Anon Krm 18^VIII

Hjuggu vér með hjörvi.
Haldorða sá ek brytja
ekki smátt fyr úlfa
Endils niðja bröndum.
Varat á Víkarskeiði,
sem vín konur bæri;
roðinn var Ægis asni
ófár í dyn geira.
Skorin var Sköglar kápa
at skjöldunga hjaldri.

Hjuggu vér með hjörvi. Ek sá {haldorða niðja Endils} brytja ekki smátt fyr úlfa bröndum. Varat á Víkarskeiði, sem konur bæri vín; {ófár asni Ægis} var roðinn í {dyn geira}. {Kápa Sköglar} var skorin at {hjaldri skjöldunga}.

We hewed with the sword. I saw {the trusty kinsmen of Endill <sea-king>} [SEAFARERS] chop up [helpings] of no small size for wolves with swords. On Víkarskeið it was not as if women were serving wine; {not a few asses of Ægir <sea-giant>} [SHIPS] were emptied in {the din of spears} [BATTLE]. {The cloak of Skögul <valkyrie>} [MAIL-COAT] was cut in {the conflict of shield-bearers} [BATTLE].

Mss: 1824b(80v), 147(108v), 6ˣ(89v) (Ragn); R702ˣ(30v), LR(215-216), R693ˣ(13r)

Readings: [1] Hjuggu vér með hjörvi: abbrev. as ‘Hiug. v. m. h᷎.’ 1824b, ‘[…]urfi’ 147, Hjuggum vér með hjörvi 6ˣ, LR, R693ˣ, abbrev. as ‘H v m h’ R702ˣ    [2] Haldorða sá ek brytja: ‘halldor […]a eg (bryt)ia’(?) 147    [3] ekki: ei R702ˣ    [4] Endils: ‘[…] ndils’ 147, ‘Endiltz’ R693ˣ;    niðja: ‘nída’ 1824b, ‘n[...]’ 147, ‘nida’ 6ˣ, ‘nidar’ R702ˣ, LR, R693ˣ;    bröndum: ‘[…](dum)’(?) 147    [5] Varat: ‘vara(d)[…]’(?) 147;    á Víkarskeiði (‘a vikar skeidi’): so R702ˣ, LR, R693ˣ, ‘a vika skerdi’ 1824b, ‘[…]’ 147, ‘a vik a skęde’ 6ˣ    [6] sem vín konur bæri: ‘s(em) vin(k)onur (ber)i’(?) 147    [7] roðinn: ‘hrodin’ LR;    var Ægis asni: ‘[...]ar ægis as[...]’ 147    [8] ófár í dyn geira: so 6ˣ, R702ˣ, LR, R693ˣ, ‘ofar j dyn ge[...]a’ 1824b, ‘ofar […] g(eí)ra’(?) 147    [9] Skorin: so R702ˣ, LR, R693ˣ, skorinn 1824b, 6ˣ, ‘sk[…]nn’ 147;    var Sköglar kápa: ‘var skaugla(r kapa)’(?) 147    [10] at skjöldunga hjaldri: so 6ˣ, R702ˣ, LR, R693ˣ, ‘at skiolldungra hialldre’ 1824b, ‘at sk(io)lldung[…] (hí)[...]lld[...]’(?) 147

Editions: Skj AI, 646, Skj BI, 653, Skald I, 319; Rafn 1826, 16-17, 132-4, Pfeiffer 1860, 126, CPB II, 343, Wisén 1886-9, I, 64, Krm 1891, 227, Finnur Jónsson 1893b, 89, Finnur Jónsson 1905, 155; Ragn 1906-8, 188.

