Anon Eirm 5^I

‘Sigmundr ok Sinfjǫtli,         rísið snarliga
        ok gangið í gǫgn grami.
Inn þú bjóð,         ef Eirekr séi;
        hans es mér nú vôn vituð.’

‘Sigmundr ok Sinfjǫtli, rísið snarliga ok gangið í gǫgn grami. Bjóð þú inn, ef Eirekr séi; vôn hans es nú vituð mér.’

‘Sigmundr and Sinfjǫtli, rise quickly and go to meet the prince. Invite [him] in, if it is Eiríkr; it is he I am expecting now.’

Mss: 761bˣ(105v); FskAˣ(37), 52ˣ(15r), 301ˣ(13r) (Fsk)

Readings: [3] gǫgn: ‘gougn’ 761bˣ, gǫngu FskAˣ, 52ˣ, 301ˣ    [4] Inn: so FskAˣ, 52ˣ, 301ˣ, ‘Jun’ 761bˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 175, Skj BI, 165, Skald I, 89; Fsk 1902-3, 29 (ch. 7), ÍF 29, 78 (ch. 8); Möbius 1860, 231-2, Gordon 1957, 149, Jón Helgason 1968, 22.

Context: As for st. 1 (Fsk).

Notes: [1] Sigmundr ok Sinfjǫtli ‘Sigmundr and Sinfjǫtli’: These two heroes, father and son (or uncle and nephew), are central figures in Vǫlsunga saga. Their Anglo-Saxon counterparts, Sigemund and Fitela, are also paired in Beowulf ll. 874-900. It is especially appropriate that Sigmundr should be mentioned in a poem in praise of Eiríkr, since he was counted a descendant, through the supposed marriage of Áslaug, the daughter of Sigmundr’s son Sigurðr, to Ragnarr loðbrók ‘Shaggy-breeches’; cf. Ættartal [Genealogy] I in ÍF 28. — [3] í gǫgn ‘to meet’: The minor emendation is generally accepted (e.g. Skj B, ÍF 29). It appears from the readings that the vellum Fsk may already have had a corrupt reading here. — [4] þú ‘you’: The form is sg.; cf. pl. gangið ‘go’ in l. 3. Thus, although the stanza begins with a reference to both Sigmundr and Sinfjǫtli, only the former is subsequently taken into account, as remarked by Nygaard (1875, 318). — [5] séi (3rd pers. sg. pres. subj.) ‘it is’: Strictly, ‘(if) it be’ or ‘(if) it should be’. Hofmann (1955, 48-9) remarks that the use of the subj. is unexpected here (since Óðinn has asserted that it must be Eiríkr in st. 4/4-6), and he sees OE syntactic influence at work. — [6] vôn hans es nú vituð mér ‘it is he I am now expecting’: Lit. ‘expectation of him is now known to me’. 

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. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
5. Fsk 1902-3 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1902-3. Fagrskinna: Nóregs kononga tal. SUGNL 30. Copenhagen: Møller.
6. Hofmann, Dietrich. 1955. Nordisch-englische Lehnbeziehungen der Wikingerzeit. BA 14. Copenhagen: Munksgaard.
7. ÍF 29 = Ágrip af Nóregskonunga sǫgum; Fagrskinna—Nóregs konungatal. Ed. Bjarni Einarsson. 1985.
8. Möbius, Theodor. 1860. Edda Sæmundar hins fróða. Mit einem Anhang bisher ungedruckter Gedichte. Leipzig: Hinrichs.
9. Gordon, E. V. 1957. An Introduction to Old Norse. 2nd edn rev. A. R. Taylor. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
10. Jón Helgason, ed. 1968. Skjaldevers. 3rd edn. Copenhagen: Munksgaard.
11. Nygaard, Marius. 1875. Udvalg af den norröne literatur for latin- og realgymnasier. Bergen: Giertsen.
12. Internal references
13. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Fagrskinna’ 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=56> (accessed 26 April 2024)
14. Not published: do not cite (Rloð^VIII)
15. 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Vǫlsunga saga’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 790. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=10832> (accessed 26 April 2024)
16. Not published: do not cite ()