FriðÞ Lv 4VIII (Frið 4)
Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Friðþjófs saga ins frœkna 4 (Friðþjófr Þorsteinsson, Lausavísur 4)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 198.
var ‘was’
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2. vera (verb): be, is, was, were, are, am
forðum ‘long ago’
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forðum (adv.): formerly, once
[1] forðum: fyrri papp17ˣ, 109a IIˣ, fyrr 1006ˣ, 173ˣ
notes
[2] á Framnesi ‘at Framnes’: In the A redaction, this p. n. is not mentioned in the prose text, but only in this stanza and Frið 25/2. In the B redaction, Framnes is named in the prose of the saga’s first chapter (Frið 1901, 2) as the farm of Þorsteinn, Friðþjófr’s father, which lay on the opposite side of Sognefjorden from King Beli’s dwelling.
notes
[2] á Framnesi ‘at Framnes’: In the A redaction, this p. n. is not mentioned in the prose text, but only in this stanza and Frið 25/2. In the B redaction, Framnes is named in the prose of the saga’s first chapter (Frið 1901, 2) as the farm of Þorsteinn, Friðþjófr’s father, which lay on the opposite side of Sognefjorden from King Beli’s dwelling.
rera ‘rowed’
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2. róa (verb): row
[3] rera ek opt: ‘[…]’ 568ˣ, rædda ek oft 27ˣ, at reri ek papp17ˣ, 109a IIˣ, 1006ˣ, 173ˣ
notes
[3-4] ek rera opt á tal við Ingibjörgu ‘I often rowed to have conversation with Ingibjǫrg’: This is the reading of 510. There is a considerable variation in the ms. readings of these two lines, with the B recension mss favouring rera ek opt á vit ‘I often rowed to pay a visit’ in l. 3, followed by við Ingibjörgu ‘to Ingibjǫrg’ in l. 4. Ms. 568ˣ alone has the gen. Ingibjargar, which has been adopted by Edd. Min., Skj B and Skald, though the many lacunae in this ms. at this point make it difficult to recover the reading of l. 3, except that the word before Ingibjargar was vit. It may be that scribes confused á vit ‘on a visit’ which usually takes the gen. of the person or place visited, with the prep. við ‘with, towards’. There also seems to have been some confusion about the main verb of l. 3, as between rera ek ‘I rowed’ and rædda ek ‘I spoke’ (so 27ˣ), which was then reflected in the variation between á vit ‘on a visit’ and á tal ‘for conversation’.
ek ‘I’
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ek (pron.; °mín, dat. mér, acc. mik): I, me
[3] rera ek opt: ‘[…]’ 568ˣ, rædda ek oft 27ˣ, at reri ek papp17ˣ, 109a IIˣ, 1006ˣ, 173ˣ
notes
[3-4] ek rera opt á tal við Ingibjörgu ‘I often rowed to have conversation with Ingibjǫrg’: This is the reading of 510. There is a considerable variation in the ms. readings of these two lines, with the B recension mss favouring rera ek opt á vit ‘I often rowed to pay a visit’ in l. 3, followed by við Ingibjörgu ‘to Ingibjǫrg’ in l. 4. Ms. 568ˣ alone has the gen. Ingibjargar, which has been adopted by Edd. Min., Skj B and Skald, though the many lacunae in this ms. at this point make it difficult to recover the reading of l. 3, except that the word before Ingibjargar was vit. It may be that scribes confused á vit ‘on a visit’ which usually takes the gen. of the person or place visited, with the prep. við ‘with, towards’. There also seems to have been some confusion about the main verb of l. 3, as between rera ek ‘I rowed’ and rædda ek ‘I spoke’ (so 27ˣ), which was then reflected in the variation between á vit ‘on a visit’ and á tal ‘for conversation’.
opt ‘often’
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opt (adv.): often
[3] rera ek opt: ‘[…]’ 568ˣ, rædda ek oft 27ˣ, at reri ek papp17ˣ, 109a IIˣ, 1006ˣ, 173ˣ
notes
[3-4] ek rera opt á tal við Ingibjörgu ‘I often rowed to have conversation with Ingibjǫrg’: This is the reading of 510. There is a considerable variation in the ms. readings of these two lines, with the B recension mss favouring rera ek opt á vit ‘I often rowed to pay a visit’ in l. 3, followed by við Ingibjörgu ‘to Ingibjǫrg’ in l. 4. Ms. 568ˣ alone has the gen. Ingibjargar, which has been adopted by Edd. Min., Skj B and Skald, though the many lacunae in this ms. at this point make it difficult to recover the reading of l. 3, except that the word before Ingibjargar was vit. It may be that scribes confused á vit ‘on a visit’ which usually takes the gen. of the person or place visited, with the prep. við ‘with, towards’. There also seems to have been some confusion about the main verb of l. 3, as between rera ek ‘I rowed’ and rædda ek ‘I spoke’ (so 27ˣ), which was then reflected in the variation between á vit ‘on a visit’ and á tal ‘for conversation’.
