Sturl Hryn 6II
Valgerður Erna Þorvaldsdóttir (ed.) 2009, ‘Sturla Þórðarson, Hrynhenda 6’ 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. 682-3.
Svíða ‘to move swiftly across’
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1. svíða (verb): cause pain, burn
[1] Svíða: so E, 81a, ‘Seíða’ F, sneiða 304ˣ, ‘Sveiða’ Flat
notes
[1] svíða (inf.) ‘move swiftly across [lit. scorch]’: The reading of E and 81a has been chosen here rather than that of F. In F 1871, Unger wrote ‘Sneiða’ without any comments, but upon closer inspection, it is obvious that this reading is incorrect. It seems that the scribe started to write ‘Seiða’ but then tried to change it into something else by adding <y> or <v> in front of the <e>. The left stroke of <y> merges with the <S> and the right stroke is not decisive enough, so ‘Seiða’ is the best reading. In E, Finnur Jónsson read ‘Sniða’ (‘cut’), and printed it that way without comments in Skj A and E 1916, but the scribe clearly wrote ‘Suida’ as did the scribe of 81a. AM 304ˣ has sneiða ‘hurry’, but in view of the readings of the other mss, this looks like a lectio facilior. It is hard to make sense of svíða ‘scorch, burn’ in this context. Possibly the ships are seen from afar leaving a wake so they seem to burn a line across the sea. On the other hand, svíða might be related to the Faroese verb svíða ‘waver’ or ‘rush by’ and the Norw. verb svida ‘move easily’. Flat has ‘Sveiða’ (sveiða) ‘wander, soar’. According to Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (ÍO 995), the verb sveiða first appears in Icel. in the C15th, but he points out that there is one example of the verb in pres. part., sveiðandi, which could very well mean svífandi ‘soaring’. It therefore seems reasonable to translate svíða as ‘move swiftly’.
létu ‘caused’
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láta (verb): let, have sth done
þínar ‘Your’
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þinn (pron.; °f. þín, n. þitt): your
þjóðir ‘men’
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þjóð (noun f.; °-ar, dat. -/-u; -ir): people
þunnar ‘the slender’
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þunnr (adj.): slender, thin
búnu ‘adorned’
[2] búnu reiði: búnum reiða 81a
reiði ‘tackle’
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1. reiði (noun m.; °-a): tackle, rigging
[2] búnu reiði: búnum reiða 81a
Gautar ‘the Gautar’
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gauti (noun m.): man, Geat
spurðu ‘heard about’
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spyrja (verb; spurði): ask; hear, find out
leiðangr ‘fleet’
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leiðangr (noun m.; °leiðangrs, dat. leiðangri; leiðangrar): naval levy
ljótan ‘the menacing’
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ljótr (adj.): ugly
notes
[3] ljótan (adj. m. acc. sg.) ‘menacing’: Lit. ‘ugly’. This is construed here with leiðangr ‘fleet’ but could also be a descriptive element referring to the kenning völl lunda ‘the plain of puffins’ (l. 4), i.e. ‘the ugly sea’, indicating that the ships were sailing over a turbulent sea. Konráð Gíslason (1895-7, I, 72) and Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) thought that ljótan qualified völl lunda, but Kock (NN §2285) disagreed on the grounds that the adj. precedes the heiti or kenning it qualifies in Hryn, if it is not part of the same l. as it is here, so he construed ljótan with leiðangr ‘terrible fleet’ (l. 3) (see also Note to Valg Har 11/4).
lunda ‘of puffins’
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lundi (noun m.; °-a): puffin
kennings
völl lunda‘the plain of puffins ’
= SEA
the plain of puffins → SEA
völl ‘the plain’
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vǫllr (noun m.; °vallar, dat. velli; vellir acc. vǫllu/velli): plain, field
kennings
völl lunda‘the plain of puffins ’
= SEA
the plain of puffins → SEA
Mostrar ‘Mostrar’
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Mostr (noun f.): [Mostrar] < Mostrarsund (noun n.)
[4] Mostrar‑: so 304ˣ, Flat, ‘morstrar’ F, ‘mustrar’ E, mostra 81a
sundi ‘sund’
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sund (noun n.; °-s; -): sound, strait; swimming < Mostrarsund (noun n.)
Síðan ‘Then’
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síðan (adv.): later, then
seglum ‘the sails’
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segl (noun n.; °-s; -): sail
hlóðu ‘took down’
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2. hlaða (verb): heap, pile
snarfengr ‘sturdy’
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snarfengr (adj.): sturdy
konungr ‘king’
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konungr (noun m.; °dat. -i, -s; -ar): king
yðrir ‘your’
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yðvarr (pron.; °f. yður; pl. yðrir): your
drengir ‘warriors’
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drengr (noun m.; °-s, dat. -; -ir, gen. -ja): man, warrior
lýsa ‘to gleam’
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2. lýsa (verb): illuminate, show
tók ‘it began’
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2. taka (verb): take
af ‘from’
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af (prep.): from
herskips ‘the warship’s’
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herskip (noun n.): warship
hausum ‘heads’
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hauss (noun m.; °hauss, dat. hausi/haus; hausar): skull
[7] hausum: húsum 81a
hrygðarfólk ‘the rueful people’
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hryggðarfolk (noun n.): [rueful people]
í ‘in’
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í (prep.): in, into
Dana ‘of the Danes’
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Danr (noun m.; °dat. -; -ir): Dane
bygðum ‘the settlements’
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byggð (noun f.; °-ar; -ir): dwelling, settlement
[8] bygðum: bygðir Flat
Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses
Your men caused the slender warships with adorned tackle to move swiftly across [lit. scorch] the plain of puffins [SEA] to Mostrarsund; the Gautar heard about the menacing fleet. Then the rueful people in the settlements of the Danes saw when your warriors, sturdy king, took down the sails; it began to gleam from the warship’s heads.
Hákon’s ships glide across the sea, gleaming in the sun, and land in Halland.
According to the prose, King Hákon split up his troops before attacking Halland. One third of the forces sailed to Mostrarsund in northern Halland, the rest went south to Glaumsteinn. Neither of these place names has been identified.
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