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Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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TorfE Lv 5I

Russell Poole (ed.) 2012, ‘Torf-Einarr Rǫgnvaldsson, 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. 137.

Torf-Einarr RǫgnvaldssonLausavísur
45

Eru til míns fjǫrs margir
menn of sannar deilðir
ór ýmissum ôttum
ósmábornir gjarnir.
En þó vitu þeygi
þeir, áðr mik hafi felldan,
hverr ilþorna arnar
undir hlýtr at standa.

Margir ósmábornir menn ór ýmissum ôttum eru gjarnir til fjǫrs míns of sannar deilðir. En þó vitu þeir þeygi, áðr hafi mik felldan, hverr hlýtr at standa undir {ilþorna} arnar.

Many high-born men of various families are eager for my life because of justified conflicts. And yet they do not know, before they have killed me, who gets to stand under {the sole-thorns} [CLAWS] of the eagle.

Mss: (70v), F(12rb), J1ˣ(40v), J2ˣ(40v) (Hkr); 332ˣ(13-14), Flat(29va-b), R702ˣ(37r) (Orkn); 761bˣ(395v)

Readings: [1] míns: om. Flat    [2] deilðir: fréttir 332ˣ, R702ˣ    [3] ór: af R702ˣ;    ýmissum: ýmissu 332ˣ    [5] vitu: vita F, J1ˣ, J2ˣ, Flat, 761bˣ    [6] hafi: hafa J1ˣ, J2ˣ, 761bˣ    [7] ‑þorna: þorni F, þornar Flat, þornum R702ˣ    [8] at: af Flat;    standa: so F, J1ˣ, J2ˣ, R702ˣ, 761bˣ, lúta Kˣ, stunda 332ˣ, stundu Flat

Editions: Skj AI, 32, Skj BI, 28, Skald I, 17, NN §§2412, 2705, 3041; ÍF 26, 132-3 (HHárf ch. 30), F 1871, 55; Orkn 1913-16, 13, ÍF 34, 15-16 (ch. 8), Flat 1860-8, I, 224; von See 1960 , 35.

Context: In Orkn and Hkr, Torf-Einarr speaks this lausavísa as a defiant reply to warnings about possible reprisals on the part of other sons of Haraldr.

Notes: [2] of sannar deilðir ‘because of justified conflicts’: Sannar deilðir is explained in LP: deild as hvor der ene part virkelig har grund til strid ‘where one party genuinely has grounds for conflict’ (and cf. Fritzner: sannr 3 for this sense of sannr, normally ‘true’). The reading of two of the Orkn mss, of sannar fréttir ‘over accurate news’, makes good sense, but the third ms., Flat, agrees with the Hkr witnesses. — [4] ósmábornir ‘high-born’: Lit. ‘not small-born’. This may have particular point if Torf-Einarr was illegitimate (see Note to Lv 1 [All]). — [5] þó vitu þeir þeygi ‘and yet they do not know’: Finnur Jónsson (1884, 97) proposes emendation to þat vitu þeygi þeir, on the grounds that þeygi ‘not at all, and not, yet not’ is not elsewhere redoubled with þó ‘yet, though’. — [6] áðr hafi mik felldan ‘before they have killed me’: Here and elsewhere in the lausavísa Kock (NN §2412) suggests emendation to establish regular hendingar. — [7] hverr ilþorna arnar: The hendingar in this line echo those of l. 4. — [7] -þorna ‘thorns’: The acc. pl. -þorna is retained here, as in previous eds, since it is the reading of most mss, though dat. sg. -þorni (so F) or dat. pl. -þornum (so R702ˣ) might have been expected following standa undir ‘stand under’. — [7-8] standa undir ilþorna arnar ‘stand under the sole-thorns [CLAWS] of the eagle’: It is possible that this phrase prompted the inclusion of the ‘blood-eagle’ motif in the prose of Orkn and Hkr (von See 1960, 36-7 and Note to Lv 3/1, 4). If so, the phrase has been misunderstood since it merely presents the familiar stereotyped vignette of the carrion bird devouring a fallen warrior. — [8] standa ‘stand’: The sense is ‘be situated’ rather than ‘hold upright posture’. The reading lúta ‘bend, bow, yield’ arguably suits the position of a body beneath a carrion bird better than standa (NN §3041), but since all other mss have variants on standalúta appears to be a case of oral or scribal ‘improvement’.

References

  1. Bibliography
  2. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
  3. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
  4. 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.
  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. Fritzner = Fritzner, Johan. 1883-96. Ordbog over det gamle norske sprog. 3 vols. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske forlagsforening. 4th edn. Rpt. 1973. Oslo etc.: Universitetsforlaget.
  7. ÍF 34 = Orkneyinga saga. Ed. Finnbogi Guðmundsson. 1965.
  8. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
  9. F 1871 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1871. Fríssbók: Codex Frisianus. En samling af norske konge-sagaer. Christiania (Oslo): Malling.
  10. Orkn 1913-16 = Sigurður Nordal, ed. 1913-16. Orkneyinga saga. SUGNL 40. Copenhagen: Møller.
  11. Finnur Jónsson. 1884. Kritiske studier over en del af de ældste norske og islandske skjaldekvad. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
  12. See, Klaus von. 1960. ‘Der Skald Torf-Einar’. BGDSL 82, 31-43. Rpt. in von See 1981, 367-79.
  13. Internal references
  14. (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 29 March 2024)
  15. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Orkneyinga saga’ 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=47> (accessed 29 March 2024)
  16. (forthcoming), ‘ Heimskringla, Haralds saga hárfagra’ 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=140> (accessed 29 March 2024)
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