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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Eyv Hák 2I

R. D. Fulk (ed.) 2012, ‘Eyvindr skáldaspillir Finnsson, Hákonarmál 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. 176.

Eyvindr skáldaspillir FinnssonHákonarmál
123

Bróður fundu þær Bjarnar         í brynju fara,
konung inn kostsama,         kominn und gunnfana.
Drúpðu dolgráar,         en darraðr hristisk;
        upp vas þá hildr of hafin.

Þær fundu {bróður Bjarnar} fara í brynju, inn kostsama konung, kominn und gunnfana. {Dolgráar} drúpðu, en darraðr hristisk; hildr vas þá upp of hafin.

They [the valkyries] found {Bjǫrn’s brother} [= Hákon] putting on a mail-shirt, that admirable king, stationed under his battle-standard. {Enmity-yard-arms} [SPEARS] drooped, and the banner shook; the battle was then begun.

Mss: (102r), Kˣ(105v) (l. 1), F(18ra), F(18va) (l. 1), J1ˣ(62r), J1ˣ(63v) (l. 1), J2ˣ(58r), J2ˣ(60r) (l. 1) (Hkr); FskBˣ(9v), FskAˣ(49-50) (Fsk); 761bˣ(95v)

Readings: [1] þær: ‘þr’ J1ˣ(62r), þeir J2ˣ(58r), FskBˣ, FskAˣ;    Bjarnar: ‘biarner’ J1ˣ(62r), J1ˣ(63v)    [2] í: ór F(18ra)    [3] inn: in FskBˣ    [4] und: við F(18ra), ‘ynd’ J1ˣ(62r), undir FskBˣ;    ‑fana: ‑fanir FskBˣ    [5] dolgráar (‘dolgrar’): ‘dolgarar’ J1ˣ(62r), J2ˣ(58r), dolgar FskBˣ, FskAˣ    [6] darraðr: darrar J1ˣ(62r), J2ˣ(58r), ‘durr vordr’ FskBˣ, ‘daur’ FskAˣ    [7] hafin: hafit Kˣ, F(18ra), J1ˣ(62r), J2ˣ(58r), FskAˣ, 761bˣ, hafinn FskBˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 64, Skj BI, 57, Skald I, 35; Hkr 1893-1901, I, 212, 219, IV, 54, ÍF 26, 186,193, Hkr 1991, I, 119, 125 (HákGóð chs 30, 32), F 1871, 81; Fsk 1902-3, 39 (ch. 11), ÍF 29, 86-7 (ch. 12); Möbius 1860, 232, Jón Helgason 1968, 25, Krause 1990, 40-8.

Context: See st. 1.

