Sigv Lv 6^I

Nú sitt heill, en hallar
hér finnumk meir þinnar
at, unz enn kømk vitja,
Ôleifr konungr, mála.
Skald biðr hins, at haldi
hjalmdrífu viðr lífi
— endisk leyfð — ok landi
— lýkk vísu nú — þvísa.

Nú sitt heill, Ôleifr konungr, unz kømk enn vitja mála, en finnumk meir hér at hallar þinnar. Skald biðr hins, at {viðr {hjalmdrífu}} haldi lífi ok þvísa landi; leyfð endisk; lýkk vísu nú.

Now sit in good health, King Óláfr, until I come again to claim fulfilment of [our] agreement, and we shall meet again here at your hall. The poet asks this, that {the tree {of the helmet-storm}} [BATTLE > WARRIOR] may keep hold of life and this land; the praise ends; I close my verse now.

Mss: Holm2(25v), R686ˣ(49r), 972ˣ(176va), J2ˣ(160r), 325VI(16vb), 75a(14va), 73aˣ(64r-v), 68(24r-v), 61(94ra), Holm4(17ra), 75c(14v), 325VII(12v), Flat(92vb), Tóm(113r) (ÓH); Kˣ(303r), Bb(152va) (Hkr)

Readings: [1] en: ok 325VI, 75a;    hallar: hallir 972ˣ, 325VI, 75a, 73aˣ, hollir 68, 61    [2] finnumk: finnum ok J2ˣ, ‘finumk’ 325VII, finnimk Tóm, finnusk Kˣ;    meir: nú 73aˣ, vér 325VII, meir enn Flat    [3] at: aptr 73aˣ, 68, 61, áttu Bb;    enn: so J2ˣ, om. Holm2, R686ˣ, 972ˣ, 325VI, 75a, 73aˣ, 68, 61, Holm4, 75c, 325VII, Flat, Kˣ, Bb, er Tóm;    kømk (‘ec kem’): so 972ˣ, J2ˣ, 325VI, 75a, 73aˣ, 68, 61, Holm4, 75c, 325VII, Flat, Tóm, Bb, ek kom Holm2, R686ˣ, Kˣ;    vitja: vitta 325VII    [4] Ôleifr: Óláfs R686ˣ, 972ˣ, Óláf 325VII;    konungr: konungs R686ˣ, 972ˣ, J2ˣ, 325VI, konung 325VII    [5] Skald: om. R686ˣ;    hins: húns Bb;    haldi: haldisk 972ˣ, halda 68, halda corrected from ‘ek halda’ 61    [6] hjalm‑: hring‑ R686ˣ, 972ˣ, 325VI, 75a, 73aˣ, hjǫr Holm4;    ‑drífu: so 68, 61, Holm4, Kˣ, ‑drifi Holm2, R686ˣ, 972ˣ, J2ˣ, 75c, Flat, Tóm, Bb, ‑drífr 325VI, 75a, 73aˣ, 325VII;    viðr: frǫmu 325VI, 75a, 73aˣ, stafr 61, þú 325VII, gramr Flat, Tóm    [7] ok: ór 68, 61, í Tóm, at Bb    [8] nú: svá 972ˣ, þar J2ˣ, 325VI, 75a;    þvísa: ‘þisa’ R686ˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 267, Skj BI, 247, Skald I, 128, NN §672; Fms 4, 185, Fms 12, 83, ÓH 1853, 80, 271, ÓH 1941, I 198 (ch. 75), Flat 1860-8, II, 113; Hkr 1777-1826, II, 123, VI, 83, Hkr 1868, 307 (ÓHHkr ch. 92), Hkr 1893-1901, II, 169, IV, 129-30, ÍF 27, 134-5, Hkr 1991, I, 345 (ÓHHkr ch. 91); Konráð Gíslason 1892, 36, 175, 231, Jón Skaptason 1983, 189, 317.

Context: At the onset of winter, the poet Sigvatr and two others set out from Borg (Sarpsborg), going east through Markir (Marker) to Gautland (Västergötland). Before he departs, Sigvatr delivers this and the following stanza to King Óláfr.

