Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Haraldr harðráði Sigurðarson, Gamanvísur 3’ 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. 38.
Senn jósum vér, svanni,
sextán, þás brim vexti,
— dreif á hlaðna húfa
húm — í fjórum rúmum.
Vættik miðr, at motti
myni enn þinig nenna;
þó lætr Gerðr í Gǫrðum
gollhrings við mér skolla.
Vér jósum, svanni, sextán senn í fjórum rúmum, þás brim vexti; húm dreif á hlaðna húfa. Vættik miðr, at motti myni enn nenna þinig; þó lætr {Gerðr gollhrings} í Gǫrðum skolla við mér.
We bailed, woman, sixteen at a time in four rowing-stations, when the surf increased; sea-spray battered the loaded hull. I hardly think a sluggard will ever head there; yet {the Gerðr <goddess> of the gold ring} [WOMAN] in Russia ridicules me.
Mss: Mork(3r) (Mork); H(28v) (H-Hr); R(38r), Tˣ(40r), A(13r), C(7v) (SnE, ll. 1-4)
Readings: [1] jósum: jósu R, Tˣ, A, vissu C; svanni: svanna H [2] þás (‘þa er’): en R, Tˣ, A, at C; vexti: fexti Tˣ, A [3] hlaðna: hafskips R, A, C, hafsskips Tˣ [5] miðr: minnr H [6] myni: muni H; þinig: þinnig H [7] þó lætr Gerðr í Gǫrðum: abbrev. as ‘þ. l. ger.’ Mork, ‘þo lætr ger. i. g’ H [8] gollhrings við mér skolla: om. Mork, abbrev. as ‘g. við mer sk’ H
Editions: Skald I, 72 (ll. 1-4), 166 (ll. 5-8); Mork 1867, 15, Mork 1928-32, 86, Andersson and Gade 2000, 148, 472-3 (MH); Fms 6, 170 (HSig ch. 15); SnE 1848-87, I, 498-9, II, 451, 600, SnE 1931, 175, SnE 1998, I, 94.
Context: In SnE (Skm), húmr ‘sea-spray’ is given as one of several heiti for ‘sea’.
Notes: [1-4]: In SnE (Skm), this helmingr is attributed to Brennu-Njáll Þorgeirsson (see Introduction above). — [1] svanni ‘woman’: The identity of this woman is unknown. For apostrophes to fictitious women in skaldic poetry, see Fidjestøl 1976 and Frank 1990. — [2] þás ‘when’: En ‘and’ (so R, Tˣ, A), is also a possible reading. The C variant, vissu vér … at ‘we knew … that’ (ll. 1, 2), must be an independent innovation. — [2] vexti ‘increased’: This is 3rd pers. sg. pret. indic. of the weak verb vexa lit. ‘cause to increase’ used impersonally with brim ‘surf’ as the object. Fexti ‘crested’ (so Tˣ, A) is possible (and adopted in Skj B, Skald), but the ms. witnesses show that it hardly represents the original reading. — [3] hlaðna húfa ‘the loaded hull’: Both Skj B and Skald adopt the SnE variant húfa hafskips ‘the hull of the ocean-ship’. A hafskip was a cargo ship manned by a smaller crew (here sixteen). See Falk 1912, 108. — [3] húfa ‘hull’: Lit. ‘hulls’. For this word, see Note to Mberf Lv 1/3. — [4] í fjórum rúmum ‘in four rowing-stations’: Rúm were partitioned rooms between the thwarts of the ship (see Falk 1912, 82-4). — [5-8]: Echo st. 2/5-8 above.
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