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Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Hallv Knútdr 1III

Matthew Townend (ed.) 2017, ‘Hallvarðr háreksblesi, Knútsdrápa 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. 231.

Hallvarðr háreksblesiKnútsdrápa
12

Súðlǫngum komt Sveiða,
— sunds liðu dýr frá grundu —
sigrakkr, Sǫlsa bekkjar,
Sveins mǫgr, á trǫð hreinum.

{Sigrakkr mǫgr Sveins}, komt {súðlǫngum hreinum {bekkjar Sǫlsa}} á {trǫð Sveiða}; {dýr sunds} liðu frá grundu.

{Battle-bold son of Sveinn} [= Knútr], you brought {the long-planked reindeer {of the bench of Sǫlsi <sea-king>}} [SEA > SHIPS] onto {the path of Sveiði <sea-king>} [SEA]; {the animals of the sound} [SHIPS] glided from land.

Mss: R(35r), Tˣ(36v), W(80), A(11v-12r) (SnE)

Readings: [1] komt: kom A;    Sveiða: so all others, sveita R    [2] sunds liðu dýr: ‘s[…]dz[…]yr’ W    [3] sigrakkr: so W, A, sigrakr R, Tˣ    [4] mǫgr: rakkr W

Editions: Skj AI, 317, Skj BI, 293, Skald I, 149; SnE 1848-87, I, 440-1, II, 442-3, III, 87, SnE 1931, 156, SnE 1998, I, 74; Frank 1994b, 121, Jesch 2000, 245.

Context: This stanza is quoted in Skm to illustrate the ship-kenning hreinar Sveiða ‘the reindeer of Sveiði’. After quoting the stanza Snorri comments (SnE 1998, I, 74): Svá kvað Hallvarðr. Hér er ok kǫlluð sunds dýr ok særinn Sǫlsa bekkr ‘So said Hallvarðr. Here it [i.e. a ship] is also called the animal of the sound and the sea the bench of Sǫlsi’.

Notes: [All]: The two kennings involving sea-kings in this helmingr can be interpreted in different ways (see Faulkes in SnE 1998, I, 199 and Jesch 2000, 251). As seen from the Context above, Snorri gives the kennings as hreinar Sveiða ‘the reindeer of Sveiði <sea-king> [SHIPS]’ and bekkr Sǫlsa ‘the bench of Sǫlsi <sea-king> [SEA]’. However, this might be disputed, not least because it leaves trǫð ‘path’ (l. 4) unattached. Alternative configurations would be: (a) hreinar Sveiða ‘reindeer of Sveiði [SHIPS]’ and trǫð bekkjar Sǫlsa ‘the path of the bench of Sǫlsi [SHIP > SEA]’ (so Skj B, Frank 1994b, and Faulkes in SnE 1998, I, 199); (b) hreinar bekkjar Sǫlsa ‘reindeer of the bench of Sǫlsi  [SEA > SHIPS]’ and trǫð Sveiða ‘the path of Sveiði [SEA]’ (so Jesch 2000). The second of these alternatives is preferred here, as it forms a closer parallel to ÞKolb Eirdr 1/5, 7I vangr Sveiða ‘the field of Sveiði [SEA]’ (see Note to l. 1 below).  — [1] Sveiða ‘of Sveiði <sea-king>’: Sveiði is listed as a sea-king heiti in Þul Sækonunga 1/8 (see Note there), and the name also occurs in the kenning vangr Sveiða ‘Sveiði’s plain [SEA]’ in ÞKolb Eirdr 1/5, 7I. In fact, Þórðr’s l. 5 súðlǫngum frá Sveiða bears an obvious resemblance to l. 1 of the present stanza. Eirdr was composed in honour jointly of Knútr and his Norwegian jarl Eiríkr Hákonarson, probably in England c. 1016-23 (Poole 1987, 270-1); Hallvarðr’s echoes suggest that Þórðr’s poem continued to be known among the poets at Knútr’s court. — [2] liðu ‘glided’: On the meaning of this verb (occurring also in st. 3/2), see further Jesch (2001a, 175). — [3] Sǫlsa ‘of Sǫlsi <sea-king>’: Like Sveiði (l. 1), Sǫlsi is listed as a heiti for ‘sea-king’ in the þulur (Þul Sea-kings l. 6; Þul Sækonunga 5/2). — [4] mǫgr Sveins ‘son of Sveinn [= Knútr]’: As Frank (1994b, 112) points out, Knútr’s poets frequently characterise him as the son of his father, Sveinn tjúguskegg ‘Fork-beard’ Haraldsson. The same phrase is also found, in identical position, in Ótt Knútdr 6/8I.

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. Jesch, Judith. 2000. ‘Knútr in Poetry and History’. In Dallapiazza et al. 2000, 243-56.
  6. Jesch, Judith. 2001a. Ships and Men in the Late Viking Age: The Vocabulary of Runic Inscriptions and Skaldic Verse. Woodbridge: Boydell.
  7. SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
  8. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
  9. Poole, Russell. 1987. ‘Skaldic Verse and Anglo-Saxon History: Some Aspects of the Period 1009-1016’. Speculum 62, 265-98.
  10. Frank, Roberta. 1994b. ‘King Cnut in the Verse of his Skalds’. In Rumble 1994, 106-24.
  11. Internal references
  12. (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 29 March 2024)
  13. 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 29 March 2024)
  14. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Sækonunga heiti 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. 678.
  15. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Sækonunga heiti 5’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 685.
  16. Matthew Townend (ed.) 2012, ‘Óttarr svarti, Knútsdrápa 6’ 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. 774.
  17. Jayne Carroll (ed.) 2012, ‘Þórðr Kolbeinsson, Eiríksdrápa 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. 489.
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