V, 972ˣ, J2ˣ, 325VI, 75a, 73aˣ, 68, 61, Holm4, Bb, Flat, Tóm, 325XI 2 g, ferð Holm2, 68, 61, ‘førð’ 325VII, forð Kˣ; Fífi: finni Tóm, ‘f[…]i’ 325XI 2 g [4] ‑kaup: so all others, kapp corrected from kaup Holm2; vas (‘var’): er 75a, Bb; miðju: miðja 325VI, miðjum 325VII, Bb, Flat [5] Seldi: felldi 75a, selds 68, seldir 61 [6] vá: vann 325V; digri: ‘di[…]ri’ 325XI 2 g [7] haus í: hausi 73aˣ, 61, hans í Bb, Flat, haus ór Tóm; heimi: hilmir 61 [8] hann: ‘hán’ 325V; svá: om. Tóm
Editions: Skj AI, 269-70, Skj BI, 249-50, Skald I, 129, NN §1874; Fms 4, 293, Fms 12, 88, ÓH 1853, 132, 280, ÓH 1941, I, 343 (ch. 120), Flat 1860-8, II, 254; Hkr 1777-1826, II, 215, VI, 91, Hkr 1868, 378 (ÓHHkr ch. 140), Hkr 1893-1901, II, 287, IV, 140, ÍF 27, 225, Hkr 1991, I, 413 (ÓHHkr ch. 131); Konráð Gíslason 1892, 38, 180, Jón Skaptason 1983, 197, 321-2.
Context: Ambassadors from Denmark convey the message that King Knútr inn ríki (Cnut the Great) demands King Óláfr’s submission and control of all of Norway, and Óláfr refuses, pledging to resist to the last. Sigvatr asks the departing ambassadors the outcome of their audience, and they say that Óláfr has foolishly rejected Knútr’s demand. It would be wise for Óláfr to submit, because Knútr is gracious and forgiving, and he will accept the fealty of those who have resisted him, as he did recently when he agreed to let two kings from Fife in Scotland hold their land in fief. Sigvatr responds with this stanza.
Notes: [3] Fífi ‘Fife’: ON Fíf also occurs as a heiti for ‘land’: see Þul Jarðar 1/5III and Note. — [7] þvísa ‘for that reason’: (a) Neuter dat. sg. of the demonstrative pron. þessi ‘this’, here taken adverbially in the intercalary clause. (b) Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) would place the word in the principal clause, where, if it is not meaningless, it would oddly imply that Óláfr has surrendered his head for another reason. Jón Skaptason (1983, 197) chooses the same arrangement, translating ‘so’. (c) Jón Þorkelsson (1884, 68-9, followed by Gering 1912, 146, Kock, NN §1874, ÍF 27, and Hkr 1991) proposes that it functions adjectivally, modifying heimi ‘world’ in l. 7. The problem is that heimi is m., while þvísa is n., and so he argues that there was in early times a n. form that survives only in gen. compounds like heimisgarðr ‘homestead’. But heimis- is not attested in the sense ‘world’s’ (as observed by Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson, ÍF 27), and so it seems safer to align þvísa with the intercalary clause than to assume an otherwise unattested form.
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