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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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ÞSjár Frag 4III

Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Þórðr Særeksson (Sjáreksson), Fragments 4’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 480.

Þórðr Særeksson (Sjáreksson)Fragments
34

introduction

The helmingr (ÞSjár Frag 4), which Jón Sigurðsson (SnE 1848-87, III, 557) assigns to a lost encomium, is recorded in AM 742 4°ˣ (742ˣ) between two stanzas (Snæbj Lv 1 and ESk Frag 14) from Skm. Ms. 742ˣ was written by Björn Jónsson of Skarðsá (1574-1656) in the first half of the seventeenth century. That ms. contains a redaction of LaufE with additional material, including this half-stanza by Þórðr Særeksson. Faulkes (LaufE 1979, 107 n. 1) believes that Björn found the half-stanza, along with other additions, in a no longer extant ms. of SnE. The name of the poet is given in the margin (Þórðr Sjáreksson kvað ‘Þórðr Sjáreksson said’). The helmingr is also recorded in Thott 1496 4°ˣ (1496ˣ) from the first half of the eighteenth century, probably a copy of the same redaction as 742ˣ (see Jón Helgason 1966a, 175-6), as well as in Lbs 1116 4°ˣ (1116ˣ), where it is located at the top of the last page of the ms. (p. 421a, numbered p. 321a) with the following caption: Ur Laufáseddu med hond Bjarnar á Skardsá Þórdur Sjáreksson ‘From Laufás Edda in the hand of Björn á Skarðsá Þórðr Sjáreksson’. The helmingr is corrupt, and previous attempts at reconstruction are unsatisfactory because they contain metrical errors.

text and translation

Svát ór fitjar fjǫtri
flóðs ásynja, blóði
— raust bifask rǫmm — en systra,
rýtr, eymylvir spýtir.

Svát {ásynja flóðs} rýtr ór {fjǫtri fitjar}, en {eymylvir} spýtir {blóði systra}; rǫmm raust bifask.
 
‘So that the goddess of the sea [= Rán] wails from the fetter of the meadow [SEA], and the island-grinder [MAELSTROM] spits out the sisters’ blood [WATER]; the strong voice trembles.

notes and context

The helmingr illustrates kennings for ‘ocean’: hier er hafid kallað mylrir ‑ eÿía og fitiar fiǫtur ‘here the ocean is called mylrir of islands and the meadow’s fetter’ (742ˣ).

The first, subordinate clause cannot be syntactically dependent on the following main clause (as in Skj B); rather, it must refer to something described in the preceding, now lost helmingr (see NN §1132).

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 4: AI, 330, BI, 304, Skald I, 154, NN §1132; CPB II, 55, Bugge 1886, 335-8.

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