Notes: [All]: For the battle of Fitjar (c. 961), see also sts 3-9 below, Eyv Lv 1-5, ÞSjár Þórdr and Glúmr Lv . — [1] bróður Bjarnar ‘Bjǫrn’s brother [= Hákon]’: Bjǫrn ruled Vestfold after the death of his father Haraldr hárfagri. Krause (1990, 41-2) is possibly right that Hákon’s relation to him is mentioned here because of Bjǫrn’s popularity, and because of the unpopularity that his brother Eiríkr blóðøx (father of Hákon’s opponents here at the battle of Fitjar) gained by killing him. Olsen (1916a, 3; see also Paasche 1916, 15) sees this as a reminder of Hákon’s duty to avenge Bjǫrn’s death upon Eiríkr’s sons, complicated as such a supposed duty may seem. — [2] fara í brynju ‘putting on a mail-shirt’: The F reading, ór brynju fara ‘taking off a mail-shirt’ is adopted by Müller (1837, 334) and Ettmüller (1858, 26; 1861, 26); see st. 4/1 and Note. — [5-7]: Here the metre changes from málaháttr to ljóðaháttr. — [5] dolgráar drúpðu ‘enmity-yard-arms [SPEARS] drooped’: The verb usually refers to drooping of the head. The idea here may be that the spears are tilted, either in their flight over the host (so Hkr 1991) or in a position ready to be cast (so LP: drúpa 2; Olsen 1962a, 4; Hkr 1991 again), or that they droop to drink blood (so CVC: drúpa; cf. lutu ‘bent’ in st. 7/3). Olsen (1916a, 3) sees in this line reference to a spear set to be cast over the enemy host to consecrate them as a sacrifice to Óðinn (cf. Þhorn Harkv 12/2). Sahlgren (1927-8, I, 60-1) believes that Snorri is interpreting ll. 5-6 when he relates (ÍF 26, 188) that after men had cast spears, they drew their swords. As an alternative he proposes to read dolgarar (the reading of J1ˣ, J2ˣ) ‘eagles of hostility’, i.e. of battle (cf. Grí 10). A further suggestion is dolgárar ‘battle-oars’ as a kenning for ‘swords’ (Nygaard 1875, 320; Wimmer 1877, 129; cf. Krause 1990, 44: dolgôr). Still others have assumed words meaning ‘enemies’, presumably feeling an animate subject to be more suitable for drúpðu ‘drooped’: either dolgar (Munch and Unger 1847, 115; Ettmüller 1858, 26; Ettmüller 1861, 26; Möbius 1860, 232; Cederström 1860, 7), or dolgárar (lit. ‘strife-envoys’, Tvedt 1921, 55); cf. also Du Méril (1839, 158), and Uppström (1919, 46). — [6] darraðr ‘the banner’: The word may be cognate with OE daroþ ‘spear’ (the meaning assumed by most eds), though the geminate <r> renders that doubtful. The word has also been thought by Falk (1924, 6-7) to mean ‘sword’. Holtsmark (1939) interprets it as a banner which is shaken as a sign for battle to begin, and this interpretation is now widely accepted: see Olsen (1962a, 4-5), Dronke (1969, 49-50) and particularly Poole (1991, 125-31). — [7] of hafin ‘begun’: Munch and Unger (1847) and Möbius (1860) adopt the reading um hafit, presumably ‘around the sea’, found in some mss.

