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Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Eyv Lv 3I

Russell Poole (ed.) 2012, ‘Eyvindr skáldaspillir Finnsson, Lausavísur 3’ 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. 218.

Eyvindr skáldaspillir FinnssonLausavísur
234

Lýtr fyr lǫngum spjótum
landsfolk; bifask randir;
kveðr oddviti oddum
Eyvindar lið skreyju.

Landsfolk lýtr fyr lǫngum spjótum; randir bifask; oddviti kveðr lið Eyvindar skreyju oddum.

The land-army sinks before the long spears; shields tremble; the leader [Hákon] greets the following of Eyvindr skreyja (‘Wretch’) with spear-points.

Mss: FskBˣ(10r), FskAˣ(50) (Fsk)

Readings: [2] bifask: so FskAˣ, ‘bifafk’ FskBˣ    [4] Eyvindar: Eyvindr FskAˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 72, Skj BI, 63, Skald I, 39; Fsk 1902-3, 40 (ch. 11), ÍF 29, 87 (ch. 12); Krause 1990, 217-19.

Context:

Fsk, having cited Eyv Lv 2, describes the Norwegians preparing for action at Fitjar and cites Eyv Hák 1-3. In the tumult, Eyvindr speaks this, a gamankviðling ‘jesting little verse’, to King Hákon before the close fighting begins, and Hákon responds with a matching stanza (Hákg Lv).

Notes: [All]: The report of jesting in Fsk may derive from lék við ljóðmǫgu ‘he [Hákon] joked with the men’, l. 5 of Eyv Hák 4, which is quoted later in the episode (ÍF 29, 88). For the suggestion that Hákon’s reply originated as part of a flokkr by Eyvindr and was ascribed to Hákon secondarily, see Poole (1988, 175). — [1, 3] lýtr; kveðr ‘sinks; greets’: If the present lausavísa indeed contains a jest, it might lie in the ironic use of the verbs lúta ‘sink’ (which occasionally means ‘bow, submit’ as in fealty, e.g. GunnlI Aðdr 1/3V (Gunnl 3)) and kveða ‘greet’, evoking courtly ceremony (which some Norwegian rulers and their entourage might have participated in while on embassies to Carolingian and English political centres). — [4] skreyju ‘skreyja (“Wretch”)’: The meaning of the nickname is not beyond doubt, but for the sense ‘wretch’ see Finnur Jónsson (1907, 349); Lind (1920-1, 333). In Lv 4 Eyvindr is seemingly the target of both a direct taunt and an indirect one alluding to a defeat attested in Egill Lv 10V (Eg 15; see Note to Lv 4/7-8 below). Both Eyvindr skreyja and his comrade Álfr askmaðr (see Note to Lv 5/2, 3) are somewhat obscure personages. They are said in Hkr to be maternal uncles of the Eiríkssynir (Gunnhildarsynir), hence brothers of Queen Gunnhildr, though this linkage is generally regarded as suspect (ÍF 26; Egils saga, ÍF 2, 123-4 and n.).

References

  1. Bibliography
  2. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
  3. Lind, Eric Henrik. 1920-1. Norsk-isländska personbinamn från medeltiden: samlade ock utgivna med forkläringar. Uppsala: Lundequist.
  4. ÍF 2 = Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar. Ed. Sigurður Nordal. 1933.
  5. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
  6. Fsk 1902-3 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1902-3. Fagrskinna: Nóregs kononga tal. SUGNL 30. Copenhagen: Møller.
  7. Finnur Jónsson. 1907. ‘Tilnavne i den islandske oldlitteratur’. ÅNOH, 161-381.
  8. ÍF 29 = Ágrip af Nóregskonunga sǫgum; Fagrskinna—Nóregs konungatal. Ed. Bjarni Einarsson. 1985.
  9. Poole, Russell. 1988. ‘The Cooperative Principle in Medieval Interpretations of Skaldic Verse: Snorri Sturluson, Þjóðólfr Arnórsson, and Eyvindr Skáldaspillir’. JEGP 87, 159-78.
  10. Krause, Arnulf, ed. 1990. Die Dichtung des Eyvindr skáldaspillir: Edition-Kommentar-Untersuchungen. Altnordische Bibliothek 10. Leverkusen: Literaturverlag Norden Mark Reinhardt.
  11. Internal references
  12. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Heimskringla’ 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=4> (accessed 19 March 2024)
  13. (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 19 March 2024)
  14. R. D. Fulk 2012, ‘ Hákon inn góði Haraldsson, 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. 153. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1240> (accessed 19 March 2024)
  15. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2022, ‘Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar 15 (Egill Skallagrímsson, Lausavísur 10)’ 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. 190.
  16. R. D. Fulk (ed.) 2012, ‘Eyvindr skáldaspillir Finnsson, Hákonarmál 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. 174.
  17. R. D. Fulk (ed.) 2012, ‘Eyvindr skáldaspillir Finnsson, Hákonarmál 4’ 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. 178.
  18. Russell Poole (ed.) 2012, ‘Eyvindr skáldaspillir Finnsson, Lausavísur 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. 216.
  19. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2022, ‘Gunnlaugs saga ormstungu 3 (Gunnlaugr ormstunga Illugason, Aðalráðsdrápa 1)’ 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. 829.
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