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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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ÞSjár Frag 1III

Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Þórðr Særeksson (Sjáreksson), Fragments 1’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 476.

Þórðr Særeksson (Sjáreksson)Fragments
12

introduction

This stanza (ÞSjár Frag 1) is cited in mss R, , W, U and A of Skm (SnE) and in mss papp10ˣ, 2368ˣ and 743ˣ of LaufE. It was copied from a LaufE ms. in RE 1665(Kk3), which has no independent value. The stanza describes a journey along the south-western coast of Norway, from the island of Bømlo near Stord and past Agder and Lista. The poet is given as Þórðr Sjáreksson in , W, papp10ˣ and 743ˣ; R has ‘siarraks son’ corrected from ‘snarrars son’, A has Hallvarðr and 2368ˣ ‘Biareksson’. It has been suggested that the stanza originally belonged to Róðudrápa (ÞSjár RóðdrI; see CPB II, 165, LH 1894-1901, I, 618, Fidjestøl 1982, 127 and SnE 1998, I, 199) and that it described Óláfr Haraldsson’s journey to Sweden in 1027 (cf. ÓHHkr ch. 144, ÍF 27, 267-9). In view of the lack of reference to any royal patron, that attribution is doubtful. Jón Sigurðsson (SnE 1848-87, III, 557-8) believed that the stanza depicted a sea-voyage south from Trondheim after Sveinn jarl Hákonarson’s attack on Óláfr Haraldsson and the subsequent burning of the town of Trondheim in 1014 (see ÞSjár KlœingrI).

text and translation

Sveggja lét fyr Siggju
sólborðs Goti norðan;
gustr skaut Gylfa rastar
Glaumi suðr fyr Aumar.
En slóð-Goti síðan
sæðings fyr skut bæði
— hestr óð lauks fyr Lista —
lagði Kǫrmt ok Agðir.

{Goti sólborðs} lét sveggja fyr norðan Siggju; gustr skaut {Glaumi {rastar Gylfa}} suðr fyr Aumar. En {{sæðings slóð}-Goti} lagði síðan bæði Kǫrmt ok Agðir fyr skut; {hestr lauks} óð fyr Lista.
 
‘The Goti <horse> of the ship-plank [SHIP] rocked north of Siggjo; the wind-gust pushed the Glaumr <horse> of Gylfi’s <sea-king’s> path [SEA > SHIP] south past Eime. And the Goti <horse> of the seagull’s track [(lit. ‘seagull’s track-Goti’) SEA > SHIP] then put both Karmøy and Agder behind the stern; the horse of the mast [SHIP] advanced past Lista.

notes and context

The stanza illustrates various kennings for ‘ship’ (SnE 1998, I, 75): Hér er skip kallat sólborðs hestr ok sær Gylfa land, sæðings slóð særinn ok hestr skipit ok enn lauks hestr ‘Here a ship is called the ship-plank’s horse and the sea Gylfi’s land, the sea the seagull’s track and a ship a horse, and, again, the mast’s horse’ (closely similar in LaufE).

readings

sources

Text is based on reconstruction from the base text and variant apparatus and may contain alternative spellings and other normalisations not visible in the manuscript text. Transcriptions may not have been checked and should not be cited.

editions and texts

Skj: Þórðr Særeksson, 4. Lausavísur og ubestemmelige brudstykker 1: AI, 329, BI, 303, .Skald I, 154; SnE 1848-87, I, 442, II, 331, 443, III, 87, SnE 1931, 156, SnE 1998, I, 74-5; LaufE 1979, 304, 393

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