ÞjóðA Lv 2^II

Sumar annat skal sunnar
— segik eina spô — fleini
— vér aukum kaf króki —
kaldnefr furu halda.

Annat sumar skal kaldnefr halda furu fleini sunnar; segik eina spô; vér aukum kaf króki.

Next summer shall cold-beak [the anchor] hold the fir vessel with its fluke further south; I speak a prophecy; we will increase the plunging of the hook.

Mss: Kˣ(541r), 39(23rb), F(45va), E(15v), J2ˣ(269v) (Hkr); H(44r), Hr(31vb) (H-Hr); FskBˣ(70r), FskAˣ(261) (Fsk); Mork(8v) (Mork); Flat(197va) (Flat)

Readings: [1] skal: skal ek FskBˣ, Mork, Flat    [2] spô: svá Hr    [3] aukum: ‘okom’ FskAˣ    [4] kald‑: kall‑ H, Hr;    ‑nefr: ‘‑nez’ Mork, ‑geðr Flat;    furu: skipum Flat

Editions: Skj AI, 379, Skj BI, 349, Skald I, 175, NN §3086; Hkr 1893-1901, III, 120, IV, 217, ÍF 28, 109, Hkr 1991, 627-8 (HSig ch. 32), F 1871, 211, E 1916, 54; Fms 6, 252 (HSig ch. 47), Fms 12, 149; Fsk 1902-3, 250 (ch. 46), ÍF 29, 251 (ch. 55); Mork 1928-32, 156; Andersson and Gade 2000, 194, 475 (MH); Flat 1860-8, III, 335 (MH).

Context: Hkr and H-Hr: Haraldr, in his second year as sole king of Norway, takes a fleet south to Jylland (Jutland) and raids there. He anchors in the Randersfjord (Goðnarfjǫrðr), and composes HHarð Lv 4, bidding Þjóðólfr to compose in reply, which he does in Lv 2. FskBˣ treats the helmingar as a single st. by Þjóðólfr while Mork (with a hint of doubt) and Flat attribute it to Haraldr.

Notes: [All]: This campaign of 1048 is also commemorated in Hharð Lv 4, Bǫlv Hardr 8, Grani Har 1-2 and Anon (HSig) 1. — [All]: As noted above, this helmingr forms a single st. with Hharð Lv 4 in some sources. That st. is among those collected by Perkins (1984-5, 194-5) in support of his thesis that skaldic poetry originated in rowing chants. As in ÞjóðA Har 6, the ll. are rich in vocabulary relating to anchors: kaldnefr ‘cold-beak’ (l. 4), fleinn, usually ‘arrow(-barb)’ or ‘spear(-point)’ (l. 2), and krókr ‘hook’ (l. 3), often referring to a fish-hook. Viking Age anchors such as that in the Ladby ship (Jesch 2001a, 169) were similar to modern ones, with a main shaft or stock and curved, pointed flukes or bills to each side. — [3] aukum kaf ‘we will increase the plunging’: Kock in NN §3086 objects to the interpretation of kaf as ‘diving, plunging’ (in Skj B, also here), arguing that the word refers not to the action of diving but to ‘the deep’ (dybet). His proposed interpretation gives ‘we increase the deep with the anchor’, i.e. ‘we cast the anchor’. However, this seems rather implausible (plunging an anchor causes a minimal rise in sea-level), and although most of the few examples of kaf in LP do refer to the sea, ‘diving’ is a meaning well recorded in prose (Fritzer: kaf 4, and cf. the verb kafa ‘dive’). — [4] kaldnefr ‘cold-beak [the anchor]’: This prioritises the Hkr reading (-nefr also in H, Hr) and adopts a traditional interpretation. Editing the Mork text alone, Gade suggests that ‘calldnez’ represents kaldnets. Combined with the Mork reading skal ek in l. 1 (also Fsk Bˣ and Flat), this gives skalk halda kaldnets furu fleini ‘I shall hold the fir-tree of the cold trawl net [SHIP] with the anchor-fluke’.

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. 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.
7. 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.
8. Jesch, Judith. 2001a. Ships and Men in the Late Viking Age: The Vocabulary of Runic Inscriptions and Skaldic Verse. Woodbridge: Boydell.
9. 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.
10. Mork 1928-32 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1928-32. Morkinskinna. SUGNL 53. Copenhagen: Jørgensen.
11. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
12. Hkr 1893-1901 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1893-1901. Heimskringla: Nóregs konunga sǫgur af Snorri Sturluson. 4 vols. SUGNL 23. Copenhagen: Møller.
13. Hkr 1991 = Bergljót S. Kristjánsdóttir et al., eds. 1991. Heimskringla. 3 vols. Reykjavík: Mál og menning.
14. F 1871 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1871. Fríssbók: Codex Frisianus. En samling af norske konge-sagaer. Christiania (Oslo): Malling.
15. Fsk 1902-3 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1902-3. Fagrskinna: Nóregs kononga tal. SUGNL 30. Copenhagen: Møller.
16. E 1916 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1916. Eirspennill: AM 47 fol. Nóregs konunga sǫgur: Magnús góði – Hákon gamli. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske historiske kildeskriftskommission.
17. ÍF 29 = Ágrip af Nóregskonunga sǫgum; Fagrskinna—Nóregs konungatal. Ed. Bjarni Einarsson. 1985.
18. Perkins, Richard. 1984-5. ‘Rowing Chants and the Origins of dróttkvæðr háttr’. SBVS 21, 155-221.
19. Internal references
20. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Heimskringla’ 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=4> (accessed 18 April 2024)
21. (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 18 April 2024)
22. (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 18 April 2024)
23. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Morkinskinna’ 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=87> (accessed 18 April 2024)
24. (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 18 April 2024)
25. (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 18 April 2024)
26. Not published: do not cite (Run^VI)
27. Kari Ellen Gade and Diana Whaley (eds) 2009, ‘Anonymous Lausavísur, Lausavísur from Haralds saga Sigurðarsonar 1’ 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. 815-16.
28. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Bǫlverkr Arnórsson, Drápa about Haraldr harðráði 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. 293.
29. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Grani skáld, Poem about Haraldr harðráði 1’ 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. 296-7.
30. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Haraldr harðráði Sigurðarson, Lausavísur 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, pp. 46-7.
31. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Þjóðólfr Arnórsson, Stanzas about Haraldr Sigurðarson’s leiðangr 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. 156-7.