Russell Poole (ed.) 2012, ‘Anonymous Poems, Liðsmannaflokkr 1’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1016.
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2. ganga (verb; geng, gekk, gengu, genginn): walk, go
[1] Gǫngum: gengum DG8
[1] gǫngum ‘let us go’: DG8 gives the pret. form gengum ‘we went’, but the 1st pers. pl. imp. form is required, to match verum ‘let us be’ (l. 5) and hristum ... ok skjótum ‘let us brandish ... and shoot’ (l. 6). On skaldic exhortations to battle using 1st pers. pl. imp., see Note to Þorf Lv 2 [All].
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upp (adv.): up
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áðr (adv.; °//): before
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Englar (noun m.): English people
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1. ætt (noun f.; °-ar; -ir): family < ættland (noun n.): ancestral land
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land (noun n.; °-s; *-): land < ættland (noun n.): ancestral land
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fara (verb; ferr, fór, fóru, farinn): go, travel
[2] farin: farim DG8
[2] farin ‘traversed’: Fregni plus p. p. implies an inf. verb ‘to be’, hence fregni ættlǫnd farin ‘learn the ancestral lands [to be] traversed’, i.e. ‘learn that the ancestral lands are traversed’. DG8’s farim ‘let us go’ erroneously supplies a finite verb for this line.
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rǫnd (noun f.; °dat. -/-u; rendr/randir): shield, shield-rim
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1. morð (noun n.; °-s; -): killing, battle
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3. ok (conj.): and, but; also
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mikill (adj.; °mikinn): great, large
[3] miklar ferðir ‘large militias’: Two interpretations of this phrase are possible. (a) It coordinates with, and duplicates, stafar malmregns ‘staves of the metal-rain [BATTLE > WARRIORS]’, i.e. is part of the subject of fregni ‘learn’ (as assumed above). (b) It coordinates with ættlǫnd farin rǫndu ‘ancestral lands traversed with the shield’, i.e. is part of the object of fregni ‘learn’ (so Skj B). Option (b) might seem the more attractive if we see the speaker as naturally emphasising the might of his own side rather than that of the opposition. But other passages in the flokkr do in fact lay emphasis on English prowess and stern resistance. If option (a) is correct, we could see the word ferðir ‘militias, troops’ as chosen in allusion to OE fyrd, which is cognate (AEW: ferð) and the standard term for the (levied) home army. The well-known Viking tactic of staging surprise landings before the fyrd could be alerted would then be testified to at first hand in this helmingr.
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ferð (noun f.; °-ar; -ir/-arMork 196¹²)): host, journey
[3] miklar ferðir ‘large militias’: Two interpretations of this phrase are possible. (a) It coordinates with, and duplicates, stafar malmregns ‘staves of the metal-rain [BATTLE > WARRIORS]’, i.e. is part of the subject of fregni ‘learn’ (as assumed above). (b) It coordinates with ættlǫnd farin rǫndu ‘ancestral lands traversed with the shield’, i.e. is part of the object of fregni ‘learn’ (so Skj B). Option (b) might seem the more attractive if we see the speaker as naturally emphasising the might of his own side rather than that of the opposition. But other passages in the flokkr do in fact lay emphasis on English prowess and stern resistance. If option (a) is correct, we could see the word ferðir ‘militias, troops’ as chosen in allusion to OE fyrd, which is cognate (AEW: ferð) and the standard term for the (levied) home army. The well-known Viking tactic of staging surprise landings before the fyrd could be alerted would then be testified to at first hand in this helmingr.
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malmr (noun m.; °-s, dat. -i; -ar): metal < malmregn (noun n.)
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malmr (noun m.; °-s, dat. -i; -ar): metal < malmregn (noun n.)
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stafr (noun m.; °-s, dat. -; -ir): staff, post, stave, stick
[4] stafar: so DG8, ‘skafar’ Flat
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1. fregna (verb): hear of
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2. vera (verb): be, is, was, were, are, am
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hugr (noun m.): mind, thought, courage < hugrakkr (adj.): brave-minded
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rakkr (adj.; °compar. -ari): bold < hugrakkr (adj.): brave-minded
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hlǫkk (noun f.): battle
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hrista (verb): shake
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spjót (noun n.; °-s; -): spear
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3. ok (conj.): and, but; also
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skjóta (verb): shoot
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leggja (verb): put, lay
[7] leggr ‘takes to’: The pres. tense here is indic. (cf. st. 2/1 ferr ‘goes’), giving the impression of narration simultaneous with the events described (Poole 1991, 107-9; cf. Ashdown 1930, 206).
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fyr (prep.): for, over, because of, etc.
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várr (pron.; °f. ór/vár; pl. órir/várir): our
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1. egg (noun f.; °-jar, dat. -ju/-): edge, blade
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Englar (noun m.): English people
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gnótt (noun f.): abundance
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3. á (prep.): on, at
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flótti (noun m.): flight, fleeing
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Gǫngum upp, áðr Engla |
Let us go ashore, before the staves of the metal-rain [BATTLE > WARRIORS] and large militias of killing learn that the ancestral lands of the English are traversed with the shield. Let us be brave-minded in battle; let us brandish spears and shoot [them]; an ample number of the English takes to flight before our blades.
In ÓHLeg, the stanzas are said to have been composed by Óláfr at the end of Knútr’s campaign, at a point where the Danish king has won the submission of all England except London, whose garrison is stubbornly resisting him. Óláfr comes to his aid with a stratagem that delivers the city into his hands. In the Styrmir extract in Flat, there is an introductory sentence (see below) but no narrative.
In ÓHLeg, the stanzas are introduced, Þenna flocc orte Olafr æftir atlaguna ‘Óláfr composed this flokkr after the attack’. Following the stanzas is the sentence, Ðenna flocc ortte Olafr hinn hælgi, þa er hann var með Knuti kononge ‘S. Óláfr composed this flokkr when he was with King Knútr’ (ÓHLeg 1982, 48, 54). In Styrmir’s version, the stanzas are preceded by the sentence, Þenna flock orti Olafr konungr eftir er hann hafdi vnnit Lundunaborg ‘King Óláfr composed this flokkr after he had conquered London’ (Flat 1860-8, III, 237).
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