ÞjóðA Sex 9^II

Reist eikikjǫlr austan
ǫrðigt vatn ór Gǫrðum;
Svíar tœðu þér síðan,
snjallr landreki, allir.
Gekk með golli miklu
— glygg fell ótt of tyggja —
hǫll á hléborð sollin
Haralds skeið und vef breiðum.

Eikikjǫlr reist ǫrðigt vatn austan ór Gǫrðum; allir Svíar tœðu þér síðan, snjallr landreki. Sollin skeið Haralds gekk með miklu golli, hǫll á hléborð und breiðum vef; ótt glygg fell of tyggja.

The oaken keel clove the mounting water from the east out of Russia (Garðar); all the Swedes supported you after that, valiant land-ruler. Haraldr’s waterlogged warship advanced with much gold, listing to the leeward under her broad sail; a raging storm fell upon the prince.

Mss: Kˣ(532r), 39(21rb), F(43vb-44ra), E(13r), J2ˣ(263v-264r) (Hkr); H(29r), Hr(21rb) (H-Hr)

Readings: [1] Reist: Reiðr(?) F;    eikikjǫlr: so 39, F, E, J2ˣ, ‘eyki kiolr’ Kˣ, ‘eikiols’ H, ‘eíkíolar’ Hr    [3] tœðu: ‘taðo’ 39, réðu H, Hr;    þér: því H, Hr    [5] með: ‘meck með’ or ‘melo með’ E;    golli (‘gulli’): gullit H, Hr;    miklu: mikla H, Hr    [6] fell: ‘fe’ F;    tyggja: tiggri Hr    [7] hlé‑: so 39, F, E, H, hlæ‑ Kˣ, J2ˣ, Hr

Editions: Skj AI, 370-1, Skj BI, 341, Skald I, 172; Hkr 1893-1901, III, 100-1, IV, 213, ÍF 28, 92, Hkr 1991, 616 (HSig ch. 18), F 1871, 203, E 1916, 45; Fms 6, 173 (HSig ch. 17), Fms 12, 145.

Context: Haraldr sails from Novgorod (Hólmgarðr) to Sweden, where he forms an alliance with Sveinn Úlfsson, recently defeated by Magnús góði at Helgenæs (Helganes), and through him with the Swedes.

Notes: [All]: Haraldr’s return from Russia is also commemorated in Valg Har 5-6 and Stúfr Stúfdr 4. — [3] tœðu þér ‘supported you’: The H-Hr reading réðu því ‘determined that’ makes reasonable sense, but it leaves síðan ‘then, after that’ unexplained, it implies an improbably large role for the Swedes, and H-Hr rarely has superior readings. — [7] sollin ‘waterlogged’: The role of the adj. (a p. p. from svella ‘swell’, here by absorbing water) is slightly ambiguous. (a) It is assumed here to be f. nom. sg., qualifying skeið ‘warship, vessel’ (l. 8) (so also Skj B, ÍF 28 and Hkr 1991). (b) Sollin could grammatically be n. acc. pl. qualifying hléborð ‘leeward’ (l. 7), since although hléborð can be sg. (cf. Arn Magndr 6), a pl. usage is perhaps conceivable, by analogy with the simplex borð ‘plank’, which in nautical contexts can refer to the whole hull either as a sg. with collective sense (e.g. innanborðs ‘on board’ and Arn Hardr 14 skaut borði herskips ‘launched the warship’s planking’) or as a pl. (e.g. Arn Hardr 2 borð skriðu ‘bulwarks slid’). The fact that hléborð and sollin are consecutive in the text would support this, though if a pl. hléborð felt unnatural to listeners, and/or if the syntax was clarified by some feature of pausing or tone in oral delivery, they would intuit that sollin did not qualify hléborð but the following skeið. Either way, the resulting image is reminiscent of Arn Magndr 6/1-4. (c) Finnur Jónsson in Hkr 1893-1901, III and IV emended to sollit, which he took not with hléborð but with glygg (l. 6), hence ‘powerful storm’. In Skj B he retained the reading of the mss. — [8] vef ‘sail’: The word, m. nom. sg. vefr, etymologically refers to the fact that the sail is woven.

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. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
6. Hkr 1893-1901 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1893-1901. Heimskringla: Nóregs konunga sǫgur af Snorri Sturluson. 4 vols. SUGNL 23. Copenhagen: Møller.
7. Hkr 1991 = Bergljót S. Kristjánsdóttir et al., eds. 1991. Heimskringla. 3 vols. Reykjavík: Mál og menning.
8. F 1871 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1871. Fríssbók: Codex Frisianus. En samling af norske konge-sagaer. Christiania (Oslo): Malling.
9. E 1916 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1916. Eirspennill: AM 47 fol. Nóregs konunga sǫgur: Magnús góði – Hákon gamli. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske historiske kildeskriftskommission.
10. Internal references
11. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Hulda-Hrokkinskinna’ 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=84> (accessed 25 April 2024)
12. (forthcoming), ‘ Heimskringla, Haralds saga Sigurðssonar’ 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=142> (accessed 25 April 2024)
13. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Arnórr jarlaskáld Þórðarson, Haraldsdrápa 14’ 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. 276.
14. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Arnórr jarlaskáld Þórðarson, 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, pp. 262-3.
15. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Arnórr jarlaskáld Þórðarson, Magnússdrápa 6’ 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. 215-16.
16. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Stúfr inn blindi Þórðarson kattar, Stúfsdrápa 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. 354.
17. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Valgarðr á Velli, Poem about Haraldr harðráði 5’ 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. 304-5.