Sigv Austv 12^I

Út munu ekkjur líta,
allsnúðula, prúðar,
— fljóð séa reyk — hvar ríðum
Rǫgnvalds í bý gǫgnum.
Keyrum hross, svát heyri
harða langt at garði
hesta rôs ór húsum
hugsvinn kona innan.

Prúðar ekkjur munu líta út, hvar ríðum allsnúðula í gǫgnum bý Rǫgnvalds; fljóð séa reyk. Keyrum hross, svát hugsvinn kona heyri rôs hesta at garði harða langt innan ór húsum.

Fine ladies will look out where we ride very quickly through Rǫgnvaldr’s town; the women will see the dust-cloud. Let’s spur our horses so that a wise-minded woman may hear [our] steeds’ race to the manor at a very great distance from inside the buildings.

Mss: Holm2(17v), 325V(22vb), R686ˣ(35v), 972ˣ(123va), 325VI(15vb), 75a(8ra), 73aˣ(47r), 78aˣ(46r), 68(16v-17r), 61(88va), Holm4(9ra), 75c(9v), 325VII(8v), Flat(85va), Tóm(106v) (ÓH); Kˣ(272r-v), Bb(143vb) (Hkr)

Readings: [1] munu: ‘manu’ Holm4    [2] ‑snúðula: ‘snvþarla’ 325V, 68, Tóm, ‘‑smiðula’ 78aˣ, ‘suðula’ Holm4, ‘snudalla’ Flat;    prúðar: prýðar 75c    [3] fljóð: flóð R686ˣ, brúðr Holm4, ferð Flat;    séa: sér Holm4, sjái Flat, sá Tóm;    hvar: er R686ˣ, hvé 325VI, 75a, 73aˣ, 78aˣ    [4] Rǫgn‑: Regn‑ 325VII;    gǫgnum: gǫngum R686ˣ    [5] hross: hest 68, hvatt 61;    heyri: heyrum Tóm    [6] harða: harðla 325VI, 73aˣ, 78aˣ, Flat;    at: so 68, 61, Holm4, 75c, 325VII, Flat, Tóm, Kˣ, Bb, ór Holm2, 325V, frá R686ˣ, 972ˣ, 325VI, 75a, 73aˣ, 78aˣ    [7] ór: at Flat    [8] hugsvinn: om. Tóm;    kona: so 75a, Holm4, Kˣ, konan Holm2, 325V, R686ˣ, 972ˣ, 325VI, 73aˣ, 78aˣ, 68, 61, 75c, 325VII, Flat, Tóm, Bb;    innan: ‘inan’ 325V, inni 75c, 325VII

Editions: Skj AI, 237, Skj BI, 223, Skald I, 116, NN §§318, 486, 1862; Fms 4, 136-7, Fms 12, 82, ÓH 1853, 56, 269, ÓH 1941, I, 136 (ch. 53), Flat 1860-8, II, 58; Hkr 1777-1826, II, 82-3, VI, 82, Hkr 1868, 275 (ÓHHkr ch. 70), Hkr 1893-1901, II, 114, ÍF 27, 94, Hkr 1991, I, 316 (ÓHHkr ch. 71); Ternström 1871, 10-11, 41, Konráð Gíslason 1892, 36, 175, Jón Skaptason 1983, 93, 242.

Context: The travellers enter Skarar (Skara) and approach the residence of Rǫgnvaldr jarl.