Notes: [2-3] brytja ekki smátt fyr úlfa ‘chop up [helpings] of no small size for wolves’: Lit. ‘chop up [food, especially meat] not finely for wolves’. De Vries (1938, 722 n. 78) lists the phrase as an instance of the influence on Krm of RvHbreiðm Hl 46/6^III, where the phrase brytjar vargi mat ‘cuts food for the wolf’ occurs. — [4] niðja Endils ‘kinsmen of Endill <sea-king> [SEAFARERS]’: The emendation to niðja, acc. pl. of niðr ‘kinsman, descendant’, is necessary here (see ANG §§367-8) and adopted by all previous eds other than Rafn (1826), CPB and Krm 1891. Endils is gen. sg. of Endill, a sea-king name (see Þul Sækonunga 2/2^III and Note there; Björn Sigfússon 1934, 128-9). — [5-6]: For parallels to these lines in Krm and elsewhere in skaldic poetry, see the Introduction and Note to st. 13/9-10 above. — [5] varat ‘was not’: This is another example of the negative suffix -at that early translators of Krm, notably Magnús Ólafsson (in Worm 1636, 215) failed to notice. See Introduction and cf. st. 13, Note to ll. 9-10. — [5] á Víkarskeiði ‘on Víkarskeið’: With the exception of Rafn (1826), who evidently follows ms. 6ˣ, all eds assume a compound p. n. here: (á) Víkaskerði (Pfeiffer 1860; Krm 1891; Wisén 1886-9; Finnur Jónsson 1893b) or Víkaskeiði (CPB; Finnur Jónsson 1905; Skj B; Skald). No previous ed. adopts the spelling Víkarskeiði (which seems to have the support of R702^x, LR and R693ˣ), though Víkarskeið is the spelling used for the entry in LP, where the Krm instance, labelled sagnlokalitet ‘place of legend’, is the sole instance given. However, it is possible that this p. n. could be identified with Wicklow on the east coast of Ireland south of Dublin, for which attested medieval forms are Wickelow, Wykynlo and Wikingelo (see Sommerfelt 1958, 224; cf. Oftedal 1976, 130-1). Oftedal has argued that the p. n. was originally *Víkarló f. ‘the meadow of the bay’, citing the form Wicke-. The majority spelling Wykyn-, Wikinge- would suggest an original *Víkingaló f. ‘the meadow of the Vikings/of the people from Vík’ (so Sommerfelt, ibid.; Flanagan and Flanagan 1994, 125) but this, Oftedal argues, would be inconsistent with Old Norwegian naming practice, in which ló f. ‘meadow’ as a final element normally collocates with a first element referring not to a person or persons, but rather to a feature of the meadow itself or of its location. He therefore explains the forms Wykynlo, Wikingelo as a remodelling resulting from learned speculation. His further claim (Oftedal 1976, 129) that the noun víkingr ‘viking’ ‘can nowhere else be proved to have been used as a Scandinavian place name element’ entails discounting five potential examples from Norway, for which he postulates a pers. n. *Víkingi (alongside attested Víkingr). If Oftedal’s argument may nevertheless be accepted, it may be tentatively suggested that the bay area was known as Vík, while Víkarskeið referred to what is now known as the Murrough, the spit of land separating Broad Lough from the sea just north of Wicklow town. ON skeið n. has a wide range of meanings in place names, usually involving a linear stretch or expanse of land; it can also mean specifically ‘a race course’ (Fritzner: skeið n. 3, cf. SnE 2005, 139; Hovda et al. 1970, 459-62; Whaley 2017). The Murrough, whose name, from Irish muirbheach m., means ‘a level stretch of sandy land along sea-shore, links’ (Ó Dónaill 1977: muirbheach), has been used in modern times, at least, as a recreational area suitable for horse and dog racing (Friends of the Murrough 2011, 7, accessed 14 April 2017). That the Murrough was a scene of Viking activity is shown by a Viking sword-hilt of C9th type found there in the late C19th (Ó Floinn 1998, 29-31). An Irish location for Víkarskeið would be fully compatible with the focus on Britain and Ireland in this part of Krm, though it must be emphasised that the foregoing suggestion is tentative. — [7] roðinn ‘emptied’: Or possibly ‘reddened’. From the ms. readings it seems that there is a case here for retaining the r- as opposed to the hr- spelling, cf. the first Note to st. 2/10; this leaves open, however, the question of whether what is meant here is hroðinn ‘emptied’, p. p. of hrjóða ‘empty, clear’, here spelt without the initial <h>, or whether roðinn is here to be taken as p. p. of rjóða ‘redden’, meaning here ‘reddened (with blood)’. Among previous eds Finnur Jónsson (1893b; 1905; Skj B) and Kock (Skald) spell hroðinn, clearly accepting the former alternative, while earlier eds all spell roðinn, Pfeiffer (1860, 300) and Wisén (1886-9, I; cf. 1886-99, II, 235-6) apparently accepting the latter alternative, while Rafn (1826, 133) admits that both alternatives are possible, though gives preference in his translation (1826, 17, rydded ‘cleared’) to the former one. It seems safest to leave both possibilities open. Magnús Ólafsson in LR (Worm 1636), the only one of the ms. sources that has the spelling hroðinn (‘hrodin’), in fact translates it as Lat. rubefactae (f. pl., agreeing with naves ‘ships’), i.e. ‘reddened’. — [7-8] ófár asni Ægis ‘not a few asses of Ægir <sea-giant> [SHIPS]’: Lit. ‘un-few ass’ (sg.). The kenning is unusual in substituting an exotic reference to an ass as base-word, instead of the much more common ‘horse’ (cf. Meissner 208). The noun asni ‘ass’ occurs only in one other place in skaldic poetry, in GunnLeif Merl I 87/2. Olsen (1933a) (see Introduction) has argued that the poet’s use of asni here alludes, in combination with messa ‘mass, divine service’ in st. 11/7 and pálmr ‘palm-tree’ in st. 15/10, to Christ’s entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, claiming that the battle mentioned in st. 11/5-7 took place on a Sunday. Such a concatenation of supposed allusions, in the absence of any internal textual support, is very dubious. On the sea-giant Ægir as a personification of the ocean, see Note to st. 2/9.

