Arn Rǫgndr 1^II

Deildisk af, svát aldin
él grafninga þélar
gǫndlar Njǫrðr í Gǫrðum
gunnbráðr tíu háði.

Deildisk af, svát {gunnbráðr Njǫrðr gǫndlar} háði {tíu aldin él {þélar grafninga}} í Gǫrðum.

It fell out in such a way that {the war-hasty Njǫrðr <god> of battle} [WARRIOR = Rǫgnvaldr] brought about {ten ancient blizzards {of the file of graven shields}} [SWORD > BATTLES] in Russia.

Mss: Holm2(69r), 972ˣ(538va), 321ˣ(260), Holm4(64vb), 325VII(39r), 325V(82rb), 61(126va), Bb(200ra), Tóm(157r) (ÓH); 332ˣ(34), Flat(131va), R702ˣ(37r), 325III β(1r) (Orkn)

Readings: [1] svát (‘sva at’): so Holm4, 325VII, 325V, Bb, 332ˣ, Flat, R702ˣ, svá́ Holm2, sem 321ˣ, 325III β, þvíat 61, ‘seri’ Tóm;    aldin: ‘alldun’ 325VII, aldri 325V, 61, Bb, Tóm, R702ˣ, aldir Flat    [2] él: éls 61, ‘ęl’ Bb;    grafninga: ‘gramninga’ 325VII, Bb, 332ˣ, ‘garfinga’ or ‘garfniga’ 325V, ‘grafningia’ 325III β;    þélar: ‘þelaz’ 321ˣ, ‘þęlar’ Bb    [3] gǫndlar: gunnar 325V, 332ˣ, Flat, R702ˣ, 325III β, ‘gunnlar’ 61, ‘go᷎nlar’ Bb;    Njǫrðr: so Holm4, 325VII, 325V, 61, Bb, Tóm, 332ˣ, Flat, ‘nioðr’ or ‘moðr’ Holm2, ‘ar’ 321ˣ, vǫrðr R702ˣ, 325III β;    Gǫrðum: ‘go᷎rdu’ Flat    [4] ‑bráðr: ‑bráð Bb

Editions: Skj AI, 332, Skj BI, 305, Skald I, 155, NN §§809, 2710A; ÓH 1941, I, 581 (ch. 232), ÍF 27, 440; Flat 1860-8, II, 409, Orkn 1913-16, 55, ÍF 34, 54 (ch. 21); Whaley 1998, 137-40.

Context: After the battle of Stiklestad (Stiklastaðir), Rǫgnvaldr Brúsason journeys eastwards and stays, together with Haraldr Sigurðarson, at the court of King Jaroslav (Jarizleifr) in north-west Russia (Garðaríki). In ÓH, the st. is simply prefaced by a loose paraphrase referring to Rǫgnvaldr’s long service and his many battles there as landvarnarmaðr ‘commander of defensive forces’. Orkn gives a fuller account and specifies that Rǫgnvaldr fought ten pitched battles in Novgorod (Hólmgarðr).

