Steinn Óldr 4^II

Fylkir lét in fljótu
flaust, es leið at hausti;
skaut í haf, þars heitir
Hrafnseyrr, konungr stafni.
Trôðu borðveg breiðan;
brimsgangr skipa langra
óðr fell sær of súðir.
Sik beztan gram miklu.

Fylkir lét in fljótu flaust, es leið at hausti; konungr skaut stafni í haf, þars heitir Hrafnseyrr. Trôðu {breiðan borðveg}; brimsgangr, óðr sær, fell of súðir langra skipa. …Sik beztan gram miklu….

The lord set the swift ships in motion when it drew close to autumn; the king pushed the prow out to sea at the place called Ravenseer. [The ships] trod on {the broad gunwale-road} [SEA]; the rough sea, the raging ocean, poured over the sides of the long ships. …Himself [to be] the very best ruler….

Mss: Mork(19v) (Mork); Flat(204rb) (Flat); H(77v), Hr(55ra) (H-Hr)

Readings: [3] þars (‘þar er’): þar Hr    [5] Trôðu: ‘tiadu’ Flat;    borð‑: ‘nord’ Flat    [6] brimsgangr: ‘Bíns gangr’ Flat, brimgang Hr

Editions: Skj AI, 410, Skj BI, 379-80, Skald I, 189, NN §806, 888; Mork 1867, 121, Mork 1928-32, 282, Andersson and Gade 2000, 275, 482 (MH); Flat 1860-8, III, 398 (MH); Fms 6, 427 (HSig ch. 123).

Context: Sts 4-5 describe Óláfr Haraldsson’s journey (1066-7) from England to Norway via Orkney after the battle of Stamford Bridge.

Notes: [All]: After the defeat and massacre at Stamford Bridge, Harold Godwineson gave Óláfr permission to leave England in the company of Páll, jarl of Orkney. They left on twenty-four ships with the remainder of the Norw. army (see ASC D s. a. 1066). — [1] lét ‘set in motion’: For láta (lét 3rd pers. sg. pret. indic.) in the meaning ‘set (a ship) in motion’, see Fritzner: ‘láta 5. Skj B connects lét with í haf ‘out to sea’ (l. 3) ‘set out to sea’, but the resulting w. o. (a tripartite l.) is not attested otherwise (see NN §806, 880). To avoid treating láta as a full verb, Kock (NN §888; Skald) emends in fljótu (n. acc. pl.) ‘the swift’ to enn fljóta (adv. + inf.) ‘again float’ and reads fylkir lét enn flaust fljóta ‘the lord again let the ships float’. Aside from the emendations, it is unlikely that the adv. enn ‘yet’, which falls in a dip, would be stressed less strongly than the auxiliary lét ‘let’ in the preceding lift. — [4] Hrafnseyrr ‘Ravenseer’: Formerly Ravenseer or Ravenspurn, now Spurn Head, the promontory at the mouth of the River Humber. — [5] borðveg ‘gunwale-road’: Skj B and Skald emend to borðvigg ‘gunwale-steeds’ and read borðvigg trðu breiðan brimsgang (so Hr) ‘the gunwale-steeds (i. e. ships) trod on the broad breaker-road (i.e. sea)’ (ll. 5, 6). However, gangr ‘motion, speed’ in the meaning ‘road’ is otherwise unattested (see Fritzner: gangr; LP: brimsgangr; gangr), and the acc. in Hr (brimgang) is secondary. — [7] súðir ‘the sides’: See Note to Hharð Gamv 2/2. — [8]: For this part of the split refrain (klofastef), see Note to st. 1/8.

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. 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. 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.
10. Mork 1928-32 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1928-32. Morkinskinna. SUGNL 53. Copenhagen: Jørgensen.
11. ASC [Anglo-Saxon Chronicle] = Plummer, Charles and John Earle, eds. 1892-9. Two of the Saxon Chronicles Parallel. 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon. Rpt. 1952.
12. 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.
13. Internal references
14. (forthcoming), ‘ Heimskringla, Haralds saga Sigurðssonar’ 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=142> (accessed 20 April 2024)
15. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Magnúss saga góða ok Haralds harðráða’ 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=147> (accessed 20 April 2024)
16. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Haraldr harðráði Sigurðarson, Gamanvísur 2’ 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. 36-7.