Cookies on our website

We use cookies on this website, mainly to provide a secure browsing experience but also to collect statistics on how the website is used. You can find out more about the cookies we set, the information we store and how we use it on the cookies page.

Continue

skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

Menu Search

Anon Óldr 11I

Kate Heslop (ed.) 2012, ‘Anonymous Poems, Óláfs drápa Tryggvasonar 11’ 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. 1043.

Anonymous PoemsÓláfs drápa Tryggvasonar
101112

Ok fimm, sás gaf gumnum
gló-Lista, vann kristin,
ljótbnanda lautar,
lǫnd élboði Gǫndlar.
Hvern viti hjalma þornar
— hann vas ríkstr konungmanna —
elda runn, es unni
eljun slíkt, at telja?

Ok {{Gǫndlar él}boði}, sás gaf gumnum {gló-Lista {ljótbnanda lautar}}, vann kristin fimm lǫnd. {Hvern runn elda} viti {þornar hjalma} at telja, es unni eljun slíkt? Hann vas ríkstr konungmanna.

And {the offerer {of the storm of Gǫndul <valkyrie>}} [(lit. ‘storm-offerer of Gǫndul’) BATTLE > WARRIOR], he who gave men {the gleaming Lista {of the ugly edging of the dale}} [= Miðgarðsormr > GOLD], made five lands Christian. {What bush of swords} [WARRIOR] do {thorn-trees of helmets} [WARRIORS] know to mention, who loved enterprise in such a way? He was the mightiest of kingly men.

Mss: Bb(112vb)

Readings: [3] ‑bnanda: ‘birnandir’ or ‘birnandiz’ Bb;    lautar: ‘lꜹtan’ Bb    [4] Gǫndlar: ‘gvndlar’ Bb

Editions: Skj AI, 575, Skj BI, 570, Skald I, 276, NN §§196, 2116, 2983, 2990I; Munch and Unger 1847, 121-2, 141, Gullberg 1875, 14, 29.

Notes: [1, 2, 4] vann kristin fimm lǫnd ‘made five lands Christian’: That is, Norway, Shetland, Orkney, Iceland and Greenland, listed in sts 12 and 13; see Note to st. 12 [All]. The Christianizing of five lands is also the subject of HSt Rst 10-11. — [2] Lista ‘Lista’: Listi (ModNorw Lista), a district in southern Norway; the name is quite frequent in kennings. — [2, 3] gló-Lista ljótbnanda lautar ‘the gleaming Lista of the ugly edging of the dale [= Miðgarðsormr > GOLD]’: It is clear from the context that this is a gold-kenning, and equally that the meaningless ‘birnandir’ or ‘birnandiz’ must be emended. Three different gold-kennings have been proposed: two on the pattern ‘land of the serpent’, and one on the pattern ‘fire of the sea’. (a) The solution adopted above follows Kock (NN §2116), who proposes emending to brýnanda ‘of the edging’, gen. of an otherwise unattested participial noun brýnandi m., from brýna ‘to edge’, itself derived from brún f. ‘brow, edge, sea-shore’. The ‘ugly edging’ of the land (laut f. ‘dale’, a common land-heiti) is the Miðgarðsormr (or Jǫrmungandr), the encircling World Serpent (see SnE 2005, 27, 50), here standing for a generic ‘serpent’, and Lista stands for ‘land’ in general. The traditional land or lair of a serpent is gold (cf. other gold-kennings alluding to the Miðgarðsormr: Hallv Knútdr 5/2III leið holmfjǫturs ‘path of the islet-fetter’ and Anon Pl 50/5, 6, 7VII látr undins fránbaugs jarðar ‘ground of the twisted, shining ring of the earth’). The verbal element gló-, typically applied to gold (LP), gives an extra hint as to the meaning of this complex kenning. (b) Skj B emends ‘birnandiz’ to girðanda ‘girdling’; the ‘ugly girdling of the dale’ is again the Miðgarðsormr. While not implausible, this is a more radical emendation and yields a lectio facilior, so is not adopted here. (c) Sveinbjörn Egilsson (1832, 11) and Gullberg (1875) emend to brennandi m. or f. ‘burning one’, and take glólista as ‘gleaming edge’ (from listi m. ‘selvage, edge’); the ‘dale’s gleaming edge’ is the sea, and the ‘burning one of the sea’, gold. But listi m. is late and rare, while the earlier form is lista f. (CVC: lista), and brennandi meaning ‘fire’ lacks parallels (cf. ONP: brennandi m.). — [4] Gǫndlar ‘of Gǫndul <valkyrie>’: A minor emendation restores aðalhending (lǫnd : Gǫnd-) and the usual form of the valkyrie-name. — [5-8]: Comparable rhetorical questions (‘who knows of such a king?’) occur in HSt Rst 32 and ESk Geisl 64VII; the diction of Rst 32 is also similar. The structure of the helmingr is also reminiscent of SnSt Ht 55/1-4III; see also Note to l. 6. — [6]: This line occurs in the stef of HSt Rst (see Rst 9/8 etc.). Cf. also ESk Geisl 18/2VII vas hann mestr konungr ‘he was the greatest king’, and Steinn Óldr 16/6II hanns fremstr konungmanna ‘he is the foremost of kings’ . — [7] runn elda ‘bush of swords [WARRIOR]’: Elda is gen. pl. of eldr m. ‘fire’, but here a weapon-heiti, as in Hfr ErfÓl 6/4 (see Note). Skj B emends to odda ‘of points’ to yield a conventional warrior-kenning here, and similarly in Arn Þorfdr 20/6II (see Note), but neither emendation is necessary. — [7] unni ‘loved’: The presence of aðalhending (runn : unni) in an odd line leads some previous eds (Skj; Skald) to emend unni ‘loved’ to ynni ‘might achieve’ (3rd pers. sg. pret. subj. of vinna), but this minor metrical licence is frequent in Óldr (see Introduction). — [8] eljun slíkt ‘enterprise in such a way’: Slíkt (n. nom./acc. sg.) ‘such’ is taken here as an adv., ‘in such a way’. Slík (f. nom. sg.) might have been expected, qualifying eljun ‘enterprise’, which is normally f. (LP: eljun), and it is possible that slíkt arose in error through the word being taken as object of telja (slíkt at telja ‘to mention such a thing’). Kock (NN §196) instead takes the noun as eljan n., arguing that the Gmc cognates are n. Skj B takes eljun-ríkstr ‘most dynamic’ as a cpd with tmesis.

