Sturl Hrafn 13^II

Drógu dynsveigis
darra flugskjarrir
báta baugnjótar
breiðar strandleiðir.
Eyddu óhræddir
eyjar geirþeyjum
vegs í víðbygðu*
vatni herskatnar.

{Flugskjarrir baugnjótar} {{darra dyn}sveigis} drógu báta breiðar strandleiðir. Óhræddir herskatnar vegs eyddu eyjar í víðbygðu* vatni {geirþeyjum}.

{The flight-shy ring-users} [GENEROUS MEN] {of the swayer {of the din of spears}} [(lit. ‘of the din-swayer of spears’) BATTLE > WARRIOR] pulled the boats along the broad beach-paths. The fearless war-men of honour devastated the islands in the widely inhabited lake {with spear-winds} [BATTLE].

Mss: F(122vb), 304ˣ(362v), Flat(185vb) (Hák)

Readings: [1] ‑sveigis: ‑sveigir 304ˣ    [6] ‑þeyjum: þeyja 304ˣ, þeyju Flat    [7] vegs í: vægðar Flat;    ‑bygðu*: ‑bygðum all

Editions: Skj AII, 122, Skj BII, 129-30, Skald II, 70, NN §2829; F 1871, 575, Hák 1977-82, 200, Flat 1860-8, III, 224.

Context: After the failed peace negotiations with the Scots, Hákon sent forty (Flat: sixty) ships into Loch Long. The Norwegians pulled their boats across land up to Loch Lomond in the district of Lennox, where they destroyed the entire countryside and devastated all the inhabited islands in the lake.

Notes: [All]: For the custom of portage, pulling boats and ships across land, see the discussion in ÍF 30, xxviii-xxix and n. 1. See also Anon (HSig) 5. — [1] dynsveigis ‘of the din-swayer’: Sveigir (nomen agentis to sveigja ‘bend, flex, sway’) taken here in the meaning ‘swayer’, i.e. ‘one who decides the outcome of sth.’ (see also NN §2829). As a base-word in warrior kennings, sveigir usually occurs in the more concrete sense ‘bender’ (see LP: sveigir). — [3] baugnjótar ‘ring-users [GENEROUS MEN]’: See st. 10/3 above. — [4] strandleiðir ‘beach-paths’: Hap. leg. — [7] vegs ‘of honour’: In the present edn this gen. is construed with herskatnar ‘war-men’ (lit. ‘wealthy men of the army’) (l. 8). Following Konráð Gíslason (1895-7, I, 100), Skj B and Skald emend to veggs ‘of the wall’ and take this as a determinant in an inverted kenning veggs geirþeyjum ‘of the winds of the spear’s wall’ in which ‘the spear’s wall’ is a shield and its wind is ‘battle’. However, the order of elements in that kenning violates the structure of an inverted kenning (we would expect geirs veggþeyjum). Vægðar (f. gen. sg.) ‘of mercy’ (so Flat) cannot be construed in any meaningful way and omits the syntactically required prep. í ‘in’. — [7] víðbygðu* (n. dat. sg.) ‘widely inhabited’: The adj. qualifies vatni (n. dat. sg.) ‘the lake’ and víðbygðum (so all mss) is dat. pl. or m. dat. sg. — [8] herskatnar ‘war-men’: Lit. ‘wealthy men of the army’: Hap. leg.

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. 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.
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. F 1871 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1871. Fríssbók: Codex Frisianus. En samling af norske konge-sagaer. Christiania (Oslo): Malling.
8. Hák 1977-82 = Mundt, Marina, ed. 1977. Hákonar saga Hákonarsonar etter Sth. 8 fol., AM 325VIII, 4° og AM 304, 4°. Oslo: Forlagsentralen. Suppl. by James E. Knirk, Rettelser til Hákonar saga Hákonarsonar etter Sth. 8 fol., AM 325VIII, 4° og AM 304, 4°. Norrøne tekster 2. Oslo: Norsk historisk kjeldeskrift-institutt, 1982.
9. ÍF 30 = Sverris saga. Ed. Þorleifur Hauksson. 2007.
10. Konráð Gíslason. 1895-7. Efterladte skrifter. 2 vols. I: Forelæsninger over oldnordiske skjaldekvad. II: Forelæsninger og videnskablige afhandlinger. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
11. Internal references
12. Kari Ellen Gade and Diana Whaley (eds) 2009, ‘Anonymous Lausavísur, Lausavísur from Haralds saga Sigurðarsonar 5’ 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. 818-19.