Steinn Óldr 16^II

Óláfr gefr, svát jǫfra
alls engi má snjallra,
hǫggvit gull til hylli
hildinga konr mildi.
Grams es heiðum himni
— hanns fremstr konungmanna —
— spyr, hverr glíkt mun gerva —
gjǫflund borin* undir.

Óláfr, {mildi konr hildinga}, gefr hǫggvit gull til hylli, svát alls engi snjallra jǫfra má. Gjǫflund grams es borin* undir heiðum himni; hanns fremstr konungmanna; spyr, hverr mun gerva glíkt.

Óláfr, {the generous kinsman of lords} [KING], gives cut gold in exchange for loyalty, as absolutely none of [the other] undaunted princes can. The ruler’s munificent disposition is carried beneath the clear sky; he is the foremost of kings; [just] ask, who else might act in such a way.

Mss: Mork(21r) (Mork); H(80v), Hr(56vb) (H-Hr)

Readings: [2] alls: so H, Hr, ‘gallz’ Mork;    engi: ‘eíngín’ Hr    [5] Grams: gramr all    [7] glíkt: slíkt Hr    [8] borin*: borinn all;    undir: undan H

Editions: Skj AI, 413, Skj BI, 383, Skald I, 190, NN §§894-5, 1853D, 2041 anm. 2, 2983; Mork 1867, 130, Mork 1928-32, 296, Andersson and Gade 2000, 285, 483-4 (Ólkyrr); Fms 6, 448 (Ólkyrr ch. 7).

Context: As sts 13-15 above.

Notes: [4] mildi konr hildinga (m. nom. sg.) ‘the generous kinsman of lords [KING]’: For the present version, see NN §§894, 1853D. Skj B emends to kon hildinga (m. acc. sg.) and construes the following: svát alls engi snjallra jǫfra má mildi hildinga kon ‘so that absolutely none [of the other] undaunted princes can measure up to the kinsman of lords in terms of generosity’. That reading presupposes an unattested use of the verb mega (má mildi e-m ‘can measure up to sby in terms of generosity’; see LP: mildi 1). — [5-8]: In the present edn, gramr (m. nom. sg.) ‘ruler’ (l. 5) has been emended to grams (gen. sg.) as a determinant for gjǫflund (f. nom. sg.) ‘munificent disposition’ (l. 8), and borinn (m. nom. sg) ‘carried’ (l. 8) has been emended to borin (f. nom. sg.) to agree with gjǫflund (f. nom. sg.) (see NN §895). Skj B’s rendering of this helmingr is extremely convoluted syntactically and requires the emendation of hanns ‘he is’ to hann ‘he’ (l. 6): spyr þú hverr gramr mun gerva glíkt; hann es borinn fremstr konungmanna gjǫflund undir heiðum himni ‘ask, what ruler may act in such a way; he is born the foremost of kings beneath the clear sky with regard to munificent disposition’.

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. Andersson, Theodore M. and Kari Ellen Gade, trans. 2000. Morkinskinna: The Earliest Icelandic Chronicle of the Norwegian Kings (1030-1157). Islandica 51. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press.
8. Mork 1928-32 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1928-32. Morkinskinna. SUGNL 53. Copenhagen: Jørgensen.
9. Mork 1867 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1867. Morkinskinna: Pergamentsbog fra første halvdel af det trettende aarhundrede. Indeholdende en af de ældste optegnelser af norske kongesagaer. Oslo: Bentzen.