Sigv Austv 17^I

Létk við yðr, es ítran,
Ôleifr, hugat môlum
rétt, es ríkan hittak
Rǫgnvald, konungr, haldit.
Deildak môl ins milda,
malma vǫrðr, í gǫrðum
harða mǫrg; né heyrðak
heiðmanns tǫlur greiðri.

Létk haldit hugat rétt môlum við yðr, Ôleifr konungr, es [hittak] ítran, es hittak ríkan Rǫgnvald. Deildak harða mǫrg môl í gǫrðum ins milda, {vǫrðr malma}; né heyrðak greiðri tǫlur heiðmanns.

I kept conscientiously, precisely, to the arrangements with you, King Óláfr, when [I met with] the excellent, when I met with the powerful Rǫgnvaldr. I dealt with very many arrangements in the courts of the generous one, {guardian of metal weapons} [WARRIOR = Óláfr]; I have not heard more loyal speeches of a tributary [Rǫgnvaldr].

Mss: Holm2(26r), 325V(32bis rb), R686ˣ(50r), 972ˣ(180va), 325VI(17va), 75a(15vb), 73aˣ(66r), 68(25r), 61(94rb), Holm4(17va), 325VII(12v), Flat(93rb), Tóm(113v) (ÓH); Kˣ(305v), Bb(153rb) (Hkr)

Readings: [1] Létk (‘Let ec’): ‘Lef vit’ 972ˣ, lét 325VI, 75a, 73aˣ, 325VII, Tóm, leit Flat, létt ek Bb;    es (‘er’): en R686ˣ, 325VI, 75a, Holm4, 325VII, enn 972ˣ, 73aˣ, 61, Flat, Tóm;    ítran: ítru R686ˣ, ‘itræn’ 972ˣ, ítra 325VI, Flat, ítri 73aˣ, 61, 325VII    [2] Ôleifr: Óláf 325V, R686ˣ, 325VI;    hugat: hugar 68, huggað Tóm    [3] rétt es (‘rett er’): ‘retter at’ R686ˣ;    es (‘er’): er at 972ˣ, 75a, 73aˣ, ok 61;    ríkan: ríkjan R686ˣ, 68, Bb;    hittak: so 325V, 972ˣ, 75a, 73aˣ, 68, 61, Holm4, 325VII, Flat, Tóm, Kˣ, Bb, ‘hittan’ Holm2, hitta 325VI    [4] Rǫgnvald: Rǫgnvaldr 972ˣ, 325VI, ‘regnvadd’ 325VII;    konungr: konung 325VI, konungs 325VII    [5] Deildak (‘deilda ec’): ‘dellda ek’ Bb;    môl: so 325VI, Holm4, 325VII, Flat, Kˣ, Bb, máls Holm2, 325V, R686ˣ, 972ˣ, 75a, 73aˣ, 68, 61, Tóm;    ins: við 325VI, enn 68, en 325VII;    milda: mildan 325VI    [6] malma: ‘malfa’ Bb;    vǫrðr: so 325V, Tóm, Bb, vