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Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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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.

Sigvatr ÞórðarsonFragments
12

The source poem of this fragment (Sigv Frag 1) is unknown. It is preserved only in SnE (Skm) and followed immediately there by Sigv Nesv 7/5-8I (see Context below), but as Fidjestøl (1982, 123) points out, it is unlikely to belong to Nesjavísur since Sigvatr was present at the battle of Nesjar (1016), whereas the fragment does not claim to be an eyewitness report, but rather uses the formula frák ‘I heard’ (l. 1). The SnE mss R (as main ms.), , W, U are used below. A transcript of the helmingr in 761bˣ(331v) is copied from SnE mss, with the main text probably from W (except for the reading at rather than á in l. 1), and with marginal variants from R. It is not used in the present edition.

Þat frák víg á vatni
verðung jǫfurs gerðu,
nadda él en, nýla,
næst telk eigi in smæstu.

Frák verðung jǫfurs gerðu nýla þat víg á vatni, en telk næst {eigi in smæstu él nadda}.

I heard the prince’s retinue recently fought that battle on the water, and next I will recount {not the smallest storms of barbs} [BATTLES].

Mss: R(36r), Tˣ(37v), W(82), U(35v) (SnE)

Readings: [1] Þat: þar U;    á: at U    [3] en: so W, at R, enn Tˣ, it U;    nýla: nýja U    [4] telk (‘tel ec’): so W, U, tel R, Tˣ;    eigi in (‘æigi hin’): so W, engin R, eigin Tˣ, ‘ong en’ U

Editions: Skj AI, 275, Skj BI, 254, Skald I, 131, NN §683, 1853E; SnE 1848-87, I, 458-9, II, 337, III, 92-3, SnE 1931, 162, SnE 1998, I, 80.

Context: 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.

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 …’. — [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 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. — [3] en ‘and’: The reading of W, 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. — [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. — [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. — [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). — [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.

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. SnE 1848-87 = Snorri Sturluson. 1848-87. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar: Edda Snorronis Sturlaei. Ed. Jón Sigurðsson et al. 3 vols. Copenhagen: Legatum Arnamagnaeanum. Rpt. Osnabrück: Zeller, 1966.
  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. Fidjestøl, Bjarne. 1982. Det norrøne fyrstediktet. Universitet i Bergen Nordisk institutts skriftserie 11. Øvre Ervik: Alvheim & Eide.
  8. Fritzner = Fritzner, Johan. 1883-96. Ordbog over det gamle norske sprog. 3 vols. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske forlagsforening. 4th edn. Rpt. 1973. Oslo etc.: Universitetsforlaget.
  9. SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
  10. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
  11. Internal references
  12. Edith Marold 2017, ‘Snorra Edda (Prologue, Gylfaginning, Skáldskaparmál)’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols [check printed volume for citation].
  13. (forthcoming), ‘ Snorri Sturluson, Skáldskaparmál’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=112> (accessed 29 March 2024)
  14. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Sigvatr Þórðarson, Bersǫglisvísur 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. 25-6.
  15. Russell Poole (ed.) 2012, ‘Sigvatr Þórðarson, Nesjavísur 7’ 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. 566.
  16. Judith Jesch (ed.) 2012, ‘Sigvatr Þórðarson, Víkingarvísur 9’ 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. 547.
  17. 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.
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