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. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
  4. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 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. CVC = Cleasby, Richard, Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and W. A. Craigie. 1957. An Icelandic-English Dictionary. 2nd edn. Oxford: Clarendon.
  7. ONP = Degnbol, Helle et al., eds. 1989-. A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose / Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog. 1-. Copenhagen: The Arnamagnæan Commission.
  8. Munch, P. A. and C. R. Unger, eds. 1847. Oldnorsk læsebog med tilhörende glossarium. Christiania (Oslo): Dahl.
  9. SnE 2005 = Snorri Sturluson. 2005. Edda: Prologue and Gylfaginning. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
  10. Gullberg, H., ed. 1875. Óláfs drápa Tryggvasonar: fragment ur “Bergsboken”. Lund: Berling.
  11. Sveinbjörn Egilsson, ed. 1832. Skóla-hátíd í minníngu Fædíngar-dags vors allranádugasta Konúngs Fridriks Sjøtta: Ólafs drápa Tryggvasonar er Hallfredr orti Vandrædaskáld. Videyjarklaustri: Á kostnad Bessastada Skóla.
  12. Internal references
  13. Jonna Louis-Jensen and Tarrin Wills (eds) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Plácitusdrápa 50’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 212-13.
  14. Rolf Stavnem 2012, ‘ Hallar-Steinn, Rekstefja’ 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. 893. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1237> (accessed 29 March 2024)
  15. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Arnórr jarlaskáld Þórðarson, Þorfinnsdrápa 20’ 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. 253-4.
  16. Martin Chase (ed.) 2007, ‘Einarr Skúlason, Geisli 18’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 21-2.
  17. Martin Chase (ed.) 2007, ‘Einarr Skúlason, Geisli 64’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 59.
  18. Rolf Stavnem (ed.) 2012, ‘Hallar-Steinn, Rekstefja 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. 908.
  19. Rolf Stavnem (ed.) 2012, ‘Hallar-Steinn, Rekstefja 32’ 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. 934.
  20. Rolf Stavnem (ed.) 2012, ‘Hallar-Steinn, Rekstefja 9’ 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. 906.
  21. Matthew Townend (ed.) 2017, ‘Hallvarðr háreksblesi, Knútsdrápa 5’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 236.
  22. Kate Heslop (ed.) 2012, ‘Hallfreðr vandræðaskáld Óttarsson, Erfidrápa Óláfs Tryggvasonar 6’ 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. 409.
  23. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Snorri Sturluson, Háttatal 55’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1164.
  24. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Steinn Herdísarson, Óláfsdrápa 16’ 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. 380-1.
Close

Log in

This service is only available to members of the relevant projects, and to purchasers of the skaldic volumes published by Brepols.
This service uses cookies. By logging in you agree to the use of cookies on your browser.

Close

Stanza/chapter/text segment

Use the buttons at the top of the page to navigate between stanzas in a poem.

Information tab

Interactive tab

The text and translation are given here, with buttons to toggle whether the text is shown in the verse order or prose word order. Clicking on indiviudal words gives dictionary links, variant readings, kennings and notes, where relevant.

Full text tab

This is the text of the edition in a similar format to how the edition appears in the printed volumes.

Chapter/text segment

This view is also used for chapters and other text segments. Not all the headings shown are relevant to such sections.