á ‘to have’
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3. á (prep.): on, at
[3] á tal: ‘[…] vit’ 568ˣ, á vit papp17ˣ, 1006ˣ, 173ˣ, á 109a IIˣ
notes
[3-4] ek rera opt á tal við Ingibjörgu ‘I often rowed to have conversation with Ingibjǫrg’: This is the reading of 510. There is a considerable variation in the ms. readings of these two lines, with the B recension mss favouring rera ek opt á vit ‘I often rowed to pay a visit’ in l. 3, followed by við Ingibjörgu ‘to Ingibjǫrg’ in l. 4. Ms. 568ˣ alone has the gen. Ingibjargar, which has been adopted by Edd. Min., Skj B and Skald, though the many lacunae in this ms. at this point make it difficult to recover the reading of l. 3, except that the word before Ingibjargar was vit. It may be that scribes confused á vit ‘on a visit’ which usually takes the gen. of the person or place visited, with the prep. við ‘with, towards’. There also seems to have been some confusion about the main verb of l. 3, as between rera ek ‘I rowed’ and rædda ek ‘I spoke’ (so 27ˣ), which was then reflected in the variation between á vit ‘on a visit’ and á tal ‘for conversation’.
tal ‘conversation’
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tal (noun n.; °-s; *-): talk, speech; number
[3] á tal: ‘[…] vit’ 568ˣ, á vit papp17ˣ, 1006ˣ, 173ˣ, á 109a IIˣ
notes
[3-4] ek rera opt á tal við Ingibjörgu ‘I often rowed to have conversation with Ingibjǫrg’: This is the reading of 510. There is a considerable variation in the ms. readings of these two lines, with the B recension mss favouring rera ek opt á vit ‘I often rowed to pay a visit’ in l. 3, followed by við Ingibjörgu ‘to Ingibjǫrg’ in l. 4. Ms. 568ˣ alone has the gen. Ingibjargar, which has been adopted by Edd. Min., Skj B and Skald, though the many lacunae in this ms. at this point make it difficult to recover the reading of l. 3, except that the word before Ingibjargar was vit. It may be that scribes confused á vit ‘on a visit’ which usually takes the gen. of the person or place visited, with the prep. við ‘with, towards’. There also seems to have been some confusion about the main verb of l. 3, as between rera ek ‘I rowed’ and rædda ek ‘I spoke’ (so 27ˣ), which was then reflected in the variation between á vit ‘on a visit’ and á tal ‘for conversation’.
notes
[3-4] ek rera opt á tal við Ingibjörgu ‘I often rowed to have conversation with Ingibjǫrg’: This is the reading of 510. There is a considerable variation in the ms. readings of these two lines, with the B recension mss favouring rera ek opt á vit ‘I often rowed to pay a visit’ in l. 3, followed by við Ingibjörgu ‘to Ingibjǫrg’ in l. 4. Ms. 568ˣ alone has the gen. Ingibjargar, which has been adopted by Edd. Min., Skj B and Skald, though the many lacunae in this ms. at this point make it difficult to recover the reading of l. 3, except that the word before Ingibjargar was vit. It may be that scribes confused á vit ‘on a visit’ which usually takes the gen. of the person or place visited, with the prep. við ‘with, towards’. There also seems to have been some confusion about the main verb of l. 3, as between rera ek ‘I rowed’ and rædda ek ‘I spoke’ (so 27ˣ), which was then reflected in the variation between á vit ‘on a visit’ and á tal ‘for conversation’.
Ingibjörgu ‘Ingibjǫrg’
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Ingibjǫrg (noun f.): Ingibjǫrg
[4] við Ingibjörgu: Ingibjargar 568ˣ
notes
[3-4] ek rera opt á tal við Ingibjörgu ‘I often rowed to have conversation with Ingibjǫrg’: This is the reading of 510. There is a considerable variation in the ms. readings of these two lines, with the B recension mss favouring rera ek opt á vit ‘I often rowed to pay a visit’ in l. 3, followed by við Ingibjörgu ‘to Ingibjǫrg’ in l. 4. Ms. 568ˣ alone has the gen. Ingibjargar, which has been adopted by Edd. Min., Skj B and Skald, though the many lacunae in this ms. at this point make it difficult to recover the reading of l. 3, except that the word before Ingibjargar was vit. It may be that scribes confused á vit ‘on a visit’ which usually takes the gen. of the person or place visited, with the prep. við ‘with, towards’. There also seems to have been some confusion about the main verb of l. 3, as between rera ek ‘I rowed’ and rædda ek ‘I spoke’ (so 27ˣ), which was then reflected in the variation between á vit ‘on a visit’ and á tal ‘for conversation’.