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. Worm, Ole. 1636. [RUNER] seu Danica Literatura Antiquissima, vulgò Gothica dicta luci reddita…. Amsterdam: J. Janson.
4. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. Meissner = Meissner, Rudolf. 1921. Die Kenningar der Skalden: Ein Beitrag zur skaldischen Poetik. Rheinische Beiträge und Hülfsbücher zur germanischen Philologie und Volkskunde 1. Bonn and Leipzig: Schroeder. Rpt. 1984. Hildesheim etc.: Olms.
6. 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.
7. ANG = Noreen, Adolf. 1923. Altnordische Grammatik I: Altisländische und altnorwegische Grammatik (Laut- und Flexionslehre) unter Berücksichtigung des Urnordischen. 4th edn. Halle: Niemeyer. 1st edn. 1884. 5th unrev. edn. 1970. Tübingen: Niemeyer.
8. CPB = Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and F. York Powell, eds. 1883. Corpus poeticum boreale: The Poetry of the Old Northern Tongue from the Earliest Times to the Thirteenth Century. 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon. Rpt. 1965, New York: Russell & Russell.
9. Wisén, Theodor, ed. 1886-9. Carmina Norrœnæ: Ex reliquiis vetustioris norrœnæ poësis selecta, recognita, commentariis et glossario instructa. 2 vols. Lund: Ohlsson.
10. Finnur Jónsson. 1893b. Carmina Norrœna: Rettet Tekst. Copenhagen: Nielsen & Lydiche.
11. 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.
12. SnE 2005 = Snorri Sturluson. 2005. Edda: Prologue and Gylfaginning. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
13. Pfeiffer, Friedrich. 1860. Altnordisches Lesebuch. Leipzig: T. O. Weigel.
14. Björn Sigfússon. 1934. ‘Names of Sea-Kings (heiti sækonunga)’. MP 32, 125-42.
15. Olsen, Magnus. 1933a. ‘Fra Hávamál til Krákumál’. In Festskrift til Halvdan Koht på sekstiårs dagen 7de juli 1933. Oslo: Aschehoug, 93-102. Rpt. in Olsen 1938a, 234-44.
16. Ragn 1906-8 = Olsen 1906-8, 111-222.
17. Vries, Jan de. 1938. Een skald onder de troubadours. Ledeburg, Gent: N. V. Drukkerij Erasmus.
18. Finnur Jónsson. 1905. ‘Krákumál’. Oversigt over det Kgl. Danske videnskabernes selskabs forhandlinger 1905, 151-83.
19. Krm 1891 = 2nd edn (pp. 225-8) of Krm as ed. in Valdimar Ásmundarson 1885-9, I.
20. Rafn, Carl Christian, ed. 1826. Krakas Maal eller Kvad om Kong Ragnar Lodbroks Krigsbedrifter og Heltedød efter en gammel Skindbog og flere hidtil ubenyttede Haandskrifter med dansk, latinsk og fransk oversættelse, forskjellige Læsemaader, samt kritiske og philologiske Anmærkninger. Copenhagen: Jens Hostrup Schultz; London: John and Arthur Arch.
21. Flanagan, Deirdre and Laurence [Flanagan], eds. 1994. Irish Place-Names. Dublin: Gill and Macmillan.
22. Ó Dónaill, Niall. 1977. Foclóir Gaeilge-Béarla. Dublin: Oifig an tSoláthair.
23. Ó Floinn, Raghnall. 1998. ‘Two Viking Burials from Co. Wicklow’. Wicklow Archaeology and History 1, 29-35.
24. Oftedal, Magne. 1976. ‘Scandinavian Place-names in Ireland’. In Almqvist et al. 1976, 125-34.
25. Sommerfelt, Alf. 1958. ‘The English Forms of the Names of the Main Provinces of Ireland’. Lochlann 1, 223-7.
26. Whaley, Diana. 2017. ‘A Far-travelled Word: Old Norse skeið ‘Racecourse, Running Track’ in Early Literature and Place-names’. In Krüger et al. 2017, 379-409.
27. Friends of the Murrough. 2011. ‘Friends of the Murrough to Wicklow County Council’. August 2011.. <http://friendsofthemurrough.com/docs/FoM%20pre%20draft%20submission%20Wicklow%20town%20plan%20Aug%2011.pdf>
28. LR = Worm 1636.
29. Internal references
30. Rory McTurk 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Krákumál’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 706. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1020> (accessed 16 April 2024)
31. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Sækonunga heiti 2’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 680.
32. Kari Ellen Gade 2017, ‘ Rǫgnvaldr jarl and Hallr Þórarinsson, Háttalykill’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1001. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1347> (accessed 16 April 2024)
33. Russell Poole (ed.) 2017, ‘Breta saga 155 (Gunnlaugr Leifsson, Merlínusspá I 87)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 122.