Notes: [1] deildisk af ‘it fell out’: (a) Af must be an adv. here rather than a prep. since it bears full stress and alliteration. The phrasal verb deilask af is rare, but is attested in Stu, where the meaning is ‘be dealt out, carried on’: Kǫlluðu þeir at lengi mundi vǫrnin deilaz af úti ‘They said that the defence would be carried on for a long time out there’ (Stu 1906-11, I, 191). In the present context, where there is no explicit subject, the meaning could well be ‘it fell out, happened’ (cf. the verb skipta, which also means both ‘divide, deal’ and ‘happen’). (b) Finnur Jónsson in Skj B and Finnbogi Guðmundsson in ÍF 34, 54 n. regard af as a prep. and construe deildisk af aldri svát gǫndlar Njǫrðr… ‘it happened thus in [that period of the jarl’s] life that the warrior…’. But aldri has support from only one branch of the ÓH stemma, and the postulated interruption of af ... aldri by svát, which introduces the next cl., rules out this construal. (c) Kock (NN §§809 and 2710A) construes af as an adv., but does not account satisfactorily for aldri. — [1] svát ‘in such a way that’: The reading of most mss, though not of main ms. Holm2, this links deildisk af ‘it fell out, happened’ with the succeeding l. of explanation; the Holm2 reading svá fails to do this. — [1] aldin ‘ancient’: (a) This reading, which has by far the strongest ms. authority, is taken here to be n. acc. pl., qualifying the battles expressed by él þélar grafninga ‘blizzards of the graven shields’ file’. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson reads it thus, and interprets it as ‘in the ancient manner’ (að fornum hætti, ÍF 27, 440 n.). The battles could alternatively be ‘old’ in the sense of being far in the past, cf. forn in expressions such as forn rǫc ‘ancient (long-past) events’, Lok 25/6 (NK 101). To describe battle as ‘old’ has no skaldic parallel, but the remaining possibilities for analysis of the l. are still less satisfactory. (b) The minority variant aldri, if the shorter form of aldrigi ‘never’, would produce the nonsensical statement that the hero never fought ten battles in Russia (Garðar). (c) For further, rejected possibilities, see Whaley 1998, 139. — [2] grafninga ‘of graven shields’: Grafningr is recorded with the sense ‘(graven) shield’ only here and in Arn Magndr 5; it occurs otherwise as a heiti for ‘snake’ (LP: 1. grafningr, and cf. LP: grafa 5 for p. p. grafinn in the sense ‘carved, engraved, incised’). — [3] Njǫrðr gǫndlar ‘Njǫrðr <god> of battle [WARRIOR]’: Although the main ms. Holm2 has ‘nioðr’ or ‘moðr’, Njǫrðr is clearly correct, forming a warrior-kenning also used in the contemporary ÞSjár Þórdr 4^I. Gǫndul is a valkyrie name, but since ‘Njǫrðr of the valkyrie’ would be unsatisfactory, it is here probably an appellative meaning ‘battle’, as also in the C12th Hst Rst 32^I.

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. Stu 1906-11 = Kålund, Kristian, ed. 1906-11. Sturlunga saga efter membranen Króksfjarðarbók udfyldt efter Reykjarfjarðarbók. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
7. Whaley, Diana, ed. and trans. 1998. The Poetry of Arnórr jarlaskáld: An Edition and Study. Westfield Publications in Medieval Studies 8. Turnhout: Brepols.
8. Flat 1860-8 = Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and C. R. Unger, eds. 1860-8. Flateyjarbók. En samling af norske konge-sagaer med indskudte mindre fortællinger om begivenheder i og udenfor Norge samt annaler. 3 vols. Christiania (Oslo): Malling.
9. NK = Neckel, Gustav and Hans Kuhn (1899), eds. 1983. Edda: Die Lieder des Codex Regius nebst verwandten Denkmälern. 2 vols. I: Text. 5th edn. Heidelberg: Winter.
10. ÓH 1941 = Johnsen, Oscar Albert and Jón Helgason, eds. 1941. Saga Óláfs konungs hins helga: Den store saga om Olav den hellige efter pergamenthåndskrift i Kungliga biblioteket i Stockholm nr. 2 4^to med varianter fra andre håndskrifter. 2 vols. Det norske historiske kildeskriftfond skrifter 53. Oslo: Dybwad.
11. ÍF 34 = Orkneyinga saga. Ed. Finnbogi Guðmundsson. 1965.
12. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
13. Orkn 1913-16 = Sigurður Nordal, ed. 1913-16. Orkneyinga saga. SUGNL 40. Copenhagen: Møller.
14. Internal references
15. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Orkneyinga saga’ 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=47> (accessed 24 April 2024)
16. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Óláfs saga helga’ 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. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=53> (accessed 24 April 2024)
17. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Sturlunga saga’ in Guðrún Nordal (ed.), Poetry on Icelandic History. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 4. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=88> (accessed 24 April 2024)
18. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Arnórr jarlaskáld Þórðarson, Magnússdrápa 5’ 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. 213-15.
19. Not published: do not cite ()
20. 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.
21. Judith Jesch (ed.) 2012, ‘Jórunn skáldmær, Sendibítr 2’ 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. 146.
22. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2012, ‘Þórðr Særeksson (Sjáreksson), Þórálfs drápa Skólmssonar 4’ 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. 240.