Notes: [All]: On the purpose of the mission, dated c. 1019 or possibly 1018, see Introduction to Sigv Austv. Finnur Jónsson (1932, 9) had difficulty deciding whether to include this and the following stanza in Sigv Austv. Sahlgren (1927-8, I, 200-2, 205) would include them in that poem, reversing their order and placing them last. — [1-4]: The syntax of the helmingr can be construed in various ways. (a) Finnur Jónsson in Skj B makes an intercalary clause of en … hér finnumk meir ‘and we shall meet here again’, but as Kock (NN §672) points out, this isolates en oddly. (b) Finnur Jónsson (1934a, 39) eventually came to favour the present arrangement, which is also adopted in ÍF 27, Jón Skaptason (1983) and Hkr 1991. At ‘at’ is construed with gen. sg. hallar þinnar ‘your hall’ (cf. LP: at C for further examples of at with gen., though the examples involve genitives referring to persons). The seeming isolation of at in l. 3 is signalled and compensated for by metrical stress on the word. (Finnur Jónsson, 1934a, 39, wonders whether Sigvatr gave at a long vowel as in Norw. åt, since the initial lift should be a heavy syllable.) (c) Kock urges instead that at should be construed with kømk ‘I return’ or ‘I get through’, analogous to at kom ‘came there’ in Anon (TGT) 38/1^III. — [1] hallar ‘hall’: See Note to Sigv Austv 16/8. — [4] Ôleifr ‘Óláfr’: On the form of the name, see Note to Sigv Austv 17/2. — [4] mála ‘agreement’: The word is probably gen. sg. of máli m. ‘agreement, contract’ rather than gen. pl. of mál n. ‘speech’ (Finnur Jónsson 1934a, 39), although pl. môl/mál can refer to formal agreements, e.g. in the compounds griðamál, trygðamál, referring to truces (see CVC: grið, tryggð). — [7] leyfð endisk ‘the praise ends’: Presumably ‘praise’ means ‘poem of praise’. Konráð Gíslason (1892, 175) takes endisk to be subj. (and leyfð to mean ‘portion of a poem’), expressing a wish, roughly ‘May this prayer be fulfilled’.

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. CVC = Cleasby, Richard, Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and W. A. Craigie. 1957. An Icelandic-English Dictionary. 2nd edn. Oxford: Clarendon.
8. 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.
9. 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.
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. Finnur Jónsson. 1934a. Tekstkritiske bemærkninger til skjaldekvad. Det kgl. danske videnskabernes selskab. Historisk-filologiske meddelelser 20.2. Copenhagen: Levin & Munksgaard.
14. 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.
15. Konráð Gíslason, ed. 1892a. Udvalg af oldnordiske skjaldekvad, med anmærkninger. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
16. Sahlgren, Jöran. 1927-8. Eddica et Scaldica. Fornvästnordiska studier I-II. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
17. Finnur Jónsson. 1932. Austrfararvísur. Avhandlinger utgitt av Det Norske Videnskaps-Akademi i Oslo, II. Hist.-filos. kl.1931, 1. Oslo: Dybwad.
18. Hkr 1777-1826 = Schöning, Gerhard et al., eds. 1777-1826. Heimskringla edr Noregs konunga-sögor. 6 vols. Copenhagen: Stein.
19. Hkr 1868 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1868. Heimskringla eller Norges kongesagaer af Snorre Sturlassøn. Christiania (Oslo): Brøgger & Christie.
20. ÓH 1853 = Munch, P. A. and C. R. Unger, eds. 1853. Saga Olafs konungs ens helga. Christiania (Oslo): Det kongelige norske Fredriks Universitet.
21. Internal references
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 25 April 2024)
23. R. D. Fulk 2012, ‘ Sigvatr Þórðarson, Austrfararvísur’ 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. 578. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1351> (accessed 25 April 2024)
24. Tarrin Wills (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Lausavísur, Stanzas from the Third Grammatical Treatise 38’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 563.
25. R. D. Fulk (ed.) 2012, ‘Sigvatr Þórðarson, Austrfararvísur 16’ 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. 605.
26. R. D. Fulk (ed.) 2012, ‘Sigvatr Þórðarson, Austrfararvísur 17’ 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. 606.