ESk Sigdr II 1^II

Snild berr, snarp*a elda
sárflóðs þess’s rýðr blóði,
— gefit hefr goð sjalfr jǫfri
gagn — Sigvarðar magni.
Svás, ef Rauma ræsir
reiðorðr tǫlur greiðir,
(rausn vinnr gramr) sem gumnar
(glaðmæltr) þegi aðrir.

Snild Sigvarðar, þess’s rýðr {snarp*a elda {sárflóðs}} blóði, berr magni; goð sjalfr hefr gefit jǫfri gagn. Svás, ef {reiðorðr ræsir Rauma} greiðir tǫlur, sem aðrir gumnar þegi; glaðmæltr gramr vinnr rausn.

The eloquence of Sigurðr, who reddens {the sharp fires {of the wound-flood}} [BLOOD > SWORDS] with blood, is overwhelming; God himself has given advantage to the prince. Thus it is, if {the clear-talking ruler of the Raumar} [NORWEGIAN KING = Sigurðr] gives speeches, as if other men are silent; the glad-spoken lord displays splendour.

Mss: Kˣ(660v), F(73vb), E(57r), J2ˣ(357r), 42ˣ(47v) (Hkr); H(124v), Hr(81va) (H-Hr)

Readings: [1] snarp*a: snarpra all    [4] Sigvarðar: Sigurðar all    [5] ef: þá er F, E, J2ˣ, 42ˣ, sem H, þá Hr    [6] tǫlur: tǫlu Hr    [7] gramr: gram Hr;    sem: þá er Hr    [8] aðrir: allir Hr

Editions: Skj AI, 458, Skj BI, 426, Skald I, 211; ÍF 28, 331 (Hsona ch. 21), F 1871, 340, E 1916, 200; Fms 7, 238-9 (Hsona ch. 21).

Context: The st. illustrates the eloquence of Sigurðr munnr Haraldsson.

Notes: [1] snarp*a (m. acc. pl.) ‘sharp’: Snarpra (gen. pl.) has been emended to acc. pl. because the adj. qualifies elda (m. acc. pl.) ‘fires’ (l. 1). — [4] gagn ‘advantage’: This word usually means ‘victory’ (see LP: gagn 5), which makes less sense in the present context. — [4] Sigvarðar ‘of Sigurðr’: The longer, more archaic form of the name is necessary to avoid the sequence of three short syllables (see Kuhn 1983, 109). For Sigurðr munnr Haraldsson, see ‘Royal Biographies’ in Introduction to this vol. — [6] reiðorðr ‘clear-talking’: This word, which lit. means ‘clear-worded’ (cf. AEW: reiðr; greiðr), could also be taken as ‘wrath-worded’ (< vreið-), and Einarr clearly made a pun on this double entendre with the adj. glaðmæltr ‘glad-spoken’ (l. 8). Cf. Sigurðr’s nickname, munnr ‘Mouth’, even though this could also refer to his facial features (so Finnur Jónsson 1907, 204: en stor mund ‘a large mouth’; ÍF 28, 330: munnljótr ‘ugly of mouth’).

References

1. Bibliography
2. Fms = Sveinbjörn Egilsson et al., eds. 1825-37. Fornmanna sögur eptir gömlum handritum útgefnar að tilhlutun hins norræna fornfræða fèlags. 12 vols. Copenhagen: Popp.
3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. AEW = Vries, Jan de. 1962. Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 2nd rev. edn. Rpt. 1977. Leiden: Brill.
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. Kuhn, Hans (1899). 1983. Das Dróttkvætt. Heidelberg: Winter.
7. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
8. F 1871 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1871. Fríssbók: Codex Frisianus. En samling af norske konge-sagaer. Christiania (Oslo): Malling.
9. E 1916 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1916. Eirspennill: AM 47 fol. Nóregs konunga sǫgur: Magnús góði – Hákon gamli. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske historiske kildeskriftskommission.
10. Finnur Jónsson. 1907. ‘Tilnavne i den islandske oldlitteratur’. ÅNOH, 161-381.