Þfagr Sveinn 4^II

Fjǫrs man flestum hersi
fengsæll Dana þengill
— reiðr hefr hann fyr hauðri
hábrynjuð skip — synja,
ef húnferils hreina
hlunntamðra rekr sunnan
við Hǫrða gram harðan
hundruð sex til fundar.

{Fengsæll þengill Dana} man synja flestum hersi fjǫrs—reiðr hefr hann hábrynjuð skip fyr hauðri—, ef rekr {sex hundruð hlunntamðra hreina {húnferils}} sunnan til fundar við {harðan gram Hǫrða}.

{The booty-blessed lord of the Danes} [DANISH KING = Sveinn] may deny life to most hersar—enraged, he has armoured ships before the land—, if he steers {six hundred roller-tamed reindeer {of the mast-top track}} [SEA > SHIPS] from the south to the encounter with {the harsh ruler of the Hǫrðar} [NORWEGIAN KING = Haraldr].

Mss: FskBˣ(71r), 51ˣ(63v-64r), FskAˣ(265) (Fsk)

Readings: [2] feng‑: so 51ˣ, FskAˣ, fengs FskBˣ    [4] hábrynjuð skip synja: hafbrim viðr skip symja FskAˣ    [5] ef: so 51ˣ, FskAˣ, er FskBˣ    [6] ‑tamðra: so FskAˣ, tamða FskBˣ, 51ˣ    [8] hundruð: so 51ˣ, hundrað FskBˣ, FskAˣ;    sex: sax FskAˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 397, Skj BI, 366, Skald I, 183; ÍF 29, 255 (ch. 55).

Context: As sts 2-3 above.

Notes: [4]: The l. echoes Steinn Óldr 13/4. The FskAˣ variant hafbrim viðr skip symja ‘sea-breakers drift against the ship[s]’ is clearly secondary. — [4] hábrynjuð ‘armoured’: Falk (1912, 38) believes that this refers to the practice of equipping the prows of warships with metal plates or stripes. Following Malmros (1985, 101), Jesch (2001a, 157-9) argues that the adj. hábrynjaðr denotes a row of shields protecting oarlocks or rowing-stations (há- ‘oarlock’). See also Notes to ÞjóðA Har 5/7, Steinn Óldr 13/4 and Bǫlv Hardr 2/4. — [6] hlunntamðra (m. gen. pl.) ‘roller-tamed’: Hlunnr was a wooden roller used to support a ship standing on land or part of a slip-way used for launching ships. The image here is that of reindeer (of the sea) tamed to step on or rest among rollers, i.e. of a ship being beached or launched. — [8] hundruð (n. acc. pl.) ‘hundred’: Rarely, the n. noun hundrað is used as an indeclinable adj., which explains the variant hundrað (so FskBˣ, FskAˣ; see ANG §452 and Anm.). The numeral most likely denotes the ‘long hundred’ (= 120), and ‘six hundred ships’ would be more accurately rendered as ‘720 ships’.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
3. Jesch, Judith. 2001a. Ships and Men in the Late Viking Age: The Vocabulary of Runic Inscriptions and Skaldic Verse. Woodbridge: Boydell.
4. ANG = Noreen, Adolf. 1923. Altnordische Grammatik I: Altisländische und altnorwegische Grammatik (Laut- und Flexionslehre) unter Berücksichtigung des Urnordischen. 4th edn. Halle: Niemeyer. 1st edn. 1884. 5th unrev. edn. 1970. Tübingen: Niemeyer.
5. Falk, Hjalmar. 1912. Altnordisches Seewesen. Wörter und Sachen 4. Heidelberg: Winter.
6. ÍF 29 = Ágrip af Nóregskonunga sǫgum; Fagrskinna—Nóregs konungatal. Ed. Bjarni Einarsson. 1985.
7. Malmros, Rikke. 1985. ‘Leding og skjaldekvad: Det elvte århundredes nordiske krigsflåder, deres teknologi og organisation og deres placering i samfundet belyst gennem den samtidige fyrstedigtning’. ÅNOH, 89-139.
8. Internal references
9. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Bǫlverkr Arnórsson, Drápa about Haraldr harðráði 2’ 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, pp. 288-9.
10. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Steinn Herdísarson, Óláfsdrápa 13’ 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, pp. 378-9.
11. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Þjóðólfr Arnórsson, Stanzas about Haraldr Sigurðarson’s leiðangr 5’ 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, pp. 155-6.