Þfagr Sveinn 2^II

Vôn erumk vísa kœnum
vígs á Rakna stígu,
ǫrr í odda snerru
Innþrœnda lið finni.
Þó má enn, hvárr annan
ǫndu nemr eða lǫndum,
— lítt hyggr Sveinn á sáttir
sjaldfestar — goð valda.

Erumk vôn vígs kœnum vísa á {stígu Rakna}, ǫrr finni lið Innþrœnda í {snerru odda}. Þó má goð enn valda, hvárr nemr annan ǫndu eða lǫndum; Sveinn hyggr lítt á sjaldfestar sáttir.

I believe there is an expectation of battle for the wise ruler on {Rakni’s <sea-king’s> paths} [SEA], [and that] the brave one will meet the host of Innþrœndir in {the onslaught of spear-points} [BATTLE]. Yet God can decide again which one will deprive the other of life or lands; Sveinn cares little for shaky agreements.

Mss: Mork(9r) (Mork); Flat(197vb) (Flat); H(45r), Hr(32rb) (H-Hr); FskBˣ(70v), FskAˣ(264-265) (Fsk); Kˣ(542v), 39(23vb), F(45vb), E(16r), J2ˣ(270v) (Hkr)

Readings: [1] Vôn: Vann Flat;    erumk: ‘ę. med’ Flat, erumsk H, er at Kˣ, 39, F, J2ˣ;    vísa: vísi Flat, vápna E;    kœnum: ‘kæn[…]’ H, kœnan Kˣ, 39, F, J2ˣ, raunar E    [2] vígs á Rakna: ‘[…]aka’ H;    Rakna: ‘raka’ Hr;    stígu: stígum E    [3] ǫrr: ǫrt Kˣ, 39, F, J2ˣ;    í: at E;    snerru: snertu Kˣ, 39, F, J2ˣ    [4] finni: minna FskAˣ    [5] Þó: þá Flat, 39, F, því FskBˣ, þar FskAˣ, Kˣ, J2ˣ;    má enn: ‘er annar’ Flat;    má: man FskAˣ;    hvárr: ‘hværr’ FskBˣ;    annan: annar Hr    [6] ǫndu: ‘[…]do’ H, 39, ‘endu’ Hr;    nemr: so Flat, H, FskBˣ, FskAˣ, Kˣ, 39, F, E, J2ˣ, ‘nemþr’ Mork, nærr Hr    [7] sáttir: sættir H, Hr, FskBˣ, FskAˣ    [8] goð: grið FskAˣ;    valda: valdi Hr

Editions: Skj AI, 397, Skj BI, 365, Skald I, 183; Mork 1867, 54, Mork 1928-32, 161, Andersson and Gade 2000, 198, 476 (MH); Flat 1860-8, III, 338 (MH); Fms 6, 256-7 (HSig ch. 50); ÍF 29, 254 (ch. 55); ÍF 28, 113 (HSig ch. 34), F 1871, 212, E 1916, 56.

Context: Sveinn Úlfsson sent envoys to Haraldr harðráði of Norway challenging him to a battle by the Götaälv in Sweden. The one who won the battle would have the right to rule Norway and Denmark. Fsk gives sts 2-5 without intervening prose.

Notes: [1-4]: The Hkr text of the first helmingr is syntactically simpler: vns, at ǫrt lið Innþrœnda finni vísa, kœnan vígs, í snertu odda á stígu Rakna ‘it is to be expected that the brave host of Innþrœndir will meet the ruler, wise in battle, in the onslaught of spear-points on Rakni’s paths’. The Hkr version has been adopted in Skj B, Skald and ÍF 28. — [2] stígu (m. acc. pl.) ‘paths’: Because there is no overt motion involved, we should have expected the prep. á ‘on’ to take the dat. here. Skj B and Skald accordingly adopt the E variant stígum (m. dat. pl.) ‘paths’. However, all other mss have the acc., and it is possible that a verb of motion is implied (‘as he sets off to sea’: cf. st. 3/3 below). — [5] þó ‘yet’: The other variants, því (n. dat. sg. as the object of valda: ‘God can decide it’; so FskBˣ), þar ‘there’ (so FskAˣ, Kˣ, J2ˣ) and þá ‘then’ (so 39, F, Flat), are also possible readings. Þó has been selected here because it has support from Mork and some Hkr mss. — [5] enn ‘again’: Skj B takes this adv. with nemr (3rd pers. sg. pres. indic.) ‘deprives’ (l. 6) and translates it as ‘eventually’ (hvem der endelig berøver den anden liv eller rige ‘which one will eventually deprive the other of life or lands’). However, enn is not attested in that meaning (see Fritzner: enn; LP: enn). — [8] sjaldfestar ‘shaky’: Lit. ‘seldom-firm’. Hap. leg.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
3. Fms = Sveinbjörn Egilsson et al., eds. 1825-37. Fornmanna sögur eptir gömlum handritum útgefnar að tilhlutun hins norræna fornfræða fèlags. 12 vols. Copenhagen: Popp.
4. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. LP = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1931. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis: Ordbog over det norsk-islandske skjaldesprog oprindelig forfattet af Sveinbjörn Egilsson. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Møller.
6. Andersson, Theodore M. and Kari Ellen Gade, trans. 2000. Morkinskinna: The Earliest Icelandic Chronicle of the Norwegian Kings (1030-1157). Islandica 51. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press.
7. Flat 1860-8 = Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and C. R. Unger, eds. 1860-8. Flateyjarbók. En samling af norske konge-sagaer med indskudte mindre fortællinger om begivenheder i og udenfor Norge samt annaler. 3 vols. Christiania (Oslo): Malling.
8. Fritzner = Fritzner, Johan. 1883-96. Ordbog over det gamle norske sprog. 3 vols. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske forlagsforening. 4th edn. Rpt. 1973. Oslo etc.: Universitetsforlaget.
9. Mork 1928-32 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1928-32. Morkinskinna. SUGNL 53. Copenhagen: Jørgensen.
10. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
11. F 1871 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1871. Fríssbók: Codex Frisianus. En samling af norske konge-sagaer. Christiania (Oslo): Malling.
12. E 1916 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1916. Eirspennill: AM 47 fol. Nóregs konunga sǫgur: Magnús góði – Hákon gamli. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske historiske kildeskriftskommission.
13. ÍF 29 = Ágrip af Nóregskonunga sǫgum; Fagrskinna—Nóregs konungatal. Ed. Bjarni Einarsson. 1985.
14. Mork 1867 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1867. Morkinskinna: Pergamentsbog fra første halvdel af det trettende aarhundrede. Indeholdende en af de ældste optegnelser af norske kongesagaer. Oslo: Bentzen.
15. Internal references
16. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Heimskringla’ 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, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=4> (accessed 16 April 2024)
17. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Fagrskinna’ 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, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=56> (accessed 16 April 2024)
18. (forthcoming), ‘ Heimskringla, Haralds saga Sigurðssonar’ 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, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=142> (accessed 16 April 2024)
19. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Magnúss saga góða ok Haralds harðráða’ 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, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=147> (accessed 16 April 2024)