ÞjóðA Magnfl 7^II

Hykk í hundraðs flokki
Haralds bróðurson stóðu
— hrafn vissi sér hvassast
hungrbann — framast manna.
Vítt lá Vinða flótti;
varð, þars Magnús barðisk,
hǫggvinn valr at hylja
heiði rastar breiða.

Hykk {bróðurson Haralds} stóðu framast manna í hundraðs flokki; hrafn vissi sér hvassast hungrbann. Flótti Vinða lá vítt; hǫggvinn valr varð at hylja rastar breiða heiði, þars Magnús barðisk.

I believe {the brother’s son of Haraldr} [= Magnús] stood foremost of the men in a force of a hundred; the raven knew there was the strictest ban on hunger. The Wends forced to flee lay far and wide; the felled slain came to cover the heath a league wide, where Magnús fought.

Mss: Kˣ(511v), 39(16rb), F(40ra), E(7v), J2ˣ(250r-v) (Hkr); Holm2(75r), 972ˣ(588va), 325VI(42vb), 321ˣ(286), 73aˣ(218r), 325V(90va), 61(130vb), Bb(207ra), Tóm(162r) (ÓH); FskBˣ(58r), FskAˣ(221) (Fsk); H(9r), Hr(9ra) (H-Hr); Flat(191va) (Flat)

Readings: [1] Hykk (‘Hyck’): ‘Hvck’ 73aˣ, 325V, Bb, ‘Hyg’ Flat;    hundraðs: ‘hundat’ 321ˣ    [3] hvassast: ‘hvassastz’ 325V    [4] hungr‑: hungrs 73aˣ, ‘hygr‑’ Flat    [5] Vítt lá: blank space 321ˣ;    Vítt: ‘vít’ Holm2, ‘vit’ FskAˣ;    Vinða: ‘unnda’ Tóm;    flótti: floti Holm2, Tóm    [6] varð: var Tóm, FskBˣ, Hr, Flat;    þars (‘þar er’): þá er 73aˣ, 325V, ‘þar ver’ or þar er 61, ‘þer er’ FskAˣ, ‘[…]’ Hr;    Magnús barðisk: ‘[…]’ Hr    [7] hǫggvinn: ‘hoggum’ Bb, Tóm, ‘hauggan’ Hr;    valr: val Holm2    [8] heiði rastar breiða: ‘heidur rastir breidar’ Hr;    breiða: breiði 73aˣ, 325V

Editions: Skj AI, 362-3, Skj BI, 333-4, Skald I, 168; Hkr 1893-1901, III, 49, IV, 195, ÍF 28, 44, Hkr 1991, 585 (Mgóð ch. 28), F 1871, 183, E 1916, 24-5; ÓH 1941, 630 (ch. 265); Fsk 1902-3, 211-12 (ch. 42), ÍF 29, 222 (ch. 50); Fms 6, 67 (Mgóð ch. 33), Fms 12, 133; Flat 1860-8, III, 281, Andersson and Gade 2000, 121, 469 (MH).

Context: The scene is still Lyrskovshede (Hlýrskógsheiðr) (see Context to st. 6). The enemy soon flee, and an immense number are slain. Flat attributes the st. to Sigvatr [Þórðarson].

Notes: [1] hundraðs ‘hundred’: The sense may well be approximate, as suggested in ÍF 28 (cf. Hkr 1893-1901, IV), but this is not proven by herr er hundrað ‘a host consists of a hundred’, which ÍF 28 cites from Skm, since the context there is a list of terms for groups and the number of men each of them designates (SnE 1998, I, 107). — [2] bróðurson Haralds ‘nephew of Haraldr [= Magnús]’: An allusion to Þjóðólfr’s other main patron, Haraldr harðráði Sigurðarson, who was the half-brother of Óláfr Haraldsson and for a time co-ruler in Norway with Magnús (see ‘Royal Biographies’ in Introduction to this vol.). A more complex analysis of the kenning, in which bróður Haralds ‘Haraldr’s brother [= Óláfr] is an embedded kenning, is possible but unnecessary, as also in ÞjóðA Run 4/4. — [3-4] hrafn vissi sér hvassast hungrbann ‘the raven knew there was the strictest ban on hunger’: This statement is akin to warrior-kennings of the type ‘raven-feeder’, based on the idea that the hero makes carrion of his enemies. — [5] flótti Vinða lá vítt ‘the Wends forced to flee lay far and wide’: Vinða ‘Wends’ is gen. pl., forming a noun phrase with the nom. sg. noun flótti ‘flight, those put to flight’. The translation ‘forced to flee’ reflects the interpretation of flótti as men who have been put to flight. Alternatively, the noun could denote flight in the abstract, in which case l. 5 would mean ‘the (path of the) Wends’ flight went far and wide’, as assumed in ÍF 29 and Hkr 1991, where lá is glossed as dreifðist ‘scattered’.

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. 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.
5. 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.
6. ÓH 1941 = Johnsen, Oscar Albert and Jón Helgason, eds. 1941. Saga Óláfs konungs hins helga: Den store saga om Olav den hellige efter pergamenthåndskrift i Kungliga biblioteket i Stockholm nr. 2 4^to med varianter fra andre håndskrifter. 2 vols. Det norske historiske kildeskriftfond skrifter 53. Oslo: Dybwad.
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. E 1916 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1916. Eirspennill: AM 47 fol. Nóregs konunga sǫgur: Magnús góði – Hákon gamli. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske historiske kildeskriftskommission.
13. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
14. ÍF 29 = Ágrip af Nóregskonunga sǫgum; Fagrskinna—Nóregs konungatal. Ed. Bjarni Einarsson. 1985.
15. Internal references
16. (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 19 April 2024)
17. Kari Ellen Gade 2009, ‘(Biography of) Haraldr harðráði Sigurðarson’ 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. 35-56.
18. (forthcoming), ‘ Snorri Sturluson, Skáldskaparmál’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=112> (accessed 19 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 19 April 2024)
20. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Þjóðólfr Arnórsson, Runhent poem about Haraldr 4’ 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. 107.