ÞjóðA Frag 3^II

Ganga él of yngva
Ullar skips með fullu,
þars samnagla siglur
slíðrdúkaðar ríða.

{Él {skips Ullar}} ganga of yngva með fullu, þars {slíðrdúkaðar siglur samnagla} ríða.

{The storms {of Ullr’s <god’s> ship}} [SHIELD > BATTLES] come upon the prince at full strength, where {sheath-covered masts of the rivet} [SWORDS] ride high.

Mss: R(34r), Tˣ(35v), W(78), U(33r), A(11r), C(5v) (SnE)

Readings: [1] yngva: so Tˣ, A, C, unga R, W, ‘yng[...]’ U    [2] Ullar skips með fullu: ‘[...]v’ U;    skips: skíðs C    [3] siglur: ‘[...]’ C    [4] ‑dúkaðar: ‘‑dukanþar’ U, ‑dúkaðir A;    ríða: ‘[...]ða’ U

Editions: Skj AI, 376, Skj BI, 346, Skald I, 174; SnE 1848-87, I, 426-7, II, 329, 440, 589, SnE 1931, 151, SnE 1998, 69, 143.

Context: The helmingr is within a sequence of skaldic citations illustrating shield-kennings. It is cited with the words Askr Ullar, sem hér er ‘Ullr’s ash, as it stands here’ (R, Tˣ, W,C) or Askr Ullar, sem Þjóðólfr kvað ‘Ullr’s ash, as Þjóðólfr said’ (U, A), which is noteworthy both because Þjóðólfr is not named in all mss and because skip Ullar ‘Ullr’s ship’ rather than the more specific askr Ullar is the expression in the st. itself.

Notes: [All]: The st. is attributed to Þjóðólfr in A and U, and this has been generally accepted. R, Tˣ, W, C cite Refr Frag 3^III, and then Anon (SnE) 7^III and the Þjóðólfr fragment, both with the words sem hér er ‘as it stands here’ (Tˣ lacks Anon (SnE) 7^III). — [1] yngva ‘the prince’: Since this is clearly the generic term for ‘prince, king’, the capital letter printed in Skj B is probably unnecessary (though see Note below). The alternative reading unga would, as an adj., have no suitable noun phrase to qualify. Faulkes points out that although ‘vnga’ in R would normally be read as unga ‘young’, <y> and <u> alternate in the scribe’s orthography; he accordingly prints yng<v>a in his text (SnE 1998, I, 69, 143). — [2] skips Ullar ‘Ullr’s <god’s> ship [SHIELD]’: The reason for this frequently-used kenning-type is not recorded. LP’s explanation that Ullr had a ship named Skjǫldr ‘shield’ may be correct, but it is not confirmed by SnE, as the LP reference to it might imply. See further Note to Gamlkan Has 64/2^VII. — [3-4] slíðrdúkaðar siglur samnagla ríða ‘sheath-covered masts of the rivet [SWORDS] ride high’: Samnagli only otherwise occurs among sword-heiti in Þul Sverða 12/2^III; many of these refer literally to parts of swords, and since samnagli here seems to be a determinant to siglur it probably has the specific sense ‘rivet’, lit. ‘together-nail’ (on a sword), which forms a kenning for ‘sword’ with siglur ‘masts’. The adj. slíðrdúkaðar ‘sheath-covered’, as well as being decorative, further disambiguates the kenning, reinforcing its reference to ‘sword’, though since dúkr refers to cloth, there is also a hint at a sail on a mast, hence slíðrdúkaðar siglur may amount to ‘masts of the rivet [SWORDS], whose sail is a sheath’. The verb ríða ‘ride, swing high’ is appropriate both to the metaphorical masts and sails and to the literal swords; the verb is elsewhere predicated of both swords (as in Rv Lv 17) and banners.

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. SnE 1848-87 = Snorri Sturluson. 1848-87. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar: Edda Snorronis Sturlaei. Ed. Jón Sigurðsson et al. 3 vols. Copenhagen: Legatum Arnamagnaeanum. Rpt. Osnabrück: Zeller, 1966.
4. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
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. SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
7. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
8. Internal references
9. Edith Marold 2017, ‘Snorra Edda (Prologue, Gylfaginning, Skáldskaparmál)’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols [check printed volume for citation].
10. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Sverða heiti 12’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 812.
11. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Lausavísur, Stanzas from Snorra Edda 7’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 517.
12. Katrina Attwood (ed.) 2007, ‘Gamli kanóki, Harmsól 64’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 130-1.
13. Edith Marold (ed.) 2017, ‘Hofgarða-Refr Gestsson, Fragments 3’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 262.
14. Judith Jesch (ed.) 2009, ‘Rǫgnvaldr jarl Kali Kolsson, Lausavísur 17’ 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. 595-6.