Rv Lv 6^II

Aldr hefk frétt, þats feldu
fránstalls konur allar
— verðrat menja myrðir
mjúkorðr — hǫfuðdúkum.
Nú tér Hlǫkk of hnakka
haukstrindar sér binda
— skrýðisk brúðr við bræði
bengagls — merar tagli.

Hefk aldr frétt, þats allar konur feldu hǫfuðdúkum {fránstalls}; {myrðir menja} verðrat mjúkorðr. Nú tér {Hlǫkk {haukstrindar}} binda tagli merar of hnakka sér; brúðr skrýðisk við {bræði {bengagls}}.

I have always understood that all women wrapped themselves in headdresses {of snake-support} [GOLD]; {the murderer of neck-ornaments} [GENEROUS MAN = Rǫgnvaldr] will not be gentle in his speech. Now {the Hlǫkk <valkyrie> {of the hawk-land}} [ARM > WOMAN = Ragna] ties a mare’s tail around her neck; the lady got dressed up for {the feeder {of the wound-gosling}} [RAVEN/EAGLE > WARRIOR = Rǫgnvaldr].

Mss: Flat(138vb), R702ˣ(42v) (Orkn)

Readings: [1] Aldr: so R702ˣ, Aldri Flat;    hefk (‘hefig’): so R702ˣ, ‘ef ek’ Flat;    frétt: so R702ˣ, ‘freitt’ Flat;    þats: þar er Flat, R702ˣ    [2] frán‑: so R702ˣ, fram Flat;    allar: alla R702ˣ    [3] verðrat: ‘verdat’ R702ˣ    [4] mjúkorðr: ‘mik‑o᷎rdz’ R702ˣ    [6] hauk‑: so R702ˣ, hodd‑ Flat;    sér: so R702ˣ, sem Flat

Editions: Skj AI, 506, Skj BI, 480, Skald I, 235, NN §2062; Flat 1860-8, II, 468, Orkn 1887, 140, Orkn 1913-16, 204-5, ÍF 34, 184-5 (ch. 81), Bibire 1988, 228.

Context: After Hallr Þórarinsson’s unsuccessful attempt to join Rǫgnvaldr’s court (cf. Hbreiðm Lv), his hostess Ragna goes to see the jarl, wearing some kind of headdress made of red horsehair; the st. is Rǫgnvaldr’s response to her appearance.

Notes: [1] þats ‘that’: This emendation was first proposed in Skj B. — [2] fránstalls ‘of snake-support [GOLD]’: Previous eds have found the interpretation of this difficult. Orkn 1887 emends the reading of R702ˣ to fránstall, but does not explain the word. Skj B (followed in Orkn 1913-16) emends to faldstall ‘support of the headdress’ i.e. ‘head’ and construes konur feldu faldstall... ‘women wrapped their heads...’ which fits the context, but the echoing of feld- and fald- (with the same semantic range) is neither fortunate nor supported by the mss. Along the same lines, Kock (NN §2062) also considers the simpler emendation to framstall which he imagines could mean ‘forehead’, before rejecting it for an interpretation which keeps fránstalls. He suggests that it refers to a lysande (fornämt) säte ‘shining (distinguished) seat’ and that fránstalls konur are analogous to hásætismenn ‘people who sit in the high seat’, but this sits ill with the connotations of the first element, which is often associated with the shining skin of snakes (LP: fránn, adj.). ÍF 34 (followed by Bibire 1988) keeps the reading of Flat and adopts Sveinbjörn Egilsson’s interpretation (LP 1860: framstall) of it as pars rei anterior ‘the front part of something’ and therefore pars potior et dignior, making the women matronæ honoratiores ‘high-ranking’ (as translated by Bibire). The most likely explanation is that fránstall is a gold-kenning (for fránn as a snake-heiti see SnE 1848-87, II, 458) and that Rǫgnvaldr is contrasting the more usual headgear of fine ladies with the mare’s tail worn by Ragna. — [6] haukstrindar ‘of the hawk-land’: While hoddstrind is a possible woman-kenning, meaning ‘treasure-ground’, Flat’s gen. sg. form hoddstrindar cannot be construed with Hlǫkk as required by the sense of the st. — [8] tagli merar ‘a mare’s tail’: It is not clear who is insulting whom here. Rǫgnvaldr accuses Ragna of wearing a mare’s tail around her neck and the association of women and mares (particularly their hindquarters) implies a strong sexuality (cf. ÍF 28, 155 and ÍF 29, 269). At the same time, it is conceivable that Rǫgnvaldr thinks Ragna is impugning his masculinity by presenting him with a token from a female animal. The saga-author may have seen it this way, as Ragna goes on to claim that the horsehair is in fact from a stallion, as if she were asserting her own ability to behave like a man. And indeed she gets what she wants, though only after she has covered herself in a more conventional silk headdress. See also Clunies Ross 1992a.

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. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
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. 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. ÍF 34 = Orkneyinga saga. Ed. Finnbogi Guðmundsson. 1965.
9. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
10. ÍF 29 = Ágrip af Nóregskonunga sǫgum; Fagrskinna—Nóregs konungatal. Ed. Bjarni Einarsson. 1985.
11. Orkn 1913-16 = Sigurður Nordal, ed. 1913-16. Orkneyinga saga. SUGNL 40. Copenhagen: Møller.
12. Bibire, Paul. 1988. ‘The Poetry of Earl Rǫgnvaldr’s Court’. In Crawford 1988, 208-40.
13. Clunies Ross, Margaret. 1992a. ‘Women and Power in the Scandinavian Sagas’. In Garlick et al. 1992, 105-119.
14. Orkn 1887 = Gudbrand Vigfusson 1887-94, I.
15. Internal references
17. Judith Jesch 2009, ‘ Hallr Þórarinsson breiðmaga, Lausavísa’ 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. 610-11. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1251> (accessed 19 April 2024)