Sigv Frag 1III
Diana Whaley (ed.) 2017, ‘Sigvatr Þórðarson, Fragments 1’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 347.
Þat ‘that’
[1] Þat: þar U
frák ‘I heard’
(not checked:)
1. fregna (verb): hear of
víg ‘battle’
(not checked:)
víg (noun n.; °-s; -): battle
vatni ‘the water’
(not checked:)
vatn (noun n.; °-s; -*): water, lake
verðung ‘retinue’
(not checked:)
verðung (noun f.): troop, retinue
jǫfurs ‘the prince’s’
(not checked:)
jǫfurr (noun m.): ruler, prince
gerðu ‘fought’
(not checked:)
1. gera (verb): do, make
notes
[2] gerðu ‘fought’: Past inf. of gera, gøra ‘do, make’, here ‘fight’. Verðung gerðu forms an acc. with past inf. construction, following frák, hence lit. ‘I heard the retinue to have fought …’.
nadda ‘of barbs’
(not checked:)
naddr (noun m.; °-s; -ar): spear, point
kennings
eigi in smæstu él nadda.‘not the smallest storms of barbs. ’
= BATTLES
not the smallest storms of barbs. → BATTLES
él ‘storms’
(not checked:)
él (noun n.; °; dat. -um): storm
kennings
eigi in smæstu él nadda.‘not the smallest storms of barbs. ’
= BATTLES
not the smallest storms of barbs. → BATTLES
notes
[3] en ‘and’: The reading of W, Tˣ is chosen here as having relatively strong ms. support and giving good sense. Alternatively, the R reading at could be selected and construed as the conj. ‘(so) that, ‘(such) that’. Though rare, it occurs with both indic. and subj. verbs (see LP: 2. at). Faulkes (SnE 1998, II, 365) suggests at tel engin smæstu n[æst] ‘such that I consider none of the smallest (battles) second (to it) (i.e. comparable to it)’, but engin smæstu is syntactically awkward.
notes
[3] nýla ‘recently’: This is the only instance of this adv. in LP, alongside a later instance of the synonymous nýliga (LP: nýla, nýliga). It is taken here with the first clause (as also by Finnur Jónsson in Skj B and Faulkes in SnE 1998, I, 80), where it contrasts with næst, here taken in the temporal sense ‘next’. Nýla could alternatively be taken with the second clause, hence en nýla telk næst eigi in smæstu él nadda ‘and recently I will next recount not the smallest storms of barbs [BATTLES]’, but though this produces a more straightforward word order, nýla does not make sense in this context.
næst ‘next’
(not checked:)
næst (adv.): next
notes
[4] næst ‘next’: This is taken as the sup. adv. ‘next, later, afterwards’, qualifying the whole second clause (cf. derefter ‘afterwards’, Skj B). It could alternatively be the sup. adj. ‘closest, second in importance’ used predicatively, hence the solution of Faulkes noted in the Note to l. 3 en above.
telk ‘I will recount’
(not checked:)
telja (verb): tell, count
[4] telk (‘tel ec’): so W, U, tel R, Tˣ
notes
[4] telk ‘I will recount’: Further possibilities for the meaning of telja are ‘count, enumerate’ (as when Sigvatr refers to enumerating battles in Sigv Víkv 9/6I) or ‘reckon, consider, call’ (as when Sigvatr refers to calling an action robbery in Sigv Berv 14/6II) (see also LP, Fritzner: telja).
eigi ‘not’
(not checked:)
3. eigi (adv.): not
[4] eigi in (‘æigi hin’): so W, engin R, eigin Tˣ, ‘ong en’ U
kennings
eigi in smæstu él nadda.‘not the smallest storms of barbs. ’
= BATTLES
not the smallest storms of barbs. → BATTLES
notes
[4] eigi in ‘not the’: (a) This seems likely to be the starting point for the various ms. readings. It yields the phrase eigi in smæstu ‘not the smallest’, hence by litotes, ‘far from minor’, i.e. ‘major (battles)’. See also Note to ll. 3-4. Elision is assumed in eigi (i)n to avoid a superfluous syllable. (b) Faulkes prints engin (SnE 1998, I, 80) but points out (ibid., 204) that the form engin would not be expected before the C14th, and Finnur Jónsson (LP: 2. engi) states that engin here must certainly be read as engi en (= engi in) ‘none the’, ‘not the’. This also seems possible. Again, elision of engi (i)n must be assumed, and elision is presumably intended in Skj B’s eng en.
in ‘the’
(not checked:)
2. inn (art.): the
[4] eigi in (‘æigi hin’): so W, engin R, eigin Tˣ, ‘ong en’ U
kennings
eigi in smæstu él nadda.‘not the smallest storms of barbs. ’
= BATTLES
not the smallest storms of barbs. → BATTLES
notes
[4] eigi in ‘not the’: (a) This seems likely to be the starting point for the various ms. readings. It yields the phrase eigi in smæstu ‘not the smallest’, hence by litotes, ‘far from minor’, i.e. ‘major (battles)’. See also Note to ll. 3-4. Elision is assumed in eigi (i)n to avoid a superfluous syllable. (b) Faulkes prints engin (SnE 1998, I, 80) but points out (ibid., 204) that the form engin would not be expected before the C14th, and Finnur Jónsson (LP: 2. engi) states that engin here must certainly be read as engi en (= engi in) ‘none the’, ‘not the’. This also seems possible. Again, elision of engi (i)n must be assumed, and elision is presumably intended in Skj B’s eng en.
smæstu ‘smallest’
(not checked:)
smár (adj.): small
kennings
eigi in smæstu él nadda.‘not the smallest storms of barbs. ’
= BATTLES
not the smallest storms of barbs. → BATTLES
Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses
The helmingr is among citations illustrating terms for the retinues or war-bands of rulers. It is introduced Svá kvað Sigvatr ‘Sigvatr composed this’, and followed by Ok enn þetta ‘And also this’ and Sigv Nesv 7/5-8I.
[3-4]: This edn and most others take these lines (with or without nýla ‘recently’) as a syntactic unit, and agree that smæstu él nadda ‘smallest storms of barbs [BATTLES]’ is the object of telk ‘I will recount’. However, telk, næst and eigi in (l. 4) are problematic and the meaning of the whole uncertain: see Notes below. (a) This edn reads eigi in smæstu ‘not the smallest’ and assumes litotes: the poet will go on to praise the retinue for battles that are far from minor; cf. ‘next I recount none of the smallest, the next ones I recount will be none of the smallest either’, suggested by Faulkes as a second possibility in SnE 1998, II, 365. This accords well with skaldic convention. (b) Finnur Jónsson’s solution in Skj B is syntactically similar, but he seems not to assume litotes, translating, men jeg opregner ingen af de mindste kampe derefter ‘but I (will?) recount none of the smallest battles afterwards’. (c) Kock (Skald; NN §683) finds the assumption of the conj. en ‘and, but’ problematic and offers a wholly different construal using the Tˣ variant enn ‘still, further’. Lines 1-3 are read as a single clause, with él nadda ‘storm(s) of barbs [BATTLES]’ standing in apposition with víg ‘battle’ and hence as a second object to gerðu ‘fought, made’ (as reaffirmed in NN §1853E). Line 4 is read as a complete clause, Næst telk eng en smæstu!, with the sense härefter täljer jag de minsta ej! ‘after this I will not reckon up the smallest!’ However, this solution is unsatisfactory, not least because adv. enn would be metrically too heavy.
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