Sigv Lv 4^I

Gǫrbœnn mun ek Gunnar
gammteitǫndum heitinn
— áðr þôgum vér ægis
eld —, ef nú biðk felda.
Landaura veit, lúru
látrþverrandi, af knerri
enn of ganga, engis
— ek hef sjalfr krafit— halfa.

Ek mun heitinn gǫrbœnn {{Gunnar gamm}teitǫndum}, ef nú biðk felda; áðr þôgum vér {eld ægis}. Veit, {{{engis lúru} látr}þverrandi}, halfa landaura of ganga enn af knerri; ek hef sjalfr krafit.

I will be called importunate {by gladdeners {of the vulture of Gunnr <valkyrie>}} [(lit. ‘vulture-gladdeners of Gunnr’) RAVEN/EAGLE > WARRIORS] if now I ask for skins; already we [I] have received {the flame of the sea} [GOLD]. Allow, {diminisher {of the lair {of the halibut of the meadow}}} [(lit. ‘lair-diminisher of the halibut of the meadow’) SERPENT > GOLD > GENEROUS MAN], half the landing tax to go again from the merchant ship; I have myself requested [it].

Mss: Holm2(11v), R686ˣ(22v), 972ˣ(77va), J1ˣ(154v-155r), J2ˣ(132r), 325VI(9vb), 321ˣ(49), 68(10v), 61(83vb), Holm4(3va), 325V(14va-b), Bb(133vb), Flat(83ra), Tóm(101r), 325XI 2 l(1r) (ÓH); Kˣ(248r) (Hkr)

Readings: [1] Gǫr‑: ger 325VI, 321ˣ, Tóm, ‘Geyr‑’ Kˣ;    ‑bœnn: bœn R686ˣ, beini 325VI, 321ˣ, ‘bænninn’ 61, ‘ben’ Bb, ‘bén’ 325XI 2 l;    mun: vil 325VI, 321ˣ, maðr 68;    ek: ok 68;    Gunnar: gunnum 972ˣ, gǫfgum 325VI, 321ˣ, gumnar Flat    [2] gamm‑: ‘gn̄‑’ 68, gams 61, Holm4, 325V, Flat, Tóm, ‘gan‑’ Bb;    ‑teitǫndum: ‘‑tettendum’ R686ˣ, hnykkjǫndum 61, ‘‑tertvm’ Bb, reit erum Flat, teit erum Tóm;    heitinn: so 68, Holm4, 325V, Flat, Tóm, 325XI 2 l, Kˣ, heita Holm2, 972ˣ, J1ˣ, J2ˣ, 321ˣ, hetta R686ˣ, veita 325VI, þykkja 61, heitin Bb    [3] áðr: ‘[…]’ 325XI 2 l;    þôgum: þagni Flat, þægum Tóm;    vér: við Flat    [4] eld: eið 972ˣ, elds 325VI, 321ˣ;    ef: en 61, 325V, Flat, 325XI 2 l, enn Holm4, Tóm;    biðk (‘bið ec’): ‘luð ek’ J1ˣ, bið 321ˣ, Bb, ‘bit ec’ Tóm;    felda: feldar 61, 325V    [5] lúru: ‘lyru’ 68, 61, lundi 325V, Flat, Tóm    [6] látr‑: so Kˣ, láð‑ Holm2, R686ˣ, J1ˣ, J2ˣ, 68, 61, 325V, Bb, Flat, Tóm, læ 325VI, 321ˣ, látrs Holm4, 325XI 2 l;    ‑þverrandi: so J1ˣ, J2ˣ, 325VI, 68, 61, Holm4, 325V, Bb, Flat, Tóm, 325XI 2 l, Kˣ, ‑þverranda Holm2, R686ˣ, 972ˣ;    af: at Flat, ‘[…]’ 325XI 2 l;    knerri: ‘Kneri’ 972ˣ, ‘knæri’ J1ˣ, ‘[…]’ 325XI 2 l    [7] of ganga: of fanga Holm2, R686ˣ, 68, 325V, Bb, Flat, 325XI 2 l, ‘offanga’ 972ˣ, Holm4, afganga J1ˣ, af ganga J2ˣ, 325VI, 321ˣ, ófangann 61, á fanga Tóm, ofganga Kˣ;    engis: engan Holm2, 972ˣ, 68, 61, Tóm, Kˣ, engi R686ˣ, J1ˣ, J2ˣ, 325VI, 321ˣ, 325XI 2 l, ǫngum Holm4, 325V, engin Bb, ungum Flat    [8] sjalfr: sjalf J1ˣ, þôgu Holm4, 325XI 2 l;    krafit: ‘kufan’ R686ˣ, ‘karfit’ 972ˣ, kraft 61;    halfa: halfra 325VI

