ESk Frag 14^III

Like Frag 9-13 above, this helmingr (ESk Frag 14) also describes a sea-voyage, but the content does not make it clear whether it belonged to an encomium. It is preserved in mss R (main ms.), Tˣ, W, U and B of Skm (SnE). Ms. B is now almost illegible, and 744ˣ has been used in its place. The full name of the poet is given in all mss. Jón Sigurðsson (SnE 1848-87, III, 354) assigned the half-stanza to Einarr’s panegyric about Sigurðr jórsalafari (ESk Sigdr I^II; see Introduction to Frag 2 above).

Viknar ramr í Rakna
reksaumr flugastraumi;
dúks hrindr bǫl, þars bleikir
bifgrund, á stag rifjum.

Ramr reksaumr viknar í {flugastraumi Rakna}; {bǫl dúks} hrindr rifjum á stag, þars {bifgrund} bleikir.

The strong seam of driven nails flexes in {the cascade of Rakni <sea-king>} [SEA]; {the harm of the sail} [WIND] forces the reefs against the stay, where {the trembling ground} [SEA] goes white.

Mss: R(26v), Tˣ(27v), W(57), U(30r), B(5r), 744ˣ(32v) (SnE)

Readings: [1] ramr: rammr W, ‘ran’ U;    Rakna: raknar U    [2] ‑saumr: ‑saums 744ˣ    [3] dúks: so U, ‘dugs’ R, Tˣ, om. W, dags 744ˣ;    þars (‘þar er’): so all others, þar R    [4] ‑grund á: so all others, ‑grundar R;    rifjum: ‘r[…]’ U, ‘rífín’ 744ˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 481-2, Skj BI, 453, Skald I, 223, NN §960; SnE 1848-87, I, 328-31, II, 317, 530, III, 54, SnE 1931, 118, SnE 1998, I, 38.

Context: As Frag 9-13 above.

Notes: [1] Rakna ‘of Rakni <sea-king>’: For this name, see Note to Þul Sea-kings l. 8. — [2] í flugastraumi ‘in the cascade’: Lit. ‘in the cliffs’ current’, i.e. a waterfall, a heavy flow of water tumbling over a steep cliff. The first element in this cpd, fluga- is taken here as gen. pl. of flug n. ‘cliff, steep mountainside, precipice’ (see Fritzner: flug 2; so also AEW). Cf. Note to Eil Þdr 1/1 for this meaning of flug-. See also Grett Lv 28/6^V (Gr 60) and Note there. Earlier eds, who construe Rakna ‘of Rakni <sea-king>’ as the determinant in a kenning for ‘sea’ (see Note to l. 4 below), interpret flugastraumr as ‘violent current’ without a determinant (so Skj B and LP, Fritzner: flugastraumr), in which fluga- is gen. pl. of flug n. ‘quick speed’ which Fritzner glosses a hurtig Fart (Fritzner: flug 1). That is also a possible interpretation. — [2] reksaumr ‘the seam of driven nails’: Lit. ‘driven seam’, e.g. the seam of nails that holds the overlapping planking together (see also ESk Lv 15/2). — [4] bifgrund ‘the trembling ground [SEA]’: This is an imperfect kenning for ‘sea’ (but see Rv Lv 21/4^II svalteigr ‘cool plot [SEA]’), and some earlier eds (Skj B; SnE 1998, I, 38, II, 244) take Rakna ‘of Rakni’ (l. 1) as a determinant: bifgrund Rakna ‘the shaking ground of Rakni’, i.e. ‘the sea’. That construction leaves a dangling prep. (í ‘in’, l. 1), which does not otherwise occur in skaldic syntax (see NN §960). The R variant, bifgrundar (f. gen. sg. or nom./acc. pl.), cannot be construed in a syntactically meaningful way. — [4] stag ‘the stay’: For stag ‘stay’ see Note to Frag 10/3 above. — [4] rifjum ‘the reefs’: The reef (rif) is the horizontal strip of the sail that can be pulled up to shorten the sail (see Falk 1912, 68-9, SnE 1998, II, 376-7 and Jesch 2001a, 163).

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. 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.
4. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
6. AEW = Vries, Jan de. 1962. Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 2nd rev. edn. Rpt. 1977. Leiden: Brill.
7. 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.
8. Jesch, Judith. 2001a. Ships and Men in the Late Viking Age: The Vocabulary of Runic Inscriptions and Skaldic Verse. Woodbridge: Boydell.
9. Falk, Hjalmar. 1912. Altnordisches Seewesen. Wörter und Sachen 4. Heidelberg: Winter.
10. Fritzner = Fritzner, Johan. 1883-96. Ordbog over det gamle norske sprog. 3 vols. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske forlagsforening. 4th edn. Rpt. 1973. Oslo etc.: Universitetsforlaget.
11. SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
12. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
13. Internal references
14. 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].
15. (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 24 April 2024)
16. Elena Gurevich 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Heiti for sea-kings’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 987. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1045> (accessed 24 April 2024)
17. Kari Ellen Gade 2009, ‘ Einarr Skúlason, Sigurðardrápa I’ 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. 538-42. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1151> (accessed 24 April 2024)
18. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Einarr Skúlason, Lausavísur 15’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 179.
19. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Einarr Skúlason, Fragments 14’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 164.
20. Edith Marold (ed.) 2017, ‘Eilífr Goðrúnarson, Þórsdrápa 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. 75.
21. Judith Jesch (ed.) 2009, ‘Rǫgnvaldr jarl Kali Kolsson, Lausavísur 21’ 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. 599-600.
22. Jonathan Grove (ed.) 2022, ‘Grettis saga Ásmundarsonar 60 (Grettir Ásmundarson, Lausavísur 28)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross, Kari Ellen Gade and Tarrin Wills (eds), Poetry in Sagas of Icelanders. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 5. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 771.