Þul Manna 10^III

Sessunautar         ok sifjungar,
afspringr es þá         ok ættstuðill;
þá es ráðunautr         ok ráðgjafi,
þjónar ok þrælar,         þírr, ǫnnungar,
verkmenn, kefsar         ok vílmegir.

Sessunautar ok sifjungar, afspringr es þá ok ættstuðill; þá es ráðunautr ok ráðgjafi, þjónar ok þrælar, þírr, ǫnnungar, verkmenn, kefsar ok vílmegir.

Bench-partners and affines, offspring is next and family-pillar; then there is counsel-sharer and counsellor, servants and slaves, serf, labourers, workmen, captives and sons of toil.

Mss: A(18v), B(8v), 744ˣ(65v-66r), R(42v), Tˣ(44v), C(12r) (SnE)

Readings: [1] Sessunautar: ‘Sess[…]no᷎tr’ B, ‘Sessu no᷎tr’ 744ˣ    [2] sifjungar: ‘síf[…]’ B, ‘sifiunngr’ 744ˣ, sifjungr C    [3] afspringr: so R, Tˣ, C, afspring A, ‘af[…]ingr’ B, afspringr 744ˣ;    es þá (‘er þa’): om. B    [6] ok ráðgjafi: om. R, Tˣ, C    [7] þjónar: ‘[…]nar’ B, ‘þíonar’ 744ˣ, om. C;    ok: om. R, Tˣ, C;    þrælar: om. C    [8] ǫnnungar: ‘[…]nnungar’ B, ‘. .innungar’ 744ˣ, ǫnnungr þjónar C    [9] verkmenn: ‘[…]ru verk[…]’ B, ‘þa eru verkmenn’ 744ˣ, verkmenn þrælar C;    kefsar: so R, kefsir A, ‘þar nerst kef[…]’ B, ‘þar nerst kefsar’ 744ˣ, ‘kessar’ Tˣ    [10] ok vílmegir: om. R, Tˣ, C

Editions: Skj AI, 661, Skj BI, 662-3, Skald I, 327; SnE 1848-87, I, 561-2, II, 475, 558-9, 618, SnE 1931, 200, SnE 1998, I, 118.   

Notes: [All]: Some of the terms in this list are not otherwise attested in poetry: sifjungar ‘affines’ (l. 2), ráðunautr ‘counsel-sharer’ (l. 5), ǫnnungar ‘labourers’ (l. 8) and verkmenn ‘workmen’ (l. 9). — [All]: Ms. A has been chosen as the main ms. for this stanza, because ll. 6 and 10 are omitted in the R, Tˣ, C redaction. — [7-9] þjónar ok þrælar, þírr, ǫnnungar, verkmenn, kefsar ‘servants and slaves, serf, labourers, workmen, captives’: Cf. the almost identical list in Skm (SnE 1998, I, 106): Heitir ok þræll kefsir, þjónn, ǫnnungr, þírr ‘A slave is also called captive, servant, labourer, serf’. The heiti verkmaðr ‘workman’ (l. 9) is the only term in this stanza which is not listed in the corresponding section of Skm. — [10] vílmegir ‘sons of toil’: Pl. of vílmǫgr, lit. ‘son of toil, bondsman’ (from víl ‘n. misery, wretchedness’ and mǫgr m. ‘son’). In Skm (SnE 1998, I, 106), this word is listed among pejorative terms, antonyms of various words for ‘hero’, and it is otherwise not attested in prose. See also Anon Bjark 1/3 and Note there.

References

1. Bibliography
2. SnE 1848-87 = Snorri Sturluson. 1848-87. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar: Edda Snorronis Sturlaei. Ed. Jón Sigurðsson et al. 3 vols. Copenhagen: Legatum Arnamagnaeanum. Rpt. Osnabrück: Zeller, 1966.
3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
5. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
6. Internal references
7. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Poems, Bjarkamál in fornu 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. 497.
8. (forthcoming), ‘ Snorri Sturluson, Skáldskaparmál’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=112> (accessed 2 May 2024)