StarkSt Vík 5VIII (Gautr 13)
Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Gautreks saga 13 (Starkaðr gamli Stórvirksson, Víkarsbálkr 5)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 259.
gat ‘gained’
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2. geta (verb): to beget, give birth to, mention, speak of; to think well of, like, love
ek ‘I’
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ek (pron.; °mín, dat. mér, acc. mik): I, me
ærit ‘plenty’
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œrinn (adj.): ample, sufficient
uxu ‘grew’
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vaxa (verb): grow, increase
tjálgur ‘my branches’
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tjalga (noun f.): branch
notes
[2] tjálgur ‘branches’: The noun tjálgr (alternative form tjalga) has the primary sense of ‘branch, bough’ (cf. AEW: tjalga), but both here and in Vík 33/5 (Gautr 41) is clearly a half-kenning referring to Starkaðr’s long arms. A similar sense occurs in Sigv ErfÓl 25/7I tjǫlgur handar ‘branches of the hand’, a kenning for the arms. In both instances of the use of the word in Vík, there is likely to be an allusion to an attribute of Starkaðr, described in Gautr 40 as well as in Saxo’s Gesta Danorum. See further Vík 32 (Gautr 40), Note to [All].
langir ‘long’
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langr (adj.; °compar. lengri, superl. lengstr): long
leggir ‘legs’
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leggr (noun m.; °-jar, dat. -; -ir): limb
ok ‘and’
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3. ok (conj.): and, but; also
ljótt ‘ugly’
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ljótr (adj.): ugly
höfuð ‘head’
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hǫfuð (noun n.; °-s; -): head
En ‘But’
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2. en (conj.): but, and
hímaldi ‘a layabout’
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hímaldi (noun m.; °-a): °drog, dovenkrop
af ‘lost’
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af (prep.): from
notes
[6] af hugsi ‘lost in thought’: Emendation from 590b-cˣ’s meaningless ‘hagse’ is required, while 152’s hagli ‘hail’ does not make sense in context, although some earlier commentators proposed a meaning of ‘on a bundle of straw’ from an emended á or at halga (cf. LP: hagli; LP (1860): hagall). The emendation to the indeclinable adj. hugsi ‘thoughtful, meditative’ has been adopted in LP, Skj B and in this edn, but Kock (NN §2612) argues for the otherwise unrecorded form afhagsi, which he claims means the same as úhagr ‘without talent, clumsy, awkward’.
hugsi ‘in thought’
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hugsi (adj.): °tankefuld, betænksom, bekymret
[6] hugsi: ‘hagse’ 590b‑cˣ, hagli 152
notes
[6] af hugsi ‘lost in thought’: Emendation from 590b-cˣ’s meaningless ‘hagse’ is required, while 152’s hagli ‘hail’ does not make sense in context, although some earlier commentators proposed a meaning of ‘on a bundle of straw’ from an emended á or at halga (cf. LP: hagli; LP (1860): hagall). The emendation to the indeclinable adj. hugsi ‘thoughtful, meditative’ has been adopted in LP, Skj B and in this edn, but Kock (NN §2612) argues for the otherwise unrecorded form afhagsi, which he claims means the same as úhagr ‘without talent, clumsy, awkward’.
sat ‘I was’
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sitja (verb): sit
fás ‘about little’
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3. fár (adj.; °compar. fǽrri/fárri(Mág² 11), superl. fǽstr): few
[7] fás: om. 152
notes
[7] forvitinn ‘curious’: An emendation, first proposed by Sveinbjörn Egilsson (LP (1860): hagall), of both mss’ forvitni ‘curiosity’ which does not fit the syntax of ll. 7-8.
í ‘on the hall’
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í (prep.): in, into
fleti ‘floor’
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flet (noun n.): platform, floor
niðri ‘down’
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niðri (adv.): below
Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses
The prose text continues to tell of the warlike activities of King Herþjófr and his construction of warning beacons on high ground to alert him to possible incursions of enemies. He had put Víkarr in charge of the beacons on Fenhring. One day Víkarr went over to Askr and found his foster-brother Starkaðr there, sleeping among the ashes by the hearth. Víkarr was amazed at how big Starkaðr had grown. He gave him weapons and clothes and they sailed off on Víkarr’s ship. The three stanzas, Gautr 13, 14 and 15, are then introduced with the formula Svá segir Starkaðr ‘So says Starkaðr’.
Starkaðr’s representation of his great strength but ugly appearance, here and in Vík 33 (Gautr 41), is reminiscent of some of Egill Skallagrímsson’s self-portraits (cf. Egill Arbj 7-9V (Eg 103-5)). Both figures are Odinic heroes and poets, and invoke stereotypical physical traits associated with their vocation (cf. Clunies Ross 2001b, 44-6). In addition, as both the prose text and ll. 5-8 make clear, the young Starkaðr also conforms to the ‘coal-biter’ (kolbítr) stereotype, which is sometimes associated with a poet-hero (e.g. Grettir Ásmundarson in Gr).
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