Editions: Skj AI, 266, Skj BI, 247, Skald I, 127, NN §1401; Fms 4, 90 (ÓH ch. 70), Fms 12, 78, ÓH 1853, 36, 263, ÓH 1941, I, 83 (ch. 38), Flat 1860-8, II, 39; Hkr 1777-1826, II, 46, VI, 75, Hkr 1868, 249 (ÓHHkr ch. 41), Hkr 1893-1901, II, 63-4, IV, 118-19, ÍF 27, 56, Hkr 1991, I, 287-8 (ÓHHkr ch. 43); Konráð Gíslason 1892, 35, 171, 230, Jón Skaptason 1983, 186, 313.

Context: This stanza follows closely upon the preceding two. In ÓH and in Flat it is prefaced with the remark only that Sigvatr came to King Óláfr from Iceland, and he spoke this stanza. In Hkr is found the longer explanation that Sveinn jarl Hákonarson has his men collect half the landing tax from Icelandic vessels arriving in the district of Þrándheimr (Trøndelag), jarls Eiríkr and Hákon having the other half, but when King Óláfr assumes control in the area, he also has his men collect half the tax. The Icelandic merchants, who resent having to pay twice, ask Sigvatr to intercede for them, and he delivers this stanza to the king. 

Notes: [1] gǫrbœnn ‘importunate’: Finnur Jónsson (Skj BI, 684) corrects this to gerbœnn on the assumption that the first element derives from poetic geri ‘greedy one’, hence ‘wolf’ (see LP: gerbœnn). But Kock (NN §1401) is no doubt right that it derives from Gmc *ȝarw- ‘eager, ready’. Most of the many ms. spellings represent <ǫ>, and can be taken to support Kock’s interpretation. — [4] felda ‘skins’: The landing tax was commonly paid in skins: see Grg Ib, 195. — [7] of ganga; engis ‘to go; of the meadow’: This is not the reading of any ms., but it seems to offer the best solution in these difficult lines. The main alternatives are: (a) Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) reads af ‘from’ for of, though he omits the word from his prose order. This reading requires that af and ganga be taken from different mss. He also reads engjar (so already Fms 4), identical in meaning to engis ‘of the meadow’. The word does not take this form in any ms., and the commonest reading in the mss, engi, is more plausibly a corruption of engis than of engjar. (b) Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson (ÍF 27, followed by Jón Skaptason 1983) reads offanga, engi, taking the former word to be a gen. pl. meaning ‘great gains’ and the latter word as the first element of a cpd engilúru ‘meadow-halibut’ in tmesis. The sense of the helmingr would then be ‘Give up the half of the landing tax from the merchant ship, generous lord; I have again unsolicited asked that I be given much’. The reading of Hkr 1991 is similar, but with ofganga, a gen. pl. taken to mean ‘overbearing conduct’, i.e. too great a request. It should be noted that there do not seem to be any other instances of veita in the sense ‘give up’.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
3. Fms = Sveinbjörn Egilsson et al., eds. 1825-37. Fornmanna sögur eptir gömlum handritum útgefnar að tilhlutun hins norræna fornfræða fèlags. 12 vols. Copenhagen: Popp.
4. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
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. Grg = Grágás.
10. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
11. Hkr 1893-1901 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1893-1901. Heimskringla: Nóregs konunga sǫgur af Snorri Sturluson. 4 vols. SUGNL 23. Copenhagen: Møller.
12. Hkr 1991 = Bergljót S. Kristjánsdóttir et al., eds. 1991. Heimskringla. 3 vols. Reykjavík: Mál og menning.
13. 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.
14. Konráð Gíslason, ed. 1892a. Udvalg af oldnordiske skjaldekvad, med anmærkninger. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
15. Hkr 1777-1826 = Schöning, Gerhard et al., eds. 1777-1826. Heimskringla edr Noregs konunga-sögor. 6 vols. Copenhagen: Stein.
16. Hkr 1868 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1868. Heimskringla eller Norges kongesagaer af Snorre Sturlassøn. Christiania (Oslo): Brøgger & Christie.
17. ÓH 1853 = Munch, P. A. and C. R. Unger, eds. 1853. Saga Olafs konungs ens helga. Christiania (Oslo): Det kongelige norske Fredriks Universitet.
18. Internal references
19. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Heimskringla’ 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, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=4> (accessed 20 April 2024)
20. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Flateyjarbók’ 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. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=44> (accessed 20 April 2024)
21. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Óláfs saga helga’ 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. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=53> (accessed 20 April 2024)
22. (forthcoming), ‘ Heimskringla, Óláfs saga helga (in Heimskringla)’ 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. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=152> (accessed 20 April 2024)