Þjsk Lv 5I
Kate Heslop (ed.) 2012, ‘Þorleifr jarlsskáld Rauðfeldarson, Lausavísur 5’ 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. 375.
hugr ‘mind’
(not checked:)
hugr (noun m.): mind, thought, courage
minn ‘My’
(not checked:)
minn (pron.; °f. mín, n. mitt): my
illa ‘badly’
(not checked:)
1. illa (adv.): badly
hefr ‘has [I have]’
(not checked:)
hafa (verb): have
drengr ‘the man’
(not checked:)
drengr (noun m.; °-s, dat. -; -ir, gen. -ja): man, warrior
skaða ‘damage’
(not checked:)
skaði (noun m.; °-a; -ar): harm, damage
fengit ‘suffered’
(not checked:)
2. fá (verb; °fǽr; fekk, fengu; fenginn): get, receive
notes
[2, 3] fengit sér * ‘suffered’: Lit. ‘received for himself’. Ek ‘I’ following sé(r) in the mss seems to be based on a misreading of sér as a verb.
sér ‘’
(not checked:)
sik (pron.; °gen. sín, dat. sér): (refl. pron.)
[3] sér *: sér ek Flat, 4867ˣ, sé ek 563aˣ
notes
[2, 3] fengit sér * ‘suffered’: Lit. ‘received for himself’. Ek ‘I’ following sé(r) in the mss seems to be based on a misreading of sér as a verb.
notes
[2, 3] fengit sér * ‘suffered’: Lit. ‘received for himself’. Ek ‘I’ following sé(r) in the mss seems to be based on a misreading of sér as a verb.
á ‘on’
(not checked:)
3. á (prep.): on, at
sléttri ‘the level’
(not checked:)
sléttr (adj.): level, smooth
[3] sléttri: svartri 4867ˣ, saltri corrected from svart 563aˣ
notes
[3, 4]: The readings svartri in 4867ˣ or saltri in 563aˣ (l. 3) and ‘svar/svartt til brands’, read as svárt til brands in 563ˣ (l. 4), could yield: drengr hefr svárt fengit sér skaða til brands ok knarrar á svartri/saltri eyri ‘the warrior has grievously suffered damage to ship’s beak and ship on the black/salty gravel-spit’.
eyri ‘gravel-spit’
(not checked:)
eyrr (noun f.): land-spit
svarri ‘lady’
(not checked:)
svarri (noun m.; °-a): (proud) lady
[4] svarri báts: svar til brands 4867ˣ, svart til brands 563aˣ
notes
[3, 4]: The readings svartri in 4867ˣ or saltri in 563aˣ (l. 3) and ‘svar/svartt til brands’, read as svárt til brands in 563ˣ (l. 4), could yield: drengr hefr svárt fengit sér skaða til brands ok knarrar á svartri/saltri eyri ‘the warrior has grievously suffered damage to ship’s beak and ship on the black/salty gravel-spit’.
báts ‘to boat’
(not checked:)
bátr (noun m.; °-s, dat. -i/-; -ar): boat
[4] svarri báts: svar til brands 4867ˣ, svart til brands 563aˣ
notes
[3, 4]: The readings svartri in 4867ˣ or saltri in 563aˣ (l. 3) and ‘svar/svartt til brands’, read as svárt til brands in 563ˣ (l. 4), could yield: drengr hefr svárt fengit sér skaða til brands ok knarrar á svartri/saltri eyri ‘the warrior has grievously suffered damage to ship’s beak and ship on the black/salty gravel-spit’.
ok ‘and’
(not checked:)
3. ok (conj.): and, but; also
knarrar ‘ship’
(not checked:)
knǫrr (noun m.; °knarrar, dat. knerri; knerrir, acc. knǫrru/knerri): (a kind of) ship
Enn ‘But’
(not checked:)
2. enn (adv.): still, yet, again
[5] Enn þeims: hinn er Flat, hann er 4867ˣ, 563aˣ
notes
[5] enn ... þeims ‘but ... the one who’: The emendation of ms. hinn er or hann er to en(n) þeims adopted here was proposed by Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) and followed by most subsequent eds. It is necessary since the line is evidently corrupt, as it lacks one alliterative stave and is syntactically unsatisfactory, and an original conj. enn could have been misunderstood as the article hinn. With the Flat reading hinn er (normalised es) ‘that one who’ the helmingr forms two syntactically viable couplets, but the rel. hinn es has no credible antecedent. It cannot be drengr ‘man, fellow, warrior’ (l. 2), since that is the man who suffered damage, whereas ll. 5-6 refer to the one who burned the ship. The variant hann er/es ‘he who’ is little better since it produces a subordinate clause without a main one.
þeims ‘the one who’
(not checked:)
2. er (conj.): who, which, when
[5] Enn þeims: hinn er Flat, hann er 4867ˣ, 563aˣ
notes
[5] enn ... þeims ‘but ... the one who’: The emendation of ms. hinn er or hann er to en(n) þeims adopted here was proposed by Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) and followed by most subsequent eds. It is necessary since the line is evidently corrupt, as it lacks one alliterative stave and is syntactically unsatisfactory, and an original conj. enn could have been misunderstood as the article hinn. With the Flat reading hinn er (normalised es) ‘that one who’ the helmingr forms two syntactically viable couplets, but the rel. hinn es has no credible antecedent. It cannot be drengr ‘man, fellow, warrior’ (l. 2), since that is the man who suffered damage, whereas ll. 5-6 refer to the one who burned the ship. The variant hann er/es ‘he who’ is little better since it produces a subordinate clause without a main one.
upp ‘up’
(not checked:)
upp (adv.): up
réð ‘had’
(not checked:)
ráða (verb): advise, rule, interpret, decide
brenna ‘burned’
(not checked:)
3. brenna (verb; (weak, transitive)): to burn (weak, intr.)
