SnH Lv 3^II

Selja munk við sufli
sverð mitt, konungr, verða
ok, rymskyndir randa,
rauðan skjǫld við brauði.
Hungrar hilmis drengi;
heldr gǫngum vér svangir;
mér dregr hrygg at hvôru
— Haraldr sveltir mik — belti.

Munk verða selja sverð mitt við sufli, konungr, ok, {{randa rym}skyndir}, rauðan skjǫld við brauði. Hungrar drengi hilmis; vér gǫngum heldr svangir; belti dregr hrygg mér at hvôru; Haraldr sveltir mik.

I shall have to sell my sword for meat, king, and, {hastener {of the noise of shield-rims}} [(lit. ‘noise-hastener of shield-rims’) BATTLE > WARRIOR], the red shield for bread. The lord’s men are hungry; we walk around quite famished; the belt truly pulls at my spine; Haraldr is starving me.

Mss: Flat(207rb) (Flat); 593b(30v-31r), 563aˣ(12)

Readings: [1] sufli: ‘silfur’ 563aˣ    [3] rymskyndir: ryðskyndir 593b, ‘Runnskijder’ 563aˣ    [4] við: með 563aˣ;    brauði: brandi or ‘braudi’ 593b    [5] hilmis: hilmir 563aˣ    [6] heldr: hér 593b    [7] mér dregr hrygg at hvôru: ‘mióg dregur af mier meiginn’ 563aˣ;    mér: nær 593b;    hrygg: hungr 593b    [8] Haraldr sveltir mik belti: hart sveltir mik galti 563aˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 388, Skj BI, 358, Skald I, 179, NN §3059; ÍF 9, 271-2 (Snegl ch. 4), Flat 1860-8, III, 419 (Snegl).

Context: The morning after the episode described in Lv 2 above, Halli, wearing his shield and sword, approaches King Haraldr and recites this st.

Notes: [1] sufli ‘meat’: Lit. ‘fish or meat foods’ (as opposed to ‘bread’). Kock (Skald; NN §3059) emends to solli ‘bread crumbled in milk’ to restore the missing internal rhyme. — [4] rauðan skjǫld ‘the red shield’: For red and painted shields, see Falk 1914b, 129-32. — [7] mér (dat. sg.) ‘my’: This is taken as a dat. of possession to hrygg ‘spine’. Skj B and Skald adopt the 593b reading nær ‘near’ while retaining the Flat reading hrygg (so also ÍF 9): ‘the belt truly draws nearer to my spine’. The 593b variant hungr dregr belti nær at hvru ‘hunger truly draws the belt closer’ is syntactically possible. For a similar image of a hungry retainer, see ESk Lv 4.

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. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. Falk, Hjalmar, ed. 1914a. Sólarljóð. Videnskapsselskapets skrifter II. Hist.-filos. kl. 7. 2 vols. Kristiania (Oslo): Dybwad.
6. 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.
7. Falk, Hjalmar. 1914b. Altnordische Waffenkunde. Videnskapsselskapets skrifter, II. Hist.-filos. kl. 1914, 6. Kristiania (Oslo): Dybwad.
8. ÍF 9 = Eyfirðinga sǫgur. Ed. Jónas Kristjánsson. 1956.
9. Internal references
10. (forthcoming), ‘ Anonymous, Sneglu-Halla þáttr’ 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=57> (accessed 24 April 2024)
11. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Einarr Skúlason, Lausavísur 4’ 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. 571-2.