FriðÞ Lv 7^VIII (Frið 7)

Eigi um sér til Alda;
erum vestr í haf komnir;
allr þykki mér ægir,
sem ei*myrju hræri.
Hrynja hávar bárur,
haug verpa svanflaugar;
nú er Elliði orpinn
ákafligri báru.

Eigi um sér til Alda; erum komnir vestr í haf; allr ægir þykki mér, sem hræri ei*myrju. Hávar bárur hrynja, {svanflaugar} verpa haug; Elliði er nú orpinn ákafligri báru.

Alden cannot be seen; we have come westwards into the ocean; the whole sea seems to me as if it were alive with glowing coals. Towering waves topple down, {swan-flights} [WAVES] build up a mound; now Elliði is tossed in a furious roller.

Mss: 510(93r), 568ˣ(100v), 27ˣ(135r), papp17ˣ(359r), 109a IIˣ(147r), 1006ˣ(583), 173ˣ(84v-85r) (Frið)

Readings: [1] um sér: so 568ˣ, 27ˣ, of sjór 510, sér papp17ˣ, 109a IIˣ, 1006ˣ, 173ˣ    [2] vestr: ‘vest[…]’ 568ˣ;    í: ‘[…]’ 568ˣ    [3] allr: allt 1006ˣ;    ægir: so 27ˣ, papp17ˣ, ægi 510, 109a IIˣ, ‘ægier’ 568ˣ, ‘æe’ 1006ˣ, 173ˣ    [4] ei*myrju: ‘einmyriu’ 510, ‘einmyria’ 568ˣ, ‘i einmyriu’ 27ˣ, ‘a einmyriu’ papp17ˣ, 109a IIˣ, 1006ˣ, 173ˣ;    hræri: ‘sæge’ papp17ˣ, ‘sæe’ 109a IIˣ, 1006ˣ, ‘se’ 173ˣ    [5] hávar: haf papp17ˣ, 109a IIˣ, 1006ˣ, 173ˣ    [6] haug: ‘[…]aug’ 568ˣ;    verpa: uppa 568ˣ;    ‑flaugar: so 27ˣ, papp17ˣ, 109a IIˣ, 1006ˣ, 173ˣ, ‘flauger’ 510, ‘flaugan’ 568ˣ    [8] ákafligri: so 27ˣ, í ákafa 510, á ákafa 568ˣ, í örðugri papp17ˣ, 109a IIˣ, 1006ˣ, 173ˣ

Editions: Skj AII, 270, Skj BII, 293, Skald II, 154, NN §§1473, 3287; Falk 1890, 73, Frið 1893, 13, 44, 70, Frið 1901, 19, Frið 1914, 12.

Context: As for Frið 5 and 6.

Notes: [All]: The many variant readings of this stanza suggest the scribes had considerable difficulty in understanding some of its vocabulary, which powerfully evokes a storm at sea, viewed from the perspective of someone on board ship. Line 1 is exactly the same as Frið 5/1 in the B redaction mss. Frið 5 may well be a partial duplication of this stanza. — [1] eigi um sér ‘cannot be seen’: Several of the mss (568ˣ, 27ˣ, 510) read of rather than um here, but the text has been normalised to the later form of the pleonastic particle; see further Note to Ásm 1/3, 5. — [4] sem hræri ei*myrju ‘as if it were alive with glowing coals’: Lit. ‘as if it were moving with live coal’. The allusion is presumably to phosphorescence playing on the surface of the sea. Eimyrja ‘live coals, embers’ occurs among fire names in Þul Elds 2/5^III, and in Hallm Hallkv 2/5^V (Bergb 2). — [6] svanflaugar ‘swan-flights [WAVES]’: This cpd is a hap. leg. of uncertain meaning and status. It is not certain that it is a kenning, but cf. Frið 8/4 í brekku svana ‘in the hillside of swans [WAVE]’, whose status as a kenning is clear. With Larsson (Frið 1901, 19 n.) the cpd is understood here to mean ‘waves’, comparing the white crests of the towering waves to the wings of flying swans. The use of the abstract noun flaug ‘flight’ is unusual, however; Larsson (Frið 1901, loc. cit.) suggests the cpd may have an adjectival sense. Kock (NN §1473) proposes that flaug might have the sense ‘place from where something flies’, pointing to periphrases for the sea like OE swanrād ‘swan-path’, but there is no evidence to support this hypothesis. Edith Marold (pers. comm.) has suggested a minor emendation to svan*laugar ‘swan-baths [SEA]’, which would still produce an unusual kenning, but one that is less unusual than svanflaugar. Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) emends to svanteigar ‘swan-fields [SEA]’.  — [8] ákafligri ‘furious’: The reading of 27ˣ. The other A redaction mss have í ákafa or á ákafa (which is hypometrical) while the B mss read í ǫrðugri [báru] ‘in a towering, rising [wave]’.

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. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. Frið 1893 = Larsson, Ludvig, ed. 1893b. Sagan ock rimorna om Friðþiófr hinn frækni. SUGNL 22. Copenhagen: Malmström.
6. Frið 1901 = Larsson, Ludvig, ed. 1901. Friðþjófs saga ins frœkna. ASB 9. Halle: Niemeyer.
7. Frið 1914 = Wenz, Gustaf, ed. 1914. Die Friðþjófssaga in ihrer Überlieferung untersucht und der ältesten Fassung kritisch herausgegeben. Halle: Niemeyer.
8. Falk, Hjalmar. 1890. ‘Om Friðþjófs saga’. ANF 6, 60-102.
9. Internal references
10. Not published: do not cite ()
11. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Elds heiti 2’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 922.
12. Peter Jorgensen (ed.) 2017, ‘Ásmundar saga kappabana 1 (Hildibrandr, Lausavísur 1)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 16.
13. Tarrin Wills (ed.) 2022, ‘Bergbúa þáttr 2 (Hallmundr bergbúinn, Hallmundarkviða 2)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross, Kari Ellen Gade and Tarrin Wills (eds), Poetry in Sagas of Icelanders. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 5. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 37.
14. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Friðþjófs saga ins frœkna 5 (Friðþjófr Þorsteinsson, Lausavísur 5)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 200.
15. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Friðþjófs saga ins frœkna 8 (Friðþjófr Þorsteinsson, Lausavísur 8)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 203.