References

  1. Bibliography
  2. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
  3. 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.
  4. CVC = Cleasby, Richard, Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and W. A. Craigie. 1957. An Icelandic-English Dictionary. 2nd edn. Oxford: Clarendon.
  5. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
  6. Dronke, Ursula, ed. and trans. 1969. The Poetic Edda. I: Heroic Poems. Oxford: Clarendon.
  7. Hkr 1893-1901 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1893-1901. Heimskringla: Nóregs konunga sǫgur af Snorri Sturluson. 4 vols. SUGNL 23. Copenhagen: Møller.
  8. Hkr 1991 = Bergljót S. Kristjánsdóttir et al., eds. 1991. Heimskringla. 3 vols. Reykjavík: Mál og menning.
  9. F 1871 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1871. Fríssbók: Codex Frisianus. En samling af norske konge-sagaer. Christiania (Oslo): Malling.
  10. Fsk 1902-3 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1902-3. Fagrskinna: Nóregs kononga tal. SUGNL 30. Copenhagen: Møller.
  11. Holtsmark, Anne. 1939. ‘Vefr Darraðar’. MM, 74-96.
  12. ÍF 29 = Ágrip af Nóregskonunga sǫgum; Fagrskinna—Nóregs konungatal. Ed. Bjarni Einarsson. 1985.
  13. Poole, Russell. 1991. Viking Poems on War and Peace: A Study in Skaldic Narrative. Toronto Medieval Texts and Translations 8. Toronto, Buffalo and London: University of Toronto Press.
  14. Munch, P. A. and C. R. Unger, eds. 1847. Oldnorsk læsebog med tilhörende glossarium. Christiania (Oslo): Dahl.
  15. Müller, Ludvig Christian. 1837. Islandsk Læsebog med tilhörende ordforklaring. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
  16. Ettmüller, Ludwig. 1858. Versuch einer strengeren kritischen Behandlung altnordischer Gedichte. Programm der Kantonschule in Zürich auf das Schuljahr 1858-1859. Zürich: Zürcher & Furrer.
  17. Möbius, Theodor. 1860. Edda Sæmundar hins fróða. Mit einem Anhang bisher ungedruckter Gedichte. Leipzig: Hinrichs.
  18. Ettmüller, Ludwig. 1861. Altnordisches Lesebuch nebst kurzgefasster Formenlehre und Wörterbuch. Zürich: Meyer & Zeller.
  19. Falk, Hjalmar. 1924. Odensheite. Skrifter utg. av Videnskapsselskapet i Kristiania. II. Hist.-filos. kl. 1924, 10. Kristiania (Oslo): Dybwad.
  20. Olsen, Magnus. 1962a. Edda- og Skaldekvad. Forarbeider til kommentar. VI. Eyvindr Skáldaspillir, Glúmr Geirason, Einarr Skálaglamm. Avhandlingar utgitt av Det Norske Videnskaps-Akademi i Oslo II. Hist.-filos. kl. new ser. 4. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.
  21. Uppström, Anders, trans. 1919. ‘Visor ur Snorre Sturlesons Konunga Sǫgur’. In Uppström 1914-19, III, 39-49.
  22. Du Méril, Edélestand. 1839. Histoire de la poésie Scandinave: Prolégomènes. Paris: Brockhaus & Avenarius.
  23. Jón Helgason, ed. 1968. Skjaldevers. 3rd edn. Copenhagen: Munksgaard.
  24. Krause, Arnulf, ed. 1990. Die Dichtung des Eyvindr skáldaspillir: Edition-Kommentar-Untersuchungen. Altnordische Bibliothek 10. Leverkusen: Literaturverlag Norden Mark Reinhardt.
  25. Nygaard, Marius. 1875. Udvalg af den norröne literatur for latin- og realgymnasier. Bergen: Giertsen.
  26. Olsen, Magnus. 1916a. ‘Fortjener Hákonarmáls digter tilnavnet “skáldaspillir”?’. In Til Gerhard Gran, 9. December 1916, fra venner og elever. Kristiania (Oslo): Aschehoug (Nygaard), 1-9. Rpt. in Olsen 1938a, 204-12.
  27. Sahlgren, Jöran. 1927-8. Eddica et Scaldica. Fornvästnordiska studier I-II. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
  28. Cederström, Rudolf. 1860. Forsök til tolkning och förklaring af Hákonar-mál. Stockholm: [n. p.].
  29. Paasche, Fredrik. 1916. ‘Hákonarmál’. In Til Gerhard Gran, 9 december 1916, fra venner og elever. Kristiania (Oslo): Aschehoug (Nygaard), 10-16.
  30. Tvedt, Jens. 1921. ‘Hakonarmal av Øivind Skaldaspillar’. In Hákonarvarde: Minningar um Hákon Adelsteinfostre. Risør: Erik Gunleikson, 55-8.
  31. Wimmer, Ludvig F. A. 1877. Oldnordisk læsebog med anmærkninger og ordsamling. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Chr. Steen.
  32. Internal references
  33. (forthcoming), ‘ Heimskringla, Hákonar saga góða’ 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=130> (accessed 19 March 2024)
  34. Diana Whaley 2012, ‘ Glúmr Geirason, Lausavísa’ 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. 266. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1210> (accessed 19 March 2024)
  35. Kari Ellen Gade 2012, ‘ Þórðr Særeksson (Sjáreksson), Þórálfs drápa Skólmssonar’ 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. 236. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1420> (accessed 19 March 2024)
  36. Not published: do not cite ()
  37. Russell Poole (ed.) 2012, ‘Eyvindr skáldaspillir Finnsson, Lausavísur 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. 215.
  38. R. D. Fulk (ed.) 2012, ‘Þorbjǫrn hornklofi, Haraldskvæði (Hrafnsmál) 12’ 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. 107.
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