ÞKolb Eirdr 12I
Jayne Carroll (ed.) 2012, ‘Þórðr Kolbeinsson, Eiríksdrápa 12’ 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. 506.
Ítr ‘The glorious’
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ítr (adj.): glorious
þrifusk ‘prospered’
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þrífa (verb): grab, grasp; thrive (refl.)
jǫfra ‘of the princes’
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jǫfurr (noun m.): ruler, prince
hleti ‘’
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hleti (noun n.)
hlæti ‘’
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hlœti (noun n.)
hleyti ‘kinship’
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hleyti (noun n.; °; -): marriage-alliance, kinship
[1] hleyti: ‘hlæti’ JÓ, 873ˣ, 41ˣ, ‘hleti’ 20dˣ
notes
[1] hleyti ‘kinship’: All eds emend to this (grammatically pl.) form to produce good sense. Hleyti refers to kinship by marriage. Eiríkr married Gyða, a daughter of Sveinn tjúguskegg and half-sister of Knútr, so Knútr and Eiríkr were brothers-in-law (see Hkr, ÍF 26, 340; Fsk, ÍF 29, 164; Knýtl, ÍF 35, 97).
egg ‘to the edge’
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1. egg (noun f.; °-jar, dat. -ju/-): edge, blade < eggveðr (noun n.)
kennings
eggveðrs;‘to the edge-storm; ’
= BATTLE
to the edge-storm; → BATTLE
veðrs ‘storm’
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2. veðr (noun n.; °-s; -): weather, wind, storm < eggveðr (noun n.)
kennings
eggveðrs;‘to the edge-storm; ’
= BATTLE
to the edge-storm; → BATTLE
í ‘in’
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í (prep.): in, into
fǫr ‘the expedition’
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fǫr (noun f.): journey, fate; movement
seggja ‘of men’
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seggr (noun m.; °; -ir): man
skeið ‘warships’
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1. skeið (noun f.; °-ar; -r/-ar/-ir): ship
notes
[3, 4] mǫrg mislǫng skeið ‘many warships of various lengths’: Lit. ‘many [a] variously-long warship’. Mislangr is a hap. leg.
helt ‘steered’
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halda (verb): hold, keep
mǫrg ‘many’
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2. margr (adj.; °-an): many
notes
[3, 4] mǫrg mislǫng skeið ‘many warships of various lengths’: Lit. ‘many [a] variously-long warship’. Mislangr is a hap. leg.
í ‘into’
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í (prep.): in, into
móðu ‘the river’
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1. móða (noun f.; °-u; -ur): river
mislǫng ‘of various lengths’
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mislangr (adj.): [various lengths]
notes
[3, 4] mǫrg mislǫng skeið ‘many warships of various lengths’: Lit. ‘many [a] variously-long warship’. Mislangr is a hap. leg.
sem ‘as’
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sem (conj.): as, which
notes
[4] sem ek vissa ‘as I learned’: (a) This is understood here as modifying the clause beginning skeið ‘warship(s)’ immediately preceding it (so Skald). (b) In Skj B it modifies ll. 1-2, with skeið helt mǫrg í móðu mislǫng ‘many warships of various lengths proceeded into the river’ (ll. 3-4) functioning parenthetically; the prose order given in ÍF 35 suggests the same. This is presumably on the grounds that ll. 1-2 make a more important statement, but, as Kock (NN §582) points out, the second helmingr continues the narrative of the ships’ progress, which favours (a). (c) A further possibility is that sem ek vissa qualifies the entire first helmingr.
ek ‘I’
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ek (pron.; °mín, dat. mér, acc. mik): I, me
notes
[4] sem ek vissa ‘as I learned’: (a) This is understood here as modifying the clause beginning skeið ‘warship(s)’ immediately preceding it (so Skald). (b) In Skj B it modifies ll. 1-2, with skeið helt mǫrg í móðu mislǫng ‘many warships of various lengths proceeded into the river’ (ll. 3-4) functioning parenthetically; the prose order given in ÍF 35 suggests the same. This is presumably on the grounds that ll. 1-2 make a more important statement, but, as Kock (NN §582) points out, the second helmingr continues the narrative of the ships’ progress, which favours (a). (c) A further possibility is that sem ek vissa qualifies the entire first helmingr.
vissa ‘learned’
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1. vita (verb): know
notes
[4] sem ek vissa ‘as I learned’: (a) This is understood here as modifying the clause beginning skeið ‘warship(s)’ immediately preceding it (so Skald). (b) In Skj B it modifies ll. 1-2, with skeið helt mǫrg í móðu mislǫng ‘many warships of various lengths proceeded into the river’ (ll. 3-4) functioning parenthetically; the prose order given in ÍF 35 suggests the same. This is presumably on the grounds that ll. 1-2 make a more important statement, but, as Kock (NN §582) points out, the second helmingr continues the narrative of the ships’ progress, which favours (a). (c) A further possibility is that sem ek vissa qualifies the entire first helmingr.
