Eskál Lv 3^I

Þat kvað jarl at æri
unnviggs fyr haf sunnan,
þás á seima særi
sárelda spor vôru:
‘Ǫllungis hefr illa,
eybaugs, ef skalt deyja,
— víst hyggjum þat — viggja
valdr, þinn faðir haldit.’

Jarl kvað þat at {æri {unnviggs}} fyr sunnan haf, þás {spor {sárelda}} vôru á {særi seima}: ‘Faðir þinn hefr haldit ǫllungis illa, ef skalt deyja, {valdr {viggja {eybaugs}}}; hyggjum þat víst.’

The jarl said that to {the messenger {of the wave-steed}} [SHIP > SEAFARER = Þorleifr skúma] south of the sea, when {tracks {of wound-fires}} [SWORDS > WOUNDS] were upon {the wounder of riches} [GENEROUS MAN]: ‘Your father has undergone extreme hardship if you must die, {ruler {of steeds {of the island-ring}}} [SEA > SHIPS > SEAFARER]; we [I] think so certainly.’

Mss: 291(37r), 7(38r), Flat(26ra), 510(63v) (Jvs); FskBˣ(31r), 51ˣ(27v-28r), FskAˣ(114) (Fsk); 2368ˣ(128), 743ˣ(96r) (LaufE, ll. 1-4)

Readings: [1] jarl: ullr Flat, 2368ˣ, 743ˣ;    æri: væri 510, orði FskBˣ, 51ˣ    [2] unnviggs: ‘unduígs’ Flat, ‘brenuígs’ 510    [3] seima: sama FskAˣ, semja 2368ˣ, 743ˣ    [4] sár‑: so all others, sárr 291;    spor: so 7, ‘spior’ 291, ‘spaur’ Flat, ‘spo᷎r’ 510, ‘spioll’ FskBˣ, 51ˣ, ‘spiorr’ FskAˣ    [5] Ǫllungis: ǫlldungis 510;    hefr: ‘h.’ 7, ‘hefi ek’ FskBˣ, 51ˣ    [6] skalt: skal 7, Flat, FskBˣ, 51ˣ, þú skalt 510    [7] víst: so 510, FskBˣ, 51ˣ, FskAˣ, vér 291, 7, Flat;    viggja: ‘uígea’ Flat, viggjar 510, FskBˣ, 51ˣ    [8] valdr: ‘vælldr’ FskBˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 132, Skj BI, 124-5, Skald I, 70, NN §§1888, 2240; Fms 11, 144-5, Jvs 1879, 89, Jvs 1882, 121, Jvs 1962, 39, Jvs 1969, 191, 217, Flat 1860-8, I, 195; Fsk 1902-3, 103 (ch. 20), ÍF 29, 137 (ch. 22); LaufE 1979, 391.

Context: After the battle of Hjǫrungavágr (Liavågen), many men on both sides are killed or wounded. The Icelandic skald Þorleifr skúma Þorkelsson has hit the Jómsvíkingr Vagn Ákason a blow with his club, and in return Vagn has wounded Þorleifr with a spear. Þorleifr is dying of this wound in a tent, where he is visited by Eiríkr jarl Hákonarson (or, in Fsk, Hákon jarl), who exclaims that Þorleifr’s father would suffer a great loss if he died. Einarr skálaglamm hears these words and they move him to compose a verse (þá verðr honum Einari vísa á munni ‘then a verse is in Einarr’s mouth’). After he declaims it, Þorleifr falls down dead. In Fsk, the stanza is attributed to Þorleifr skúma himself, but this is unlikely to be correct, if the narrative of the majority mss is heeded. In LaufE, ll. 1-4 are cited in a section illustrating terms for wounds.

