Þhorn Harkv 10^I

‘Leiddisk þá fyr Lúfu         landi at halda
hilmi inum halsdigra;         holm lét sér at skjaldi.
Slógusk und sessþiljur,         es sárir vôru;
létu upp stjǫlu stúpa;         stungu í kjǫl hǫfðum.

‘Inum halsdigra hilmi leiddisk þá at halda landi fyr Lúfu; lét holm at skjaldi sér. Slógusk und sessþiljur, es vôru sárir; létu stjǫlu stúpa upp; stungu hǫfðum í kjǫl.

‘The fat-necked prince [Kjǫtvi] grew tired then of holding the land against Lúfa (‘Shaggy-locks’) [Haraldr]; he let an islet be a shield to himself. They threw themselves under the bench-planks, those who were wounded; they let their rumps stick up; they plunged their heads into the bilge.

Mss: Kˣ(62v), F(10vb), J1ˣ(35r), J2ˣ(35v-36r) (Hkr); 51ˣ(4v), FskBˣ(5v), 302ˣ(7v-8r), FskAˣ(16-17), 52ˣ(7r), 301ˣ(5v-6r) (Fsk); Flat(76vb) (Flat)

Readings: [2] landi: landi at landi 301ˣ    [4] lét: létu Flat;    at: om. 51ˣ, FskBˣ, 302ˣ;    skjaldi: skildi 51ˣ, FskBˣ, 302ˣ, FskAˣ, 52ˣ, 301ˣ, Flat    [5] und sess‑: sess um Flat    [7] stjǫlu: stælu J1ˣ, J2ˣ;    stúpa: stúfa J1ˣ, J2ˣ, standa Flat

Editions: Skj AI, 26, Skj BI, 23, Skald I, 15, NN §3277; Hkr 1777-1826, I, 95-6, VI, 17-18, Hkr 1868, 62, Hkr 1893-1901, I, 124, IV, 35-6, ÍF 26, 117, Hkr 1991, I, 72 (HHárf ch. 18/19), F 1871, 48; Fsk 1902-3, 17 (ch. 2), ÍF 29, 86 (ch. 3); Fms 10, 191, Fms 12, 226, Flat 1860-8, I, 574 (HarHárf); Möbius 1860, 229, Jón Helgason 1946, 144, Jón Helgason 1968, 18.

Context: As for st. 7. The Hkr prose preceding sts 7-11 portrays the flight of Haraldr’s enemies at the close of the battle of Hafrsfjǫrðr: Þá flýði Kjǫtvi konungr ok í hólma nǫkkurn, þar er vígi var mikit ‘Then Kjǫtvi went away and onto a certain islet, where there was a large stronghold’.