Blá ‘the dark’
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blár (adj.): black < bládýr (noun n.)
kennings
bládýrum bôru‘the dark animals of the wave ’
= SHIPS
the dark animals of the wave → SHIPS
dýrum ‘animals’
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1. dýr (noun n.; °-s (spec.: dyʀiɴs KonrA 66⁴, etc., cf. Seip 1955 188-189); -): animal < bládýr (noun n.)
kennings
bládýrum bôru‘the dark animals of the wave ’
= SHIPS
the dark animals of the wave → SHIPS
helt ‘steered’
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halda (verb): hold, keep
notes
[3] helt ‘steered’: In seafaring contexts, including ll. 5-6 of the present stanza, halda usually means ‘steer’, with a term for ‘seafarer’ as subject and one for ‘ship’ as dat. object (see also Jesch 2001a, 174-5). Intransitive usage with a human subject is not uncommon (LP: halda A. 9), but the construction with the inanimate subject skeið ‘warship’ here is unique.
bôru ‘of the wave’
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1. bára (noun f.; °-u; -ur): wave
kennings
bládýrum bôru‘the dark animals of the wave ’
= SHIPS
the dark animals of the wave → SHIPS
brands ‘of the sword’
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brandr (noun m.; °-s, dat. -i; -ar): sword, prow; fire
kennings
Áttstórr Ullr brands‘The high-born Ullr of the sword ’
= WARRIOR
The high-born Ullr of the sword → WARRIOR
nær ‘’
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nær (adv.): near, almost; when
náar ‘near’
[6] svá náar (‘sva nær’): nær svá 41ˣ
landi ‘land’
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land (noun n.; °-s; *-): land
Ullr ‘Ullr’
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Ullr (noun m.): Ullr
kennings
Áttstórr Ullr brands‘The high-born Ullr of the sword ’
= WARRIOR
The high-born Ullr of the sword → WARRIOR
at ‘that’
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4. at (conj.): that
enska ‘the English’
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enskr (adj.): English
vǫllu ‘plains’
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vǫllr (noun m.; °vallar, dat. velli; vellir acc. vǫllu/velli): plain, field
átt ‘The high’
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2. átt (noun f.; °; -ir (acc. sg. attvnna AnnaReyk 410⁹)): lineage < áttstórr (adj.)
kennings
Áttstórr Ullr brands‘The high-born Ullr of the sword ’
= WARRIOR
The high-born Ullr of the sword → WARRIOR
stórr ‘born’
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stórr (adj.): large, great < áttstórr (adj.)
kennings
Áttstórr Ullr brands‘The high-born Ullr of the sword ’
= WARRIOR
The high-born Ullr of the sword → WARRIOR
séa ‘seen’
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2. sjá (verb): see
notes
[8] knátti séa ‘could be seen’: Knátti is taken here, as in Skj B and ÍF 35, as a subject-elliptical impersonal construction: ‘[one] was able to see’, ‘it was possible to see’. A possible alternative would be to understand áttstórr Ullr brands ‘high-born Ullr <god> of the sword [WARRIOR]’ as the subject of both helt ‘steered’ and knátti ‘was able’.
knátti ‘could be’
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knega (verb): to know, understand, be able to
notes
[8] knátti séa ‘could be seen’: Knátti is taken here, as in Skj B and ÍF 35, as a subject-elliptical impersonal construction: ‘[one] was able to see’, ‘it was possible to see’. A possible alternative would be to understand áttstórr Ullr brands ‘high-born Ullr <god> of the sword [WARRIOR]’ as the subject of both helt ‘steered’ and knátti ‘was able’.
Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses
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Ítr þrifusk jǫfra hleyti |
The glorious kinship of the princes prospered in the expedition of men to the edge-storm [BATTLE]; many warships of various lengths steered into the river, as I learned. The high-born Ullr <god> of the sword [WARRIOR] steered the dark animals of the wave [SHIPS] so near land that the English plains could be seen.
Knútr has heard that the English king Játmundr járnsíða (Eadmund Ironside) is in London. He brings his army to the Thames estuary, where he meets Eiríkr’s fleet. They join forces and sail upriver towards London. Stanzas 12 and 13 are cited with only a brief link in between.
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