Þjóð Har 5^I

Þá vas lofðungr         Lúfa kallaðr
es í fylkis l...         ...kar óxu.
Ávallt vas kallaðr         með konungs nafni
Haraldr hárfagri         hilmir síðan.

Lofðungr vas kallaðr Lúfa, þá es ...kar óxu í l... fylkis. Ávallt síðan vas hilmir kallaðr Haraldr hárfagri, með nafni konungs.

The ruler was called Lúfa (‘Shaggy-locks’) when ... grew in the leader’s ... Ever afterwards the prince was called Haraldr hárfagri (‘Fair-hair’), with the title of king.

Mss: 301ˣ(6r), FskAˣ(19) (ll. 1-3), 52ˣ(8r) (l. 1) (Fsk)

Readings: [4] ...kar: ‘cár’ 301ˣ    [5] Ávallt: ‘vallt’ 301ˣ    [8] hilmir: ‘[…]mir’ 301ˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 21 n. to st. 4om. B, om. Skald; Fsk 1902-3, 19 n. (ch. 2).

Context: After an account of the battle of Hafrsfjǫrðr (Hafrsfjorden) in Fsk (ÍF 29, 70), we are told that Haraldr was now fully grown. His hair was long and tangled, and for that reason he was called Lúfa ‘Shaggy-locks’. Then Rǫgnvaldr, jarl of Mœrr (Møre), cut his hair and gave him a name and called him Haraldr hárfagri (‘Fair-hair’).

Notes: [All]: The FskA transcripts add ok þetta kvað Hornklofi ‘and [Þorbjǫrn] Hornklofi recited this’ (though this clause and st. 5 are not printed or mentioned in ÍF 29, 70). Finnur Jónsson prints the stanza in Skj A, but not Skj B, because of its incompleteness, nor is it included in Skald. On this stanza, see further Introduction above. — [2] Lúfa ‘Lúfa (‘‘Shaggy-locks’’)’: See Context; also biography of Haraldr, in ‘Ruler biographies’, in Introduction to this volume. The nickname also occurs in st. 4/1. — [3] l...: A possible restoration would be lyrg (m. nom. sg. lyrgr), a rare word meaning ‘forelock’. Though not entirely convincing, this seems the least implausible of the various possibilities permitted by metre, alliteration, semantics and context. Bugge (1871a, 519) supplies lô ‘wave’. In prose, lô denotes ‘the line of shoal water along the shore’ (CVC: lá), but in verse it takes on the meaning ‘wave’. It is nowhere else used to refer to hair. — [4] ... kar: Metre and semantic context favour lokkar ‘locks of hair’ here, as suggested by Bugge (1871a, 519). — [7] hárfagri ‘hárfagri (‘‘Fair-hair’’)’: See ‘Ruler biographies’, and Note to Þhorn Harkv 10 /1.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj A = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15a. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. A: Tekst efter håndskrifterne. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1967. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
3. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
4. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. CVC = Cleasby, Richard, Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and W. A. Craigie. 1957. An Icelandic-English Dictionary. 2nd edn. Oxford: Clarendon.
6. Fsk 1902-3 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1902-3. Fagrskinna: Nóregs kononga tal. SUGNL 30. Copenhagen: Møller.
7. ÍF 29 = Ágrip af Nóregskonunga sǫgum; Fagrskinna—Nóregs konungatal. Ed. Bjarni Einarsson. 1985.
8. Bugge, Sophus. 1871a. ‘Et vers af Torbjørn Hornklove om Harald Haarfagre’. HT(N) 1, 518-19.
9. Internal references
10. (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 23 April 2024)
11. R. D. Fulk (ed.) 2012, ‘Þorbjǫrn hornklofi, Haraldskvæði (Hrafnsmál) 10’ 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. 105.