Notes: [All]: For the sea-battle at Hjǫrungavágr (c. 985) and other skaldic poetry associated with it, see the entry on Hákon jarl Sigurðarson in ‘Ruler biographies’ in Introduction to this volume. — [2] fyr sunnan haf ‘south of the sea’: Although Liavågen is south of Hákon jarl’s power-base at Lade (ON Hlaðir) in Trøndelag, the phrase is more likely to refer to Norway, across the sea from Iceland (Skj B adds the explanation i Norge ‘in Norway’). This is appropriate to the Icelandic origins of both Einarr and Þorleifr skúma, but does not sit well with the claim of the prose sources that the stanza was uttered at the battle itself. — [4] spor sárelda ‘tracks of wound-fires [SWORDS > WOUNDS]’: Adopting 7’s reading spor ‘tracks’ for the base-word of this tvíkent (‘doubly modified’) kenning allows one to construe it as referring to wounds (which are already in play in sárelda ‘of wound-fires’). This is evidently how it was understood by Magnús Óláfsson in LaufE, since ll. 1-4 are preceded there by a remark that wounds can be referred to as fet eda spór jarnana ‘feet or tracks of iron (weapons)’. Ólafur Halldórsson (Jvs 1969, 217) has argued that the other ms. variants perhaps suggest an original reading more like spôr ‘prophecies’. This could form a battle-kenning with sárelda, but ‘battle’ would fit the context less well, and spôr, as a noun consisting of a long syllable in metrical position 4 in the line, would be irregular. Ólafur suggests a punning connection (ofljóst) with a base-word for ‘wave’, from spô via boði ‘messenger, announcer’, a word that has another sense ‘breaker on hidden rocks’, hence ‘wave’. A kenning with the sense ‘wave of wound-fires’ could then have the referent ‘blood’, giving ll. 3-4 the sense ‘when blood flowed (lit. was) around him’. — [5, 8] faðir þinn hefr haldit ǫllungis illa ‘your father has undergone extreme hardship’: Lit. ‘has undergone hardship completely’. This depends upon the ON idiom halda illa ‘to undergo hardship’, which also occurs in Anon (MH) 1/5^II (and cf. Hollander 1917, 198).

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. Fms = Sveinbjörn Egilsson et al., eds. 1825-37. Fornmanna sögur eptir gömlum handritum útgefnar að tilhlutun hins norræna fornfræða fèlags. 12 vols. Copenhagen: Popp.
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. 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.
7. 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.
8. Fsk 1902-3 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1902-3. Fagrskinna: Nóregs kononga tal. SUGNL 30. Copenhagen: Møller.
9. ÍF 29 = Ágrip af Nóregskonunga sǫgum; Fagrskinna—Nóregs konungatal. Ed. Bjarni Einarsson. 1985.
10. Hollander, Lee M. 1917. ‘Studies in the Jómsvíkingasaga’. ANF 33, 193-222.
11. Jvs 1879 = Petersens, Carl af, ed. 1879. Jómsvíkinga saga (efter Cod. AM. 510, 4:to) samt Jómsvíkinga drápa. Lund: Gleerup.
12. Jvs 1882 = Petersens, Carl af, ed. 1882. Jómsvíkinga saga efter Arnamagnæanska handskriften No. 291 4:to i diplomatariskt aftryck. SUGNL 7. Copenhagen: Berling.
13. Jvs 1962 = Blake, N. F., ed. and trans. 1962. The Saga of the Jomsvikings. London etc.: Nelson.
14. Jvs 1969 = Ólafur Halldórsson, ed. 1969a. Jómsvíkinga saga. AM 291 4to. Reykjavík: Prentsmiðja Jóns Helgasonar HF.
15. Internal references
16. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Fagrskinna’ 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=56> (accessed 26 April 2024)
17. Diana Whaley 2012, ‘(Biography of) Þorleifr skúma Þorkelsson’ 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. 358.
18. Matthew Townend 2012, ‘(Biography of) Vagn Ákason’ 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. 365.
19. Kari Ellen Gade and Diana Whaley (eds) 2009, ‘Anonymous Lausavísur, Lausavísa from Magnúss saga góða ok Haralds harðráða 1’ 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. 813-14.
20. (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)