Cookies on our website

We use cookies on this website, mainly to provide a secure browsing experience but also to collect statistics on how the website is used. You can find out more about the cookies we set, the information we store and how we use it on the cookies page.

Continue

skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

Menu Search

Þjóð Yt 21I

Edith Marold (ed.) 2012, ‘Þjóðólfr ór Hvini, Ynglingatal 21’ 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. 46.

Þjóðólfr ór HviniYnglingatal
202122

Ok við vág
†hinn es viðjar†
hræ Ôleifs
hofgylðir svalg.
Ok glóðfjalgr
gǫrvar leysti
sonr Fornjóts
af Svía jǫfri.
Sá áttkonr
frá Uppsǫlum
lofða kyns
fyr lǫngu hvarf.

Ok {hofgylðir} svalg hræ Ôleifs við vág, †hinn es viðjar†. Ok {glóðfjalgr sonr Fornjóts} leysti gǫrvar af jǫfri Svía. {Sá áttkonr {kyns lofða}} hvarf frá Uppsǫlum fyr lǫngu.

And {the temple-wolf} [FIRE] swallowed the corpse of Óláfr near the bay, †...†. And {the ember-hot son of Fornjótr <giant>} [FIRE] loosed the clothes from the ruler of the Swedes. {That descendant {of the kindred of rulers}} [KINGS > KING] disappeared from Uppsala long ago.

Mss: (40r), papp18ˣ(10r), 521ˣ(49-50), F(6vb), J1ˣ(19v), J2ˣ(22r-v), R685ˣ(21r-v) (Hkr); 761aˣ(61v-62r)

Readings: [2] †hinn es viðjar† (‘hinn er viðiar’): ‘vidar’ F, hinn er er viðjar J1ˣ    [3] Ôleifs: Óláf konung J1ˣ, R685ˣ, Óláfs konungs J2ˣ    [4] hofgylðir: ‘holgyldir’ F, ‘ælgylþis’ J1ˣ, ǫlgylðis J2ˣ, R685ˣ    [5] glóðfjalgr: so J2ˣ, glaðfjalgr Kˣ, papp18ˣ, 521ˣ, F, R685ˣ, 761aˣ, ‘glodflalgr’ J1ˣ    [6] gǫrvar: gǫtvar J1ˣ, J2ˣ, R685ˣ;    leysti: á lesti F    [7] sonr: so F, J1ˣ, J2ˣ, R685ˣ, sonar Kˣ, papp18ˣ, 521ˣ, 761aˣ;    Fornjóts: so papp18ˣ, 521ˣ, F, J1ˣ, J2ˣ, R685ˣ, 761aˣ, ‘fiorniotz’ Kˣ    [9] Sá: so F, J1ˣ, R685ˣ, svá Kˣ, papp18ˣ, 521ˣ, J2ˣ, 761aˣ;    ‑konr: ‑konar J1ˣ, R685ˣ    [10] frá: at F    [11] lofða: ‘fofda’ R685ˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 13, Skj BI, 12, Skald I, 8, FF §52; Hkr 1893-1901, I, 76, IV, 21, ÍF 26, 74, Hkr 1991, I, 43 (Yng ch. 43), F 1871, 29; Yng 1912, 49, 67-8, Yng 2000, 62, Yt 1914, 14, Yt 1925, 206, 244-6.

Context: After the death of Ingjaldr illráði, his son Óláfr flees to Vermaland (Värmland) and begins clearing land. Great numbers of Swedes join him, putting pressure on the land, and when harvests fail, this is blamed on Óláfr, who is not given to performing sacrifices. He is burned alive in his house by Vænir (Lake Vänern) by his own people in sacrifice to Óðinn.

