Rloð Lv 4VIII (Ragn 8)
Rory McTurk (ed.) 2017, ‘Ragnars saga loðbrókar 8 (Ragnarr loðbrók, Lausavísur 4)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 639.
Sigurðr ‘Sigurðr’
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Sigurðr (noun m.): Sigurðr
[1] Sigurðr mun sveinn of heitinn: ‘[…] (heit[…]n)’(?) 147
mun ‘will’
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munu (verb): will, must
[1] Sigurðr mun sveinn of heitinn: ‘[…] (heit[…]n)’(?) 147
sveinn ‘The boy’
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sveinn (noun m.; °sveins; sveinar): boy, servant, attendant
[1] Sigurðr mun sveinn of heitinn: ‘[…] (heit[…]n)’(?) 147
of ‘be’
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4. of (particle): (before verb)
[1] Sigurðr mun sveinn of heitinn: ‘[…] (heit[…]n)’(?) 147
heitinn ‘called’
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2. heita (verb): be called, promise
[1] Sigurðr mun sveinn of heitinn: ‘[…] (heit[…]n)’(?) 147
sá ‘he’
[2] sá mun orrostur heyja: ‘sa mu[…]ur heyia’ 147
orrostur ‘in battles’
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orrusta (noun f.; °-u; -ur): battle
[2] sá mun orrostur heyja: ‘sa mu[…]ur heyia’ 147
heyja ‘engage’
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2. heyja (verb): fight, wage (battle)
[2] sá mun orrostur heyja: ‘sa mu[…]ur heyia’ 147
vera ‘will be’
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2. vera (verb): be, is, was, were, are, am
[3] mjök líkr vera móður: ‘[…] uera […]dur’ 147
notes
[4] ok … mögr föður ‘and … father’s son’: Olsen (Ragn 1906-8, 181) could read ‘ok maugur f[…]’ here in 147, but this reading cannot now be confirmed.
mögr ‘son’
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mǫgr (noun m.; °; megir, acc. mǫgu): son, boy
[4] ok mögr föður kallaðr: ‘[…]’ 147
notes
[4] ok … mögr föður ‘and … father’s son’: Olsen (Ragn 1906-8, 181) could read ‘ok maugur f[…]’ here in 147, but this reading cannot now be confirmed.
notes
[4] ok … mögr föður ‘and … father’s son’: Olsen (Ragn 1906-8, 181) could read ‘ok maugur f[…]’ here in 147, but this reading cannot now be confirmed.
notes
[5-8]: (a) The present ed., while offering an interpretation of these lines not previously proposed, agrees with all previous eds in taking sá ‘he’ in l. 5 as referring to Sigurðr, son of Ragnarr (as opposed to Sigurðr Fáfnisbani, who some believe is referred to in l. 4, see Note to ll. 3-4 above); with Olsen, Eskeland, Örnólfur Thorsson and Larrington (2010, 62-3) in seeing ll. 5-6 on the one hand and 7-8 on the other as forming separate clauses; and with Olsen, Ebel, and also, it seems, Örnólfur, in seeing þeim ‘(of) him’ in l. 7 as the antecedent of the rel. clause introduced by er ‘who’ in l. 8. This ed. differs from all previous eds with the possible exception of Örnólfur, however, in suggesting that þeim in l. 7 refers to Sigurðr Fáfnisbani (see McTurk 2012a). This Sigurðr is frequently referred to in Vǫls as having piercing eyes (see Vǫls 1906-8, 31, 42, 56, 80, cf. also 75), and there is ample poetic evidence to suggest that a piercing gaze was thought of as snake-like, see LP: ormfránn ‘glittering like a snake’ and cf. Vǫl 17/5-6, Fáfn 5/5, and Rþ 34/7-8. (b) Olsen (Ragn 1906-8, 200-1) refers to a suggestion communicated to him by S. Bugge to the effect that the rel. particle er in l. 8 should be linked with Óðins ættar in l. 5 (rather than with þeim in l. 7) to give the following prose order: Sá mun vera heitinn yfirþáttr ættar Óðins, er annan lét svelta; ormr er í auga þeim ‘He [Sigurðr, son of Ragnarr], will be called the principal scion of the descendant of Óðinn [Sigurðr Fáfnisbani], who caused another [snake, Fáfnir] to die; there is a snake in his [Sigurðr Ragnarsson’s] eye’. This would involve understanding ætt(ar) in the sense of ‘family member, descendant’. This interpretation seems far-fetched, however, given the proximity of the poss. dat. þeim in l. 7 and rel. particle er in l. 8. Olsen (Ragn 1906-8, 201) also emends l. 8 to es ǫrn lætrat svelta ‘who will not let the eagle starve’ (as an alternative, following another suggestion of Bugge’s, to the former interpretation by Bugge of l. 8). (c) Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) reads yfirbátr in l. 6 (see Note to l. 6 below), emends pret. lét to pres. lætr in l. 8, giving it future meaning, and takes the rel. particle er in l. 8 as correlating with yfirbátr, thus producing the awkward translation: ‘He, of Óðinn’s family, will be called (other people’s) superior, who will let another person die; in his eyes lies a snake.’ (d) Kock (NN §3180), perhaps rather surprisingly in view of his usual preference for the simplest possible interpretation, adopts Finnur’s text of the half-stanza, and criticises his translation only to the extent of arguing for ‘He will be called the outstripper of Óðinn’s family, who …’ in place of its opening clause. (e) The present edn’s interpretation of the half-stanza attributes the role of chief scion of the dynasty to Ragnarr’s son Sigurðr and that of ‘Snake-in-eye’ to Sigurðr Fáfnisbani. This involves no emendation. The roles might be reversed if the half-stanza were read as follows, also without emendation: þeim er ormr í auga; sá, er lét svelta annan, mun vera heitinn yfirþáttr ættar Óðins: ‘that one [Ragnarr’s son Sigurðr] has a snake in his eye; he [Sigurðr Fáfnisbani], who allowed another [snake, Fáfnir] to die, is surely reckoned the chief scion of Óðinn’s dynasty’. Here mun vera ‘is surely’ would be read as expressing likelihood rather than futurity. The prose order thus assumed would, however, be at variance with what Kock (NN §§1462, 1465) has identified as the simple, straightforward syntactic tendency of the Ragn stanzas in general.
Sá ‘He’
[5] Sá mun Óðins ættar: ‘[…]u(n) odins ætt(ar)’(?) 147
mun ‘will’
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munu (verb): will, must
[5] Sá mun Óðins ættar: ‘[…]u(n) odins ætt(ar)’(?) 147
Óðins ‘of Óðinn’s’
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Óðinn (noun m.): Óðinn
[5] Sá mun Óðins ættar: ‘[…]u(n) odins ætt(ar)’(?) 147
ættar ‘dynasty’
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1. ætt (noun f.; °-ar; -ir): family
[5] Sá mun Óðins ættar: ‘[…]u(n) odins ætt(ar)’(?) 147
yfir ‘the chief’
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yfir (prep.): over < yfirþáttr (noun m.)
notes
[6] yfirþáttr ‘chief scion’: As Olsen (Ragn 1906-8, 200-1) notes, yfirþáttr ‘chief scion’ is preferable here to yfirbátr ‘person who is superior to others, foremost in importance’, in terms both of ms. readings and linguistic parallels (the one significant difference in meaning being that the former word implies membership of a family). In the meaning ‘superior, foremost person’, Olsen claims, one would expect *fyrirbátr rather than yfirbátr, and Olsen, acknowledging here a debt to Bugge, adduces support in Hamð 4/3 and in Egill Lv 26/6V(Eg 33) for þáttr, ‑þáttr in the sense of ‘family member’; cf. such compounds as yfirdróttning, ‑hildingr, ‑maðr, ‑þengill ‘chief queen, warrior, man, prince’.
þáttr ‘scion’
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þáttr (noun m.; °dat. þǽtti; þǽttir, acc. þáttu): strand, tale < yfirþáttr (noun m.)
[6] ‑þáttr: ‘þatr’ or possibly ‘batr’ corrected in left margin from ‘‑þratt’ in scribal hand 1824b, ‘þatt(ur)’(?) 147
notes
[6] yfirþáttr ‘chief scion’: As Olsen (Ragn 1906-8, 200-1) notes, yfirþáttr ‘chief scion’ is preferable here to yfirbátr ‘person who is superior to others, foremost in importance’, in terms both of ms. readings and linguistic parallels (the one significant difference in meaning being that the former word implies membership of a family). In the meaning ‘superior, foremost person’, Olsen claims, one would expect *fyrirbátr rather than yfirbátr, and Olsen, acknowledging here a debt to Bugge, adduces support in Hamð 4/3 and in Egill Lv 26/6V(Eg 33) for þáttr, ‑þáttr in the sense of ‘family member’; cf. such compounds as yfirdróttning, ‑hildingr, ‑maðr, ‑þengill ‘chief queen, warrior, man, prince’.
vera ‘come to be’
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2. vera (verb): be, is, was, were, are, am
heitinn ‘known as’
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2. heita (verb): be called, promise
þeim ‘of him’
[7] þeim er ormr í auga: ‘þeim mun ormur […]’ 147
er ‘there is’
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2. vera (verb): be, is, was, were, are, am
[7] þeim er ormr í auga: ‘þeim mun ormur […]’ 147
notes
[7] er ‘is’: Since Sigurðr Fáfnisbani is dead at the time of the supposed utterance of this stanza, this must of course be taken as an instance of the historic pres. There is no need to replace it with the reading mun ‘will be’ or ‘is surely’ from 147, but this reading may be understood also as an instance of the historic pres., and as conveying a sense of virtual certainty (‘surely there is/was …’).
ormr ‘a snake’
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ormr (noun m.; °-s, dat. -i; -ar): serpent
[7] þeim er ormr í auga: ‘þeim mun ormur […]’ 147
auga ‘the eye’
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auga (noun n.; °auga; augu/augun, gen. augna): eye
[7] þeim er ormr í auga: ‘þeim mun ormur […]’ 147
notes
[7] auga ‘eye’: Olsen (Ragn 1906-8, 181) could read ‘aug[…]’ here in 147, but this cannot now be confirmed.
er ‘who’
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2. er (conj.): who, which, when
[8] er annan lét svelta: ‘[…] (let) […]ellta’(?) 147
annan ‘another’
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1. annarr (pron.; °f. ǫnnur, n. annat; pl. aðrir): (an)other, second
[8] er annan lét svelta: ‘[…] (let) […]ellta’(?) 147
lét ‘caused’
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láta (verb): let, have sth done
[8] er annan lét svelta: ‘[…] (let) […]ellta’(?) 147
svelta ‘to die’
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1. svelta (verb): die, hunger (strong, intrans.)
[8] er annan lét svelta: ‘[…] (let) […]ellta’(?) 147
Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses
On learning that Ragnarr had planned to leave her for, as he thought, the more nobly-born daughter of King Eysteinn of Sweden, Kráka-Áslaug had prophesied that their fifth son would be born with a snake-like mark in his eye, as proof that her parents were the illustrious Sigurðr, slayer of the serpent Fáfnir, and Brynhildr. Ragnarr speaks here of his newborn son.
On the interpretation of this stanza offered here, see more fully McTurk (2012a). Here it is not so much the individual words as their syntactic interrelation that presents problems. As the present ed. understands it, the stanza is offering an explanation of the nickname ormr-í-auga ‘Snake-in-eye’ for Ragnarr’s son Sigurðr in terms of a piercing gaze inherited from his maternal grandfather Sigurðr Fáfnisbani. Modern suggestions as to the nickname’s explanation are: that it refers to the eye-condition known as nystagmus (Reichborn-Kjennerud 1923, 26); that it reflects the myth recorded in SnE (SnE 1998, I, 4-5) of Óðinn crawling in the form of a serpent through a narrow, eye-like opening in order to win the poetic mead (McTurk 1991b, 358-9; 2006, 685); that it reflects the archaeologically attested practice of placing images of snakes over the eyeholes on masks fitted to helmets of a kind found predominantly in Sweden and dating from the Vendel period (c. 550-800) (Marold 1998a); and that it points to the warlike characteristics of its bearer through its association with Óðinn specifically as a god of war, not least because the adj. ormfránn ‘glittering like a snake’ is applied to the eyes of prominent warriors in Old Norse poetry, and some of the names applied to Óðinn (Sváfnir, Ófnir, Grímr) are also poetic words for ‘snake’ (see Lassen 2003, 39-42, and the entries for those names in LP). — [3-4]: The question here is whether ll. 3-4 are to be understood as meaning: ‘will be very like his mother (i.e. Áslaug) and called his father’s (i.e. Ragnarr’s) son’ (with móður taken as dat. and föður as gen.), or ‘and will be considered (kallaðr ‘said to be’) a son very like his mother’s father’ (with móður taken as gen. and föður as dat., and ‘his mother’s father’ referring to Sigurðr Fáfnisbani). Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) plumps for the former, simpler alternative (perhaps rather surprisingly), as does the present ed., along with Örnólfur Thorsson (Ragn 1985) and Larrington (2010, 62-3). Olsen (Ragn 1906-8, 200-1), on the other hand, adopts the latter alternative, justifying the dependence of gen. móður in l. 3 on the noun föður, which is somewhat far removed from it in l. 4, by reference to Ragn 9 (see below), where gen. Brynhildar in l. 1 depends on the even more distant dóttur in l. 3.
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