ÞjóðA Magnfl 14^II

Rǫmm vas hildr, sús Hramma
harðéls viðir bǫrðusk,
— herr gekk snart at snerru —
sunnudags of unnin.
Flaut, þás feigir létu
fjǫr gnýstafir hjǫrva,
— þjóð sǫkk niðr at nauðum —
nár á hverri bôru.

Rǫmm hildr vas of unnin sunnudags, sús {viðir {harðéls Hramma}} bǫrðusk; herr gekk snart at snerru. Nár flaut á hverri bôru, þás {feigir {hjǫrva gný}stafir} létu fjǫr; þjóð sǫkk niðr at nauðum.

A mighty battle was fought on a Sunday, which {trees {of the harsh storm of Hrammi <= Óðinn>}} [BATTLE > WARRIORS] waged; the army advanced keenly to the onslaught. A corpse floated on every wave, as {the doomed staves {of the din of swords}} [(lit. ‘din-staves of swords’) BATTLE > WARRIORS] gave up life; people sank down under duress.

Mss: Kˣ(514v), papp18ˣ(220r), 39(17ra), F(40vb), E(8v), J2ˣ(252r-v) (Hkr); H(11r-v), Hr(10va) (H-Hr)

Readings: [1] Rǫmm: ‘Rꜹm’ E;    vas (‘var’): varð H;    Hramma: hrammar J2ˣ, hrama Hr    [2] ‑éls: so all others, ‑elds Kˣ    [3] at: so 39, E, J2ˣ, H, Hr, á Kˣ, af F;    snerru: snertu E, J2ˣ, snæru Hr    [4] ‑dags: so F, H, Hr, dag Kˣ, ‘.d.’ 39, dagr E, J2ˣ;    of (‘um’): af E, J2ˣ;    unnin: so H, Hr, unninn Kˣ, F, unni 39, E, J2ˣ    [6] gný‑: gunn 39, F, ‘(g)n(ys)’(?) H, gnýs Hr    [7] sǫkk niðr: skaut E, J2ˣ;    at: af H, Hr;    nauðum: ‘nauðr[…]’ H

Editions: Skj AI, 364-5, Skj BI, 335, Skald I, 169, NN §§806, 1902; Hkr 1893-1901, III, 57, IV, 197, ÍF 28, 51, Hkr 1991, 589 (Mgóð ch. 30), F 1871, 186, E 1916, 28; Fms 6, 78-9 (Mgóð ch. 38), Fms 12, 134.

Context: As with sts 8 onwards, this is set within the sea-battle of Århus (Áróss). It is separated from sts. 12-13 by the remark that the battle was fought on the Sunday before Christmas.

Notes: [1-2] viðir harðéls Hramma ‘trees of the harsh storm of Hrammi <= Óðinn> [BATTLE > WARRIORS]’: (a) Éls ‘(of) the storm’, as the reading of all mss except Kˣ (and papp18ˣ), and as the lectio difficilior, may well be the more authentic reading. The interpretation above follows ÍF 28 (and Hkr 1991) in taking éls Hramma together as ‘Óðinn’s storm [BATTLE]’, and indeed such an Óðinn-heiti appears in Þul Óðins 4/5^III, where ms. A reads ‘hrami’ and B ‘hramme’, though Finnur Jónsson in LP maintains that the metre favours hrami (the l. reads Hram(m)i, Hjarrandi). The cpd harðél occurs in a similar battle-kenning in Hskv Hardr 2/1, 2: harðél Haddings ‘strong storms of Haddingr <legendary hero>’. (b) Alternatively, éls could conceivably form a kenning with hramma in the sense ‘of hands’: ‘blizzard of the hands [ARROWS]’, though parallels are hard to find other than the partial one of hlaupsildr gaupna Egils ‘leaping herrings of Egill’s <legendary bowman’s> palms’ (Eyv Lv 14/8^I; cf. Meissner 146-7 on arrow-kennings). The viðir of arrows would then be warriors, cf., e.g., viðir nadda ‘trees of points/shafts’, HaukrV Ísldr 23/8^IV, viðr fleina ‘tree of spears’ Útsteinn Útkv 7/8^VIII. (c) The K reading -elds preserved in Kˣ and papp18ˣ gives viðir harðelds hramma ‘trees of the hard fire of hands [GOLD > MEN]’. This reading is adopted in Skj B and Skald, but it is a minority reading, and may be an early emendation. — [4] sunnudags ‘on a Sunday’: The readings dags and dagr are likely to go back to dags, an adverbial gen., but the variant acc. sunnudag would also fit here. Either could modify any or all of the three clauses in the helmingr. The arrangement adopted is also favoured in the eds listed above, except that Fms appears to take it with snerru ‘onslaught’ in l. 3. — [7] at nauðum ‘under duress’: This adverbial too could qualify any or all of the three clauses describing the enemy slain. In the arrangement adopted above it is taken with the intercalated þjóð sǫkk niðr ‘people sank down’ (as also by Kock in Skald and in NN §806, in a long list of disagreements with Skj B, and in ÍF 28 and Hkr 1991). Finnur Jónsson in Skj B takes it with létu fjǫr ‘gave up life’ (ll. 5-6).

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. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
9. Hkr 1893-1901 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1893-1901. Heimskringla: Nóregs konunga sǫgur af Snorri Sturluson. 4 vols. SUGNL 23. Copenhagen: Møller.
10. Hkr 1991 = Bergljót S. Kristjánsdóttir et al., eds. 1991. Heimskringla. 3 vols. Reykjavík: Mál og menning.
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. Internal references
14. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Óðins nǫfn 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. 741.
15. Russell Poole (ed.) 2012, ‘Eyvindr skáldaspillir Finnsson, Lausavísur 14’ 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. 234.
16. Not published: do not cite (HaukrV Ísldr 23^IV)
17. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Halldórr skvaldri, Haraldsdrápa 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, p. 494.
18. Hubert Seelow (ed.) 2017, ‘Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka 47 (Útsteinn Gunnlaðarson, Útsteinskviða 7)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 341.