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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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StarkSt Vík 28VIII (Gautr 36)

Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Gautreks saga 36 (Starkaðr gamli Stórvirksson, Víkarsbálkr 28)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 279.

Starkaðr gamli StórvirkssonVíkarsbálkr
272829

text and translation

Skylda ek Víkar         í viði hávum,
Geirþjófs bana,         goðum um signa.
Lagða ek geiri         gram til hjarta;
þat er mér hermast         handaverka.

Ek skylda um signa Víkar, bana Geirþjófs, goðum í hávum viði. Ek lagða geiri til hjarta gram; þat er mér hermast handaverka.
 
‘I was obliged to dedicate Víkarr, the slayer of Geirþjófr, to the gods on the high tree. I thrust with the spear to the ruler’s heart; that is for me the most regrettable of the deeds of my hands.

notes and context

As for Gautr 34.

Starkaðr again refers to external forces, though without specifying which they are, as the causes of his action in sacrificing Víkarr to the gods. The use of the verb signa ‘dedicate, consecrate’ (l. 4) indicates as much, as does the manner of the sacrifice, which follows the pattern that Óðinn is said to have established both for himself (cf. Hávm 138-41) and for those heroes that he took for himself; on this subject see Turville-Petre (1964, 43-8; ARG I, 409-12, II, 49-50; Simek 1993, 242, 249). Characteristic of Odinic sacrifices are the use of a spear to pierce the victim and the mode of sacrifice, hanging on a tree, which is attested both from medieval ethnographic literature, such as Adam of Bremen’s account of the sacrifices at the temple at Uppsala (Schmeidler 1917, 259-60), and from texts like Hávm.

readings

sources

Text is based on reconstruction from the base text and variant apparatus and may contain alternative spellings and other normalisations not visible in the manuscript text. Transcriptions may not have been checked and should not be cited.

editions and texts

Skj: Anonyme digte og vers [XIII], E. 13. Vers af Fornaldarsagaer: Af Gautrekssaga II 20: AII, 327-8, BII, 347, Skald II, 187; FSN 3, 35, Gautr 1900, 31-2, FSGJ 4, 32; Edd. Min. 42.

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