Sigv Lv 27^I

Munu, þeirs mestar skynjar
munvágs Dáins kunna,
síðr at Sighvats hróðri
svinns braglǫstu finna.
Sik vill hverr, es hnekkir,
haldorðr boði skjaldar
éls, þvís allir mæla,
iflaust gera at fifli.

Munu, þeirs kunna mestar skynjar {munvágs Dáins}, síðr finna braglǫstu at hróðri svinns Sighvats. {Hverr haldorðr boði {éls skjaldar}}, es hnekkir, þvís allir mæla, vill iflaust gera sik at fifli.

Those who comprehend the greatest knowledge {of the delightful wave of Dáinn <dwarf>} [POETRY] will hardly [lit. less] find verse-flaws in the encomium of judicious Sigvatr. {Every word-holding announcer {of the storm of the shield}} [BATTLE > WARRIOR] who rejects what all say will doubtless make himself a fool.

Mss: Flat(126vb), Tóm(162v-163r), 73aˣ(223r-v), 71ˣ(195v), 76aˣ(244v) (ÓH)

Readings: [1] mestar skynjar: so Tóm, mest um skynja Flat, mest of skynja 73aˣ, 71ˣ, 76aˣ    [2] mun‑: so Tóm, munn Flat, menn 73aˣ, 71ˣ, 76aˣ;    ‑vágs Dáins: ‘uígurs dáins’ Flat, ‘vígs daínns’ Tóm, Óláfs vígs 73aˣ, 71ˣ, 76aˣ;    kunna: kenna 73aˣ, 71ˣ, 76aˣ    [3] síðr at: síðr á Tóm, síð á 73aˣ, 71ˣ, 76aˣ;    hróðri: ‘hröðu’ 71ˣ    [4] svinns: ‘suinzst’ Flat, ‘suínnz’ Tóm, sinn 73aˣ, 71ˣ, 76aˣ;    ‑lǫstu: ‑lǫstinn 73aˣ, 76aˣ, ‑lǫstum 71ˣ    [5] Sik: ‘suk’ 73aˣ;    es (‘er’): so Tóm, 73aˣ, 71ˣ, 76aˣ, at Flat;    hnekkir: kvikir Tóm    [6] skjaldar: skorðar Tóm    [7] éls: at Tóm;    þvís (‘þui er’): so Tóm, því at Flat, 73aˣ, 71ˣ, 76aˣ    [8] iflaust: í flaust 71ˣ;    gera at: so Tóm, 73aˣ, 71ˣ, 76aˣ, gerat Flat

Editions: Skj AI, 274, Skj BI, 253, Skald I, 130-1, NN §§680, 2295; Fms 5, 209, Fms 12, 211, Flat 1860-8, II, 372, ÓH 1941, II, 830, 831; Jón Skaptason 1983, 211, 327-8.

Context:

Sigvatr travels incognito in Denmark because of King Knútr’s enmity to those who had been friends of King Óláfr. He stays at a farm where the people are discussing poetry, and they find fault with Sigvatr’s verses (not knowing he is present). He delivers this stanza, revealing his identity and necessitating a rapid escape.

Notes: [All]: The import of this vísa is that if critics find fault with Sigvatr’s poetry, it is because their knowledge of versecraft is faulty, and their criticisms only expose their ignorance. For a discussion of some unusual formal features of Sigvatr’s verse, see Finnur Jónsson LH I, 597-8. — [2] munvágs ‘of the delightful wave’: The cpd could also mean ‘soul-wave, mind-wave’ (so LP (1913-16), but cf. Meissner 60); or the Flat reading munn- , which could plausibly also underlie mun- and menn-, would give ‘mouth-wave’. The mss read vígs and vigrs for -vágs (the emendation first suggested in Nj 1875-8, II, 399), and Kock (NN §2295) takes them instead as corruptions of viggs (so, tentatively, Jón Skaptason 1983, 328), which, according to a þula (Þul Skipa 4^III), may mean ‘ship’. But the normal meaning of vigg is ‘horse’ and poetry is called a dwarf’s ship rather than a dwarf’s horse (SnE 1998, I, 11). On poetry-kennings alluding to the myth of the mead of poetry, see Note to Eskál Vell 1 [All]. — [4] svinns ‘of judicious’: A minimal emendation, required to secure a gen. sg. adj. qualifying Sighvats ‘of Sigvatr’. — [6] haldorðr ‘word-holding’: The word can be used in a positive sense, ‘faithful’, i.e. ‘keeping one’s word’ (as in Hharð Lv 14/4^II, Anon Krm 18/2^VIII (Ragn)), or a negative one, ‘obstinate’, i.e. ‘holding stubbornly to one’s opinions’, as here: see LP: haldorðr. — [8] fifli ‘a fool’: The aðalhending seems to indicate shortening in what is usually fífli; cf. skirr (Lv 23/4 and Note), and see Kock, NN §680.

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. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. Meissner = Meissner, Rudolf. 1921. Die Kenningar der Skalden: Ein Beitrag zur skaldischen Poetik. Rheinische Beiträge und Hülfsbücher zur germanischen Philologie und Volkskunde 1. Bonn and Leipzig: Schroeder. Rpt. 1984. Hildesheim etc.: Olms.
6. 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.
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. LH = Finnur Jónsson. 1920-4. Den oldnorske og oldislandske litteraturs historie. 3 vols. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Gad.
10. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
11. 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.
12. LP (1913-16) = Sveinbjörn Egilsson, ed. 1913-16. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis. Rev. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Møller.
13. Internal references
14. 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Ragnars saga loðbrókar’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 616. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=81> (accessed 25 April 2024)
15. Rory McTurk (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Poems, Krákumál 18’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 753.
16. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Skipa heiti 4’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 867.
17. Edith Marold (ed.) 2012, ‘Einarr skálaglamm Helgason, Vellekla 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. 283.
18. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Haraldr harðráði Sigurðarson, Lausavísur 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. 55-6.