Notes: [All]: Fidjestøl (1997a, 339-40) finds this stanza paradigmatic of the treatment of women in Old Norse literature. — [1]: A nearly identical line depicting a female onlooker begins Anon Liðs 8, which Poole (1987, 282-3) dates to 1017. A similar line occurs in ÞjóðA Har 2/3^II, composed c. 1060. — [2] allsnúðula ‘very quickly’: The adv. is here construed with ríðum ‘we ride’ in l. 3, an interpretation supported by rôs ‘race, rush’ in l. 7. It can alternatively be connected with líta út ‘look out’ in l. 1, producing simpler word order but less transparent sense (assuming, perhaps, the women are dashing to the window; so E. Noreen 1923, 39 and several other eds). — [3] hvar ‘where’: The clause which begins with this word is attached to fljóð séa reyk ‘the women will see the dust-cloud’ in l. 3 by Kock (NN §1862), followed by Jón Skaptason (1983, 93). — [6] harða langt ‘at a very great distance’: So Hallberg (1975, 167). The sense could instead be temporal (so Ternström 1871, 11). Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) takes harða to be an adj. ‘hard’, qualifying rôs ‘race, rush’ in l. 7. Jón Skaptason (1983, 93) takes the sense of the passage to be that the woman will hear the galloping ‘from far inside the halls’. — [6] at garði ‘to the manor’: Kock (NN §486) points out that the phrase has been taken to modify keyrum ‘we spur’ (l. 5), heyri ‘hear’ (l. 5), or rôs ‘race’ (l. 7). He disapproves of the first choice (that of Finnur Jónsson, Skj B) and discards the second (that of E. Noreen 1923, 39); his favoured option of rás/rôs at garði ‘race to the manor’ is also adopted here. The eds of ÍF 27 and Hkr 1991 instead connect it with langt ‘at a distance’ (or ‘a long way’). The present interpretation of the syntax of this helmingr is in agreement with that of Konráð Gíslason (1892, 175).

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. Fms = Sveinbjörn Egilsson et al., eds. 1825-37. Fornmanna sögur eptir gömlum handritum útgefnar að tilhlutun hins norræna fornfræða fèlags. 12 vols. Copenhagen: Popp.
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. Hallberg, Peter. 1975. Old Icelandic Poetry: Eddic Lay and Skaldic Verse. Trans. Paul Schach and Sonja Lindgrenson. Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press.
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. ÓH 1941 = Johnsen, Oscar Albert and Jón Helgason, eds. 1941. Saga Óláfs konungs hins helga: Den store saga om Olav den hellige efter pergamenthåndskrift i Kungliga biblioteket i Stockholm nr. 2 4^to med varianter fra andre håndskrifter. 2 vols. Det norske historiske kildeskriftfond skrifter 53. Oslo: Dybwad.
9. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
10. Hkr 1893-1901 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1893-1901. Heimskringla: Nóregs konunga sǫgur af Snorri Sturluson. 4 vols. SUGNL 23. Copenhagen: Møller.
11. Hkr 1991 = Bergljót S. Kristjánsdóttir et al., eds. 1991. Heimskringla. 3 vols. Reykjavík: Mál og menning.
12. Poole, Russell. 1987. ‘Skaldic Verse and Anglo-Saxon History: Some Aspects of the Period 1009-1016’. Speculum 62, 265-98.
13. Fidjestøl, Bjarne. 1997a. Selected Papers. Ed. Odd Einar Haugen and Else Mundal, trans. Peter G. Foote. VC 9. [Odense]: Odense University Press.
14. Jón Skaptason. 1983. ‘Material for an Edition and Translation of the Poems of Sigvat Þórðarson, skáld’. Ph.D. thesis. State University of New York at Stony Brook. DAI 44: 3681A.
15. Konráð Gíslason, ed. 1892a. Udvalg af oldnordiske skjaldekvad, med anmærkninger. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
16. Ternström, Alfred. 1871. Om skalden Sighvat Thordsson och tolkning af hans Austrfararvísur, Vestrfararvísur och Knútsdrápa. Lund: Ohlsson.
17. Hkr 1777-1826 = Schöning, Gerhard et al., eds. 1777-1826. Heimskringla edr Noregs konunga-sögor. 6 vols. Copenhagen: Stein.
18. Hkr 1868 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1868. Heimskringla eller Norges kongesagaer af Snorre Sturlassøn. Christiania (Oslo): Brøgger & Christie.
19. Noreen, Erik. 1923. Studier i fornvästnordisk diktning: tredje samlingen. Uppsala: Akademiska bokhandeln.
20. ÓH 1853 = Munch, P. A. and C. R. Unger, eds. 1853. Saga Olafs konungs ens helga. Christiania (Oslo): Det kongelige norske Fredriks Universitet.
21. Internal references
22. (forthcoming), ‘ Heimskringla, Óláfs saga helga (in Heimskringla)’ 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. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=152> (accessed 20 April 2024)
23. Russell Poole (ed.) 2012, ‘Anonymous Poems, Liðsmannaflokkr 8’ 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. 1025.
24. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Þjóðólfr Arnórsson, Stanzas about Haraldr Sigurðarson’s leiðangr 2’ 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. 151-2.