Notes: [1] leiddisk þá fyr Lúfu ‘grew tired then ... against Lúfa (“Shaggy-locks”) [Haraldr]’: A stanza with this same first line (Þjóð Har 4) is attributed to Þjóðólfr ór Hvini in Flat (Flat 1860-8, I, 574). Sueti (1884, 17) argues that it is this similarity that led to the attribution of sts 7-11 to Þjóðólfr in Fsk and Flat. On the nickname Lúfa ‘Shaggy-locks’, which here functions like a pers. n., see biography of Haraldr in ‘Ruler biographies’, in Introduction to this volume. — [4] lét holm at skjaldi sér ‘he let an islet be a shield to himself’: This could mean that Kjǫtvi fled onto an islet (so Munch and Unger 1847, 137; Nygaard 1875, 317; Uppström 1919, 41; Larsen 1943-6, II, 315) or that he fled behind one (so Herbert 1804, 36; Lindquist 1929, 5; Hollander 1964a, 75). Snorri’s interpretation is the former (see Context above), but it seems questionable, since seeking a place to fight out the contest on land would not make Kjǫtvi appear cowardly, though that seems to be the intent of the line. Indeed, Du Méril (1839, 159 n. 2) remarks in a related context that combats waged on an island were bloodier, since flight was easier at sea. In Flat, however, before Þjóð Har 4, it is said that Kjǫtvi got away onto an islet, so that he could not be captured (Flat 1860-8, I, 574). As for skjaldi (dat. sg.) ‘shield’, this is apparently an old analogical variant for the usual skildi (as in Flat and the Fsk mss; see Finnur Jónsson 1901, 56 and 1912, 42). The form is also found on the Rök stone (Run Ög136^VI), from the first half of the C9th. — [6] es ‘who’: The word is interpreted by most as a rel. pron. ‘who’, though Kock (NN §3277) would assume temporal force, ‘when’.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Fms = Sveinbjörn Egilsson et al., eds. 1825-37. Fornmanna sögur eptir gömlum handritum útgefnar að tilhlutun hins norræna fornfræða fèlags. 12 vols. Copenhagen: Popp.
3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. Finnur Jónsson. 1901. Det norsk-islandske skjaldesprog omtr. 800-1300. SUGNL 28. Copenhagen: Møller.
6. 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.
7. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
8. Hkr 1893-1901 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1893-1901. Heimskringla: Nóregs konunga sǫgur af Snorri Sturluson. 4 vols. SUGNL 23. Copenhagen: Møller.
9. Hkr 1991 = Bergljót S. Kristjánsdóttir et al., eds. 1991. Heimskringla. 3 vols. Reykjavík: Mál og menning.
10. F 1871 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1871. Fríssbók: Codex Frisianus. En samling af norske konge-sagaer. Christiania (Oslo): Malling.
11. Fsk 1902-3 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1902-3. Fagrskinna: Nóregs kononga tal. SUGNL 30. Copenhagen: Møller.
12. ÍF 29 = Ágrip af Nóregskonunga sǫgum; Fagrskinna—Nóregs konungatal. Ed. Bjarni Einarsson. 1985.
13. Munch, P. A. and C. R. Unger, eds. 1847. Oldnorsk læsebog med tilhörende glossarium. Christiania (Oslo): Dahl.
14. Möbius, Theodor. 1860. Edda Sæmundar hins fróða. Mit einem Anhang bisher ungedruckter Gedichte. Leipzig: Hinrichs.
15. Lindquist, Ivar. 1929. Norröna lovkväden från 800 och 900 talen. I: Förslag till restituerad täxt jämte översättning. Lund: Gleerup.
16. Uppström, Anders, trans. 1919. ‘Visor ur Snorre Sturlesons Konunga Sǫgur’. In Uppström 1914-19, III, 39-49.
17. Du Méril, Edélestand. 1839. Histoire de la poésie Scandinave: Prolégomènes. Paris: Brockhaus & Avenarius.
18. Herbert, William. 1804. Miscellaneous Poetry. 2 vols. I: Select Icelandic Poetry. London: T. Reynolds.
19. Jón Helgason, ed. 1968. Skjaldevers. 3rd edn. Copenhagen: Munksgaard.
20. Nygaard, Marius. 1875. Udvalg af den norröne literatur for latin- og realgymnasier. Bergen: Giertsen.
21. Jón Helgason. 1946. ‘Haraldskvæði’. Tímarit Máls og menningar, 131-46.
22. Sueti, Friedrich. 1884. Ueber die auf den König Haraldr Hárfagri bezüglichen Gedichtfragmente in der norwegischen Königschronik Fagrskinna. Leipzig: August Press.
23. Larsen, Martin, trans. 1943-6. Den ældre edda og eddica minora. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Munksgaard.
24. Hkr 1777-1826 = Schöning, Gerhard et al., eds. 1777-1826. Heimskringla edr Noregs konunga-sögor. 6 vols. Copenhagen: Stein.
25. Hkr 1868 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1868. Heimskringla eller Norges kongesagaer af Snorre Sturlassøn. Christiania (Oslo): Brøgger & Christie.
26. Hollander, Lee M., trans. 1964a. Heimskringla: History of the Kings of Norway by Snorri Sturluson. Austin: The American-Scandinavian Foundation. Rpt. 1991 (rpt. cited in SkP II).
27. Internal references
28. (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 20 April 2024)
29. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Flateyjarbók’ 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. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=44> (accessed 20 April 2024)
30. (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 20 April 2024)
31. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Haralds þáttr hárfagra’ 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=137> (accessed 20 April 2024)
32. (forthcoming), ‘ Heimskringla, Haralds saga hárfagra’ 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=140> (accessed 20 April 2024)
33. Edith Marold 2017, ‘(Biography of) Þjóðólfr ór Hvini’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 431.
34. Not published: do not cite (Run Ög^VI)
35. R. D. Fulk (ed.) 2012, ‘Þjóðólfr ór Hvini, Poem about Haraldr hárfagri 4’ 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. 62.
36. Not published: do not cite (Run Ög 136^VI)