Nú ‘Now’
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nú (adv.): now
skal ‘must’
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skulu (verb): shall, should, must
ek ‘I’
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ek (pron.; °mín, dat. mér, acc. mik): I, me
[5] ek: om. 568ˣ, papp17ˣ, 109a IIˣ, 1006ˣ, 173ˣ
sigla ‘sail’
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2. sigla (verb): sail
í ‘in’
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í (prep.): in, into
veðri ‘storm’
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2. veðr (noun n.; °-s; -): weather, wind, storm
létt ‘easily’
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léttr (adj.; °compar. -ari, superl. -astr): easy, light
und ‘beneath’
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3. und (prep.): under, underneath
[7] und mér (‘under mier’): ‘u[…]’ 568ˣ, undan papp17ˣ, 109a IIˣ, 1006ˣ, 173ˣ
mér ‘me’
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ek (pron.; °mín, dat. mér, acc. mik): I, me
[7] und mér (‘under mier’): ‘u[…]’ 568ˣ, undan papp17ˣ, 109a IIˣ, 1006ˣ, 173ˣ
lög ‘the sea’
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lǫgr (noun m.; °lagar, dat. legi): sea < lǫgdýr (noun n.)
[8] lög‑: ‘[…]’ 568ˣ, lang papp17ˣ, 109a IIˣ, 1006ˣ, 173ˣ
kennings
lögdýr‘the sea-animal ’
= SHIP
the sea-animal → SHIP
notes
[8] lögdýr ‘the sea-animal [SHIP]’: The reading of 510 and 27ˣ, 568ˣ having a lacuna. A regular ship-kenning with an animal name as base-word, cf. Meissner 208-12. The B redaction mss all have langdýr ‘long animal’, an inferior reading probably affected by the cpd langskip ‘longship’; the second element -dýr ‘animal’, present in all mss except 568ˣ, signals a ship-kenning, however. The B mss also read hlaupa ‘leap, jump’, a verb that fits the metaphorical sense of the ship as an animal, but is the lectio facilior by comparison with the A mss’ bruna ‘speed, rush’. Lögdýr could be sg. or pl.: Skj B treats it as pl., but the speaker, Friðþjófr, is talking about his own actions sailing his own ship, Elliði, hence the sg. translation here. The saga prose does not state that Friðþjófr commanded more than one ship.
dýr ‘animal’
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1. dýr (noun n.; °-s (spec.: dyʀiɴs KonrA 66⁴, etc., cf. Seip 1955 188-189); -): animal < lǫgdýr (noun n.)
kennings
lögdýr‘the sea-animal ’
= SHIP
the sea-animal → SHIP
notes
[8] lögdýr ‘the sea-animal [SHIP]’: The reading of 510 and 27ˣ, 568ˣ having a lacuna. A regular ship-kenning with an animal name as base-word, cf. Meissner 208-12. The B redaction mss all have langdýr ‘long animal’, an inferior reading probably affected by the cpd langskip ‘longship’; the second element -dýr ‘animal’, present in all mss except 568ˣ, signals a ship-kenning, however. The B mss also read hlaupa ‘leap, jump’, a verb that fits the metaphorical sense of the ship as an animal, but is the lectio facilior by comparison with the A mss’ bruna ‘speed, rush’. Lögdýr could be sg. or pl.: Skj B treats it as pl., but the speaker, Friðþjófr, is talking about his own actions sailing his own ship, Elliði, hence the sg. translation here. The saga prose does not state that Friðþjófr commanded more than one ship.
bruna ‘speed’
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bruna (verb; °-að-): speed
[8] bruna: ‘[…]runa’ 568ˣ, hlaupa papp17ˣ, 109a IIˣ, 1006ˣ, 173ˣ
Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses
Shortly after a lull in the storm, the wind begins to freshen and Friðþjófr speaks this stanza.
This is the first stanza in the A redaction of Frið and the fourth in the B redaction, the first to appear in both redactions. Larsson (Frið 1901, xiv) detected a similarity with Friðþjófs rímur III, 12-13, but it is not very close. The stanza contrasts Friðþjófr’s previously happy life courting Ingibjörg and his present privations at sea. The metre is fornyrðislag, although l. 4 is in málaháttr. Clear differences between the two redactions are apparent in ll. 1, 2, 3, 6, 7 and 8 (cf. Wenz’s discussion in Frið 1914, lxxiii).
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