Russell Poole (ed.) 2012, ‘Sigvatr Þórðarson, Nesjavísur 5’ 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. 563.
Teitr, sák okkr í ítru
allvalds liði falla
(gerðisk harðr) of herðar
(hjǫrdynr) svalar brynjur.
En mín at flug fleina
falsk und hjalm inn valska
(okkr vissak svá, sessi,)
svǫrt skǫr (við her gǫrva).
Teitr, sák svalar brynjur falla of herðar okkr í ítru liði allvalds; {harðr hjǫrdynr} gerðisk. En svǫrt skǫr mín falsk und inn valska hjalm at {flug fleina}; sessi, vissak okkr svá gǫrva við her.
Teitr, I saw chill mail-shirts fall over the shoulders of us both in the glorious war-band of the mighty ruler; {a hard sword-din} [BATTLE] was waged. And my black hair hid itself under the Frankish helmet at {the flight of barbs} [BATTLE]; bench-mate, I knew us both to be thus prepared against the army.
Mss: Kˣ(251v) (Hkr); Holm2(12v), R686ˣ(25r), 972ˣ(85va-86va), J1ˣ(158v), J2ˣ(134v), 325VI(11ra), 75a(1ra), 73aˣ(35r), 78aˣ(32r), 68(11v), 61(84va-b), Bb(135ra) (ÓH)
Readings: [1] Teitr: Teit 73aˣ; okkr: ǫrt 325VI, 75a, 73aˣ, 78aˣ; í ítru: út J1ˣ, ítra J2ˣ, á ítru 325VI, 75a, 73aˣ, 78aˣ [2] ‑valds: ‑vals 972ˣ, ‑valdr Bb; falla: faldna J1ˣ [3] gerðisk: þá var 61; harðr: hár J1ˣ, J2ˣ, hǫrð 68 [4] ‑dynr: ‑dyns 68, Bb; brynjur: ‘briyn(yir)’(?) Bb [5] En: ok R686ˣ; mín: minn J1ˣ, J2ˣ; fleina: flæma J2ˣ [6] falsk: falk R686ˣ, 68, ‘[…]alsk’ 325VI [7] vissak: so all others, vísa ek Kˣ [8] skǫr: ‘skuar’ J1ˣ, J2ˣ; við: var R686ˣ; her: hjǫr R686ˣ, J1ˣ, J2ˣ, 75a, 73aˣ, 78aˣ; gǫrva: gǫrvan Bb
Editions: Skj AI, 266-7, Skj BI, 247, Skald I, 128; Hkr 1893-1901, II, 70-1, IV, 121, ÍF 27, 62 (ÓHHkr ch. 49); Fms 4, 98, Fms 12, 79, ÓH 1941, I, 92 (ch. 40); CPB II, 127, Poole 2005d, 173-4.
Context: The stanza is introduced after st. 4, with the comment that although Sveinn jarl had a larger force King Óláfr had an elite and excellently equipped band on his ship.
Notes: [1] Teitr: Although teitr could be the adj. ‘glad, cheerful’, it appears to be a pers. n. here, since Sigvatr uses the dual pron. (acc. and dat. okkr ‘us both’) in the stanza rather than the pl. seen consistently elsewhere in the poem. This Teitr is otherwise unknown but on the available onomastic evidence was probably a fellow Icelander (Lind 1905-15: Teitr). The stanza thus apparently addresses not the broader audience of the retinue addressed in st. 1 but instead an individual comrade. Among those who, on the basis of these features, regard st. 5 as a separate lausavísa, are Finnur Jónsson (Skj; LH I, 595) and Petersen (1946, 54-7), and Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson does not count it among the Nesv stanzas (ÍF 27, 61 n.). However, the preservation of the stanza between sts 4 and 7 in ÓH-Hkr, with the same routine introduction, svá segir Sigvatr ‘so says Sigvatr’, favours the present arrangement. Stanza 5 is included in Nesv in CPB (II, 119, 127-9), indeed the eds propose that the entire poem is addressed to Teitr. Fidjestøl also advocates inclusion, noting that Nesv appears to have been loosely-structured throughout (1982, 118; cf. Hellberg 1972, 24; Jesch 2001a, 209). Potential parallels to this incidental address occur in Sigv Vestv 1 and in Arn Magndr 4II (Poole 2005d, 192-5, though contrast Whaley 1998, 119 and Note to Arn Magndr 4/4II). — [4] brynjur ‘mail-shirts’: The skald lays emphasis upon his superb military equipment, which indicates the king’s special favour (cf. Graham-Campbell and Batey 1998, 35-6, 67). — [5] flug fleina ‘the flight of barbs [BATTLE]’: If a kenning, this is rather a marginal one, since it could also be taken in its restricted literal sense; and normally the base-word of battle-kennings has meanings such as ‘noise, speech, meeting, sport, storm’. — [6] inn valska hjalm ‘the Frankish helmet’: On the adj. valskr, see Note to Sigv Víkv 6/5. Frankish swords were particularly prized in the Viking Age (Jesch 2001a, 78); perhaps the same applied to metal helmets, at a time when most fighters wore simple leather caps (Graham-Campbell and Batey 1998, 35-6).
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