StarkSt Vík 31^VIII (Gautr 39)

Hér settu mik         sveina milli,
heldr hæðinna         ok hvítbránna.
Skelkja skatnar         ok skaup draga,
ófs óframir,         at jöfurs greppi.

Hér settu mik milli sveina, heldr hæðinna ok hvítbránna. Skatnar skelkja ok draga skaup, ófs óframir, at greppi jöfurs.

Here they set me between serving men, rather mocking and white-eyelashed. The fellows mock and, exceedingly cautious, hold the prince’s poet up to ridicule.

Mss: 590b-cˣ(6v) (Gautr)

Readings: [3] hæðinna: hæðinn 590b‑cˣ    [4] hvítbránna: hvítbránn 590b‑cˣ    [6] skaup: ‘skop’ 590b‑cˣ

Editions: Skj AII, 328, Skj BII, 348, Skald II, 187, FF §28; FSN 3, 36-7, Gautr 1900, 33, FSGJ 4, 33; Edd. Min. 43.

Context: A short prose paragraph in 590b-cˣ separates Vík 30 (Gautr 38) from the final three stanzas of Vík, which are cited after this without prose intervention. The prose text first comments on Starkaðr’s self-condemnation of his killing of Víkarr and then on his situation at Uppsala, where twelve berserks who were employed as mercenaries (málamenn) were very aggressive and mocking towards him. The prose text further states that Starkaðr was silent (þǫgull, cf. Gautr 37/7) – presumably not responding to their insults – but the berserks called him a reborn giant (endrborinn jǫtunn) and a traitor (níðingr), svá sem hér segir ‘as it says here’.

Notes: [All]: The three final stanzas of Vík (at least as it occurs in 590b-cˣ) are not found in either 152 or papp11ˣ. — [All]: There is some resemblance between Vík 31-3 (Gautr 39-41) and part of one of Starkatherus’s poems in Saxo (Saxo 2015, I, vi. 9. 4, pp. 424-6), in which the aged hero contrasts his previously favourable reception at Fróði’s court with his present despised position among the riff-raff in the hall. — [2] sveina ‘serving men’: Sveinn is probably used here in the sense ‘servant, attendant’ (cf. Fritzner: sveinn 4) rather than ‘youth, lad’, although the latter cannot be ruled out, especially if it has a pejorative edge. — [3-4] heldr hæðinna ok hvítbránna ‘rather mocking and white-eyelashed’: The two adjectives hæðinn ‘mocking’ and hvítbránn ‘having white eyelashes’ are in the m. nom. sg. in the only ms. of this stanza, but the noun sveina ‘serving men’ (l. 2), which they probably qualify, is m. acc. pl. For this reason, following Edd. Min. (reportedly following a suggestion of Axel Olrik), Skj B and Skald, this edn emends each adj. to m. acc. pl. It is not clear why the serving men should be described as having white eyelashes. However, Án 5 may throw some light on the matter, because the rare conjunction of heldr and hæðinn ‘rather mocking’ occurs there also in l. 7 (cf. LP: hæðinn), as does the adj. hvíthaddaðr ‘fair-haired’ (l. 3). The stanza describes how a group of girls mocks Án Bow-bender because of his outlandish clothing. It is possible that pale hair or eyelashes was somehow associated with mockery, though exactly how or why is unclear. — [6] skaup ‘ridicule’: With Skj B and Skald, this edn adopts CPB’s suggested emendation (CPB II, 548) of the ms.’s ‘skop’, which does not make sense in this context. — [7] ófs óframir ‘exceedingly cautious’: This edn understands this adjectival phrase, referring to Starkaðr’s insulters, as ironic, possibly litotic. Ófs ‘exceedingly’ is often used as an intensifier with adjectives, while óframr ‘cautious’ is well attested (cf. Sigv Berv 15/3^II). Kock (FF §28) suggests ófs óframir means som stora uslingar ‘as great villains’. The ms.’s ‘öframer’ is interpreted as oframmir by Skj B in the sense ‘very strong’, and the whole phrase understood to mean stærke i deres overdrevne adfærd ‘strong in their exaggerated behaviour’. — [8] greppi ‘poet’: This noun sometimes means ‘man’ in poetry, but much more often is one of several terms for ‘poet’; cf., among others, Bragi Troll 1/4^III, Þhorn Harkv 18/3^I and Anon Nkt 1/3^II.

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. 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.
6. CPB = Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and F. York Powell, eds. 1883. Corpus poeticum boreale: The Poetry of the Old Northern Tongue from the Earliest Times to the Thirteenth Century. 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon. Rpt. 1965, New York: Russell & Russell.
7. Fritzner = Fritzner, Johan. 1883-96. Ordbog over det gamle norske sprog. 3 vols. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske forlagsforening. 4th edn. Rpt. 1973. Oslo etc.: Universitetsforlaget.
8. FSGJ = Guðni Jónsson, ed. 1954. Fornaldar sögur norðurlanda. 4 vols. [Reykjavík]: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan.
9. 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.
10. FF = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1922. Fornjermansk forskning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 18:1. Lund: Gleerup.
11. Gautr 1900 = Ranisch, Wilhelm, ed. 1900. Die Gautrekssaga in zwei Fassungen. Palaestra 11. Berlin: Mayer & Müller.
12. Saxo 2015 = Friis-Jensen, Karsten, ed. 2015. Saxo Grammaticus: Gesta Danorum: The History of the Danes. Trans. Peter Fisher. Oxford Medieval Texts. 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon.
13. Internal references
14. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Anonymous Poems, Nóregs konungatal 1’ 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, pp. 762-3.
15. Kari Ellen Gade 2009, ‘ Þorleikr fagri, Flokkr about Sveinn Úlfsson’ 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, pp. 313-22. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1430> (accessed 6 May 2024)
16. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Bragi inn gamli Boddason, An exchange of verses between Bragi and a troll-woman 1’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 64.
17. 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 6 May 2024)
18. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Sigvatr Þórðarson, Bersǫglisvísur 15’ 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. 27.
19. R. D. Fulk (ed.) 2012, ‘Þorbjǫrn hornklofi, Haraldskvæði (Hrafnsmál) 18’ 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. 112.
20. Beatrice La Farge (ed.) 2017, ‘Áns saga bogsveigis 5 (Án bogsveigir, Lausavísur 5)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 12.
21. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Gautreks saga 37 (Starkaðr gamli Stórvirksson, Víkarsbálkr 29)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 280.
22. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Gautreks saga 38 (Starkaðr gamli Stórvirksson, Víkarsbálkr 30)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 281.
23. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Gautreks saga 39 (Starkaðr gamli Stórvirksson, Víkarsbálkr 31)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 283.