Balti Sigdr 4^II

Alls engi verðr Inga
undir sólar grundu
bǫðvar hvatr né betri
brœðr landreki œðri.

Alls engi landreki, hvatr bǫðvar, verðr œðri né betri {brœðr Inga} undir {grundu sólar}.

No land-ruler at all, brave in battle, will become more distinguished or better than {Ingi’s brother} [= Sigurðr munnr] beneath {the ground of the sun} [SKY/HEAVEN].

Mss: R(26r), Tˣ(26v), W(56), U(29r), B(5r) (SnE); 2368ˣ(94), 743ˣ(73v) (LaufE)

Readings: [1] verðr: varð U

Editions: Skj AI, 505, Skj BI, 478, Skald I, 235; SnE 1848-87, I, 316-17, II, 313, 526, SnE 1931, 113, SnE 1998, I, 34; LaufE 1979, 350.

Context: Grund sólar ‘the ground of the sun’ is given in Skm and LaufE as a variant kenning for ‘heaven’ (land sólar ‘the land of the sun’).

Notes: [All]: The various mss of SnE attribute this st. to different poets (see Introduction above). — [All]: Finnur Jónsson (SnE 1848-87, III, 640) believed that this half-st. could have been the refrain (stef) in Bǫðvarr‘s drápa, but the content suggests that it belonged to the end of the poem (see Fidjestøl 1982, 160). — [1] Inga ‘Ingi’s’: Ingi Haraldsson (d. 1161). — [3] hvatr bǫðvar ‘brave in battle’: As Fidjestøl (1982, 160) points out, this appears to be a deliberate pun on the name of the poet, Bǫðvarr, functioning as his signature, as it were. Sigvatr (Sigv) employs a similar technique in his encomium to Queen Ástríðr (Sigv Ást 1/4^I) when he calls Óláfr Haraldsson sigrhvatastr ‘the most battle-brave’, and Fidjestøl suggests that Bǫðvarr knew Sigvatr’s poem and imitated it consciously.

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. LaufE 1979 = Faulkes, Anthony, ed. 1979. Edda Magnúsar Ólafssonar (Laufás Edda). RSÁM 13. Vol. I of Two Versions of Snorra Edda from the 17th Century. Reykjavík: Stofnun Árna Magnússonar, 1977-9.
5. Fidjestøl, Bjarne. 1982. Det norrøne fyrstediktet. Universitet i Bergen Nordisk institutts skriftserie 11. Øvre Ervik: Alvheim & Eide.
6. SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
7. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
8. Internal references
9. Edith Marold 2017, ‘Snorra Edda (Prologue, Gylfaginning, Skáldskaparmál)’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols [check printed volume for citation].
10. (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 26 April 2024)
11. Judith Jesch (ed.) 2012, ‘Sigvatr Þórðarson, Poem about Queen Ástríðr 1’ 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. 646.
12. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Laufás Edda’ 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=10928> (accessed 26 April 2024)