Notes: [All]: As father to the Norwegian Yngling king Hálfdan hvítbeinn ‘White-bone’, Óláfr trételgja ‘Wood-cutter’ ushers in the transition from the Swedish to the Norwegian Ynglingar. His nickname trételgja also appears in HN (2003, 78): Eius filius Olauus cognomento Tretelgia … ‘His son Óláfr nicknamed Tretelgia …’. According to Snorri (Context above) and Saxo (Saxo 2005, I, 7, 11, 7, p. 502-3) he ruled in Värmland, to where he had emigrated after the death of his father. Värmland was presumably regarded as part of Sweden by Þjóðólfr, who refers to Óláfr trételgja as a ruler of the Swedes (jǫfri Svía, l. 8), and also in HN (2003, 78), which reports that Óláfr died in Sweden. Snorri’s interpretation of Óláfr’s cremation as a sacrifice to Óðinn and as a brenna, in which a building is set on fire so that its occupants burn to death, is not matched in the other prose sources. — [1] við vág ‘near the bay’: Vágr can designate the sea, a bay or other bodies of water (LP: vágr). This has been variously localized. Snorri (Context above) believes it to be Lake Vänern, and Finnur Jónsson concurs in Hkr 1893-1901, IV and Yng 1912. Noreen (1912a, 10-11) takes it to be the river Fyrisån or (Yt 1925) Lake Mälaren; Skre (2007b, 415) Oslofjorden; and Hkr 1991 the sea. — [2] †hinn es viðjar† ‘…’: Despite several suggestions as to the best way to complete this poorly transmitted (unmetrical) line, one must concur with Åkerlund (1939, 110), ÍF 26 and Wessén (Yng 1952, 73) that it is impossible to arrive at an acceptable solution. — [4] hofgylðir ‘the temple-wolf [FIRE]’: Both this and the J reading ǫlgylðir ‘wolf of the alder’ (J2ˣ) are satisfactory fire-kennings of the type ‘enemy of the tree or the house’ (Meissner 101) and can alliterate either with Ôleifr or with hræ ‘corpse’, and eds have varied in their preference. Hofgylðir is chosen in this edn since it is the reading of the main ms. and since it alliterates with hræ in the first lift of the previous line. In the case of ǫlgylðir the lift would fall on the second syllable of a Type D1-line, which led Noreen (1912a, 11 and Yt 1925) and Åkerlund (1939, 110) to reverse hræ Óláfs to Óláfs hræ. — [4] svalg ‘swallowed’: The verb here extends the metaphoric sense of the base-word of the fire-kenning, gylðir ‘wolf’; cf. Sturl Hákkv 8/1-4II. — [5] glóðfjalgr ‘ember-hot’: Here the reading in J2ˣ (supported by J1ˣ) is preferred for semantic reasons, as it is in all eds apart from Hkr 1991, although glaðfjalgr ‘shiny-hot’, found in and F, cannot be dismissed completely. — [6] gǫrvar ‘the clothes’: The J transcripts have gǫtvar ‘clothes’, which is adopted in most previous eds (Yt 1925; Åkerlund 1939, 110; ÍF 26) as the more common word (see LP: gǫrvar, gǫtvar). This edn follows the main ms. . — [7] sonr Fornjóts ‘the son of Fornjótr <giant> [FIRE]’: Fornjótr’s sons Ægir, Logi and Kári personify the sea, fire and wind, respectively; see Sveinn Norðrdr 2/2III and Note. The etymology of the name is controversial; cf. Hellquist (1903). — [9, 11] sá áttkonr kyns lofða ‘that descendant of the kindred of rulers [KINGS > KING]’: So most eds. Lofða has also been taken as gen. sg. of Lofði, the name of a legendary king (Hkr 1893-1901, IV; Skj B). — [10, 12] hvarf frá Uppsǫlum fyr lǫngu ‘disappeared from Uppsala long ago’: This could mean either that Óláfr died (Wadstein 1891, 377-9) or that he went away (Schück 1905-10, 49; Hkr 1893-1901, IV; Skj B; Yt 1925). Åkerlund (1939, 70-2) argues persuasively for the latter.

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. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
  4. Meissner = Meissner, Rudolf. 1921. Die Kenningar der Skalden: Ein Beitrag zur skaldischen Poetik. Rheinische Beiträge und Hülfsbücher zur germanischen Philologie und Volkskunde 1. Bonn and Leipzig: Schroeder. Rpt. 1984. Hildesheim etc.: Olms.
  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. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
  7. Hkr 1893-1901 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1893-1901. Heimskringla: Nóregs konunga sǫgur af Snorri Sturluson. 4 vols. SUGNL 23. Copenhagen: Møller.
  8. Hkr 1991 = Bergljót S. Kristjánsdóttir et al., eds. 1991. Heimskringla. 3 vols. Reykjavík: Mál og menning.
  9. F 1871 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1871. Fríssbók: Codex Frisianus. En samling af norske konge-sagaer. Christiania (Oslo): Malling.
  10. HN = Historia Norwegiæ. In MHN 69-124.
  11. Saxo 2005 = Friis-Jensen, Karsten, ed. 2005. Saxo Grammaticus: Gesta Danorum / Danmarkshistorien. Trans. Peter Zeeberg. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Det danske sprog- og litteraturselskab & Gads forlag.
  12. FF = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1922. Fornjermansk forskning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 18:1. Lund: Gleerup.
  13. Yng 2000 = Jørgensen, Jon Gunnar, ed. 2000b. Ynglinga saga etter Kringla (AM 35 fol). Series of Dissertations submitted to the Faculty of Arts, University of Oslo 80. Oslo: Unipub forlag.
  14. Yt 1914 = Grape, Anders and Birger Nerman, eds. 1914. Ynglingatal I-IV. Meddelanden från Nordiska Seminariet 3. Uppsala: Berling.
  15. Yng 1912 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912. Ynglingasaga. Copenhagen: Gad.
  16. Yt 1925 = Noreen, Adolf, ed. 1925. Ynglingatal: Text, översättning och kommentar. Stockholm: Lagerström.
  17. Hellquist, Elof. 1903. ‘Om Fornjótr’. ANF 19, 134-40.
  18. Noreen, Adolf. 1912a. ‘Till Ynglingatal’. In Xenia Lideniana: Festskrift tillägnad Prof. Evald Lidén på hans femtioårsdag, den 3 oktober 1912. Stockholm: Norstedt, 1-15.
  19. Schück, Henrik. 1905-10. Studier i Ynglingatal. Uppsala: Berling; Almqvist & Wiksell.
  20. Skre, Dagfinn. 2007b. ‘The Dating of Ynglingatal’. In Skre 2007a, 407-28.
  21. Wadstein, Elis. 1891. ‘Om Olov Trätälja ock hans binamn’. ÅNOH, 371-82.
  22. Åkerlund, Walter. 1939. Studier över Ynglingatal. Skrifta utgivna av Vetenskaps-Societeten i Lund 23. Lund: Gleerup.
  23. Yng 1952 = Wessén, Elias, ed. 1952. Snorri Sturluson: Ynglingasaga. Stockholm etc.: Svenska bokförlaget etc.
  24. Internal references
  25. (forthcoming), ‘ Heimskringla, Ynglinga saga’ 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=158> (accessed 29 March 2024)
  26. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Sturla Þórðarson, Hákonarkviða 8’ 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. 705.
  27. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Sveinn, Norðrsetudrápa 2’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 400.
Close

Log in

This service is only available to members of the relevant projects, and to purchasers of the skaldic volumes published by Brepols.
This service uses cookies. By logging in you agree to the use of cookies on your browser.

Close

Stanza/chapter/text segment

Use the buttons at the top of the page to navigate between stanzas in a poem.

Information tab

Interactive tab

The text and translation are given here, with buttons to toggle whether the text is shown in the verse order or prose word order. Clicking on indiviudal words gives dictionary links, variant readings, kennings and notes, where relevant.

Full text tab

This is the text of the edition in a similar format to how the edition appears in the printed volumes.

Chapter/text segment

This view is also used for chapters and other text segments. Not all the headings shown are relevant to such sections.