Anon (Vǫlsa) 1I
Wilhelm Heizmann (ed.) 2012, ‘Anonymous Lausavísur, Lausavísur from Vǫlsa þáttr 1’ 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. 1092.
Karl ‘An old man’
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karl (noun m.; °-s, dat. -i; -ar): (old) man
notes
[1-2]: A sg. verb, here hefir (búit) ‘used (to live)’, is common with a coordinate subject in poetry (NS §70). — [1] karl ‘an old man’: All other household members likewise remain nameless: kona ‘woman’, sonr ‘son’ and dóttir ‘daughter’ in this stanza, ambátt ‘female servant, maid’ in st. 2/5, and þræll ‘male servant’ in st. 7/7. Only the household bitch has a (suggestive) proper name, Lærir; on its probable meaning see Note to st. 13/9.
Karl ‘An old man’
(not checked:)
karl (noun m.; °-s, dat. -i; -ar): (old) man
notes
[1-2]: A sg. verb, here hefir (búit) ‘used (to live)’, is common with a coordinate subject in poetry (NS §70). — [1] karl ‘an old man’: All other household members likewise remain nameless: kona ‘woman’, sonr ‘son’ and dóttir ‘daughter’ in this stanza, ambátt ‘female servant, maid’ in st. 2/5, and þræll ‘male servant’ in st. 7/7. Only the household bitch has a (suggestive) proper name, Lærir; on its probable meaning see Note to st. 13/9.
hefir ‘used’
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hafa (verb): have
notes
[1-2]: A sg. verb, here hefir (búit) ‘used (to live)’, is common with a coordinate subject in poetry (NS §70).
ok ‘and’
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3. ok (conj.): and, but; also
notes
[1-2]: A sg. verb, here hefir (búit) ‘used (to live)’, is common with a coordinate subject in poetry (NS §70).
kona ‘woman’
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kona (noun f.; °-u; -ur/-r(KlmA1980 116¹¹), gen. pl. kvenna/kvinna): woman
notes
[1-2]: A sg. verb, here hefir (búit) ‘used (to live)’, is common with a coordinate subject in poetry (NS §70).
ǫldruð ‘an aged’
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aldraðr (adj.): elderly
notes
[1-2]: A sg. verb, here hefir (búit) ‘used (to live)’, is common with a coordinate subject in poetry (NS §70).
notes
[3] á andnesi ‘on a headland’: The ms. only has one <a> which is clearly separated from the following ‘nnd nesi’. Therefore, it is not the prep. that needs to be restored by emendation but the initial <a> of the next word.
andnesi ‘headland’
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1. andnes (noun n.; °; -): headland
[3] á andnesi: ‘a nnd nesi’ Flat
notes
[3] á andnesi ‘on a headland’: The ms. only has one <a> which is clearly separated from the following ‘nnd nesi’. Therefore, it is not the prep. that needs to be restored by emendation but the initial <a> of the next word.
einhverju ‘a certain’
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einshverr (pron.; °m. dat. ·hverjum, f. dat. ·hverri): a certain
Átti ‘had’
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2. eiga (verb; °á/eigr (præs. pl. 3. pers. eigu/eiga); átti, áttu; átt): own, have
son ‘a son’
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sonr (noun m.; °-ar, dat. syni; synir, acc. sonu, syni): son
við ‘with’
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2. við (prep.): with, against
seima ‘of gold’
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2. seimr (noun m.; °dat. -i): gold
kennings
Bil seima.‘the Bil of gold.’
= WOMAN
the Bil of gold. → WOMAN
Bil ‘the Bil’
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Bil (noun f.): Bil
kennings
Bil seima.‘the Bil of gold.’
= WOMAN
the Bil of gold. → WOMAN
drengr ‘The capable man’
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drengr (noun m.; °-s, dat. -; -ir, gen. -ja): man, warrior
ok ‘and’
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3. ok (conj.): and, but; also
drjúgskýrliga ‘a very sensible’
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drjúgskýrligr (adj.): [a very sensible]
notes
[8] drjúgskýrliga ‘very sensible’: A hap. leg., though drjúg- occurs as an intensifier; see, e.g., LP: drjúghljóðr ‘very/persistently silent’, drjúgspakr ‘very wise’.
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The prose text sets the story in the time before the expulsion of King Óláfr from Norway by King Knútr (late 1020s), and connects it with the Christianizing efforts of Óláfr. The king is informed about heathen practices being performed on a remote farm in northern Norway. The family at the farm, a farmer, a housewife and their son and daughter, are introduced and st. 1 cited with at þui sem j upphafi kuædissins segir ok suo hefr ‘as it says in the beginning of the poem, starting thus’. The prose resumes with the remainder of the household: a male and a female servant, and a dog called Lærir.
The stanza is missing in 292ˣ, and it was probably inserted into Flat as an introductory stanza deduced from the prose text.
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