ǫldu ‘of the wave’
(not checked:)
alda (noun f.; °; *-ur): wave
kennings
fíl ǫldu‘the elephant of the wave ’
= SHIP
the elephant of the wave → SHIP
notes
[6] fíl ǫldu ‘the elephant of the wave [SHIP]’: The word fíll ‘elephant’ is believed to be of ultimately Turkish or Persian origin (AEW: fíll). Elephants occur elsewhere in the skaldic corpus only in C13th poetry (LP: fíll), and this kenning may also be late (ÍF 9, xcviii). Ship-kennings with exotic animals as base-words are rare. The only other certain example is léon bôru ‘lion of the billow’, which is also from a stanza unique to ÞorlJ, but attributed to King Sveinn tjúguskegg (Svtjúg Lv 1/8; Arn Hryn 2/1II has an uncertain example). This could suggest that the two stanzas were composed by the same person, who was thus probably not Þorleifr (see also Almqvist 1965-74, I, 193, 198).
fíl ‘the elephant’
(not checked:)
fíll (noun m.): [elephant]
kennings
fíl ǫldu‘the elephant of the wave ’
= SHIP
the elephant of the wave → SHIP
notes
[6] fíl ǫldu ‘the elephant of the wave [SHIP]’: The word fíll ‘elephant’ is believed to be of ultimately Turkish or Persian origin (AEW: fíll). Elephants occur elsewhere in the skaldic corpus only in C13th poetry (LP: fíll), and this kenning may also be late (ÍF 9, xcviii). Ship-kennings with exotic animals as base-words are rare. The only other certain example is léon bôru ‘lion of the billow’, which is also from a stanza unique to ÞorlJ, but attributed to King Sveinn tjúguskegg (Svtjúg Lv 1/8; Arn Hryn 2/1II has an uncertain example). This could suggest that the two stanzas were composed by the same person, who was thus probably not Þorleifr (see also Almqvist 1965-74, I, 193, 198).
fyr ‘[as an act] against’
(not checked:)
fyr (prep.): for, over, because of, etc.
notes
[8] fyr skaldi ‘[as an act] against the skald [me]’: Fyr here has the sense ‘to the disadvantage or disfavour of’ (LP: fyr, fyrir B4).
skaldi ‘the skald [me]’
(not checked:)
skáld (noun n.; °-s; -): poet
notes
[8] fyr skaldi ‘[as an act] against the skald [me]’: Fyr here has the sense ‘to the disadvantage or disfavour of’ (LP: fyr, fyrir B4).
hverr ‘who’
(not checked:)
2. hverr (pron.): who, whom, each, every
[7] hverr: ‘hvør’ 4867ˣ, hvor 563aˣ
veit ‘knows’
(not checked:)
1. vita (verb): know
nema ‘but that’
(not checked:)
2. nema (conj.): unless
kol ‘coals’
(not checked:)
kol (noun n.; °; -): coal
knarrar ‘of the ship’
(not checked:)
knǫrr (noun m.; °knarrar, dat. knerri; knerrir, acc. knǫrru/knerri): (a kind of) ship
fýsi ‘might urge’
(not checked:)
fýsi (noun f.): urge, desire
mik ‘me’
(not checked:)
ek (pron.; °mín, dat. mér, acc. mik): I, me
Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses
Hákon jarl, incensed at Þorleifr’s refusal to sell his goods to him, sacks and burns his ship and hangs his crewmates.
[7-8]: The Text above diverges from Skj B and Skald in taking kǫld kol ‘cold coals’, the remains of the ship, as the subject of fýsi ‘might urge’ rather than object of gjalda ‘repay, pay back’: they urge the skald to revenge.
Stanza/chapter/text segment
Use the buttons at the top of the page to navigate between stanzas in a poem.
Information tab
- text: if the stanza has been published, the edited text of the stanza and translation are here; if it hasn't been published an old edition (usually Skj) is given for reference
- sources: a list of the manuscripts or inscriptions containing this stanza, with page and line references and links (eye button) to images where available, and transcription where available
- readings: a list of variant manuscript readings of words in the main text
- editions and texts: a list of editions of the stanza with links to the bibliography; and a list of prose works in which the stanza occurs, allowing you to navigate within the prose context
- notes and context: notes not linked to individual words are given here, along with the account of the prose context for the stanza, where relevant
Interactive tab
The text and translation are given here, with buttons to toggle whether the text is shown in the verse order or prose word order. Clicking on indiviudal words gives dictionary links, variant readings, kennings and notes, where relevant.
Full text tab
This is the text of the edition in a similar format to how the edition appears in the printed volumes.
Chapter/text segment
This view is also used for chapters and other text segments. Not all the headings shown are relevant to such sections.