StarkSt Vík 5^VIII (Gautr 13)

Afl gat ek ærit,         uxu tjálgur,
langir leggir         ok ljótt höfuð.
En hímaldi         af hugsi sat,
fás forvitinn         í fleti niðri.

Ek gat ærit afl, tjálgur uxu, langir leggir ok ljótt höfuð. En sat hímaldi af hugsi, forvitinn fás í fleti niðri.

I gained plenty of strength, my branches grew, long legs and ugly head. But I was a layabout lost in thought, curious about little down on the hall-floor.

Mss: 590b-cˣ(3v), 152(198va) (Gautr)

Readings: [1] Afl: alf 152    [6] hugsi: ‘hagse’ 590b‑cˣ, hagli 152    [7] fás: om. 152;    forvitinn: forvitni both

Editions: Skj AII, 325, Skj BII, 344, Skald II, 185, FF §26, NN §2612; FSN 3, 18-19, Gautr 1900, 15, FSGJ 4, 15; Edd. Min. 38-9.

Context: 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’.

Notes: [All]: 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 7-9^V (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). — [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 25/7^I 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]. — [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’. — [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.

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. FSN = Rafn, Carl Christian, ed. 1829-30. Fornaldar sögur nordrlanda. 3 vols. Copenhagen: Popp.
4. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
6. AEW = Vries, Jan de. 1962. Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 2nd rev. edn. Rpt. 1977. Leiden: Brill.
7. 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.
8. LP (1860) = Sveinbjörn Egilsson, ed. 1860. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis. Copenhagen: Societas Regia antiquariorum septentrionalium.
9. FSGJ = Guðni Jónsson, ed. 1954. Fornaldar sögur norðurlanda. 4 vols. [Reykjavík]: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan.
10. Edd. Min. = Heusler, Andreas and Wilhelm Ranisch, eds. 1903. Eddica Minora: Dichtungen eddischer Art aus den Fornaldarsögur und anderen Prosawerken. Dortmund: Ruhfus. Rpt. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft.
11. FF = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1922. Fornjermansk forskning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 18:1. Lund: Gleerup.
12. Gautr 1900 = Ranisch, Wilhelm, ed. 1900. Die Gautrekssaga in zwei Fassungen. Palaestra 11. Berlin: Mayer & Müller.
13. Clunies Ross, Margaret. 2001b. ‘The Skald Sagas as a Genre: Definitions and Typical Features’. In Poole 2001a, 25-49.
14. Internal references
15. Not published: do not cite (Egill^V)
16. 2022, ‘ Anonymous, Grettis saga Ásmundarsonar’ 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, pp. 640-806. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=70> (accessed 25 April 2024)
17. Not published: do not cite (Grett^V)
18. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2022, ‘Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar 103 (Egill Skallagrímsson, Arinbjarnarkviða 7)’ 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. 341.
19. Margaret Clunies Ross (forthcoming), ‘ Starkaðr gamli Stórvirksson, Víkarsbálkr’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=3118> (accessed 25 April 2024)
20. Judith Jesch (ed.) 2012, ‘Sigvatr Þórðarson, Erfidrápa Óláfs helga 25’ 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. 695.
21. 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.
22. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Gautreks saga 40 (Starkaðr gamli Stórvirksson, Víkarsbálkr 32)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 284.
23. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Gautreks saga 41 (Starkaðr gamli Stórvirksson, Víkarsbálkr 33)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 286.
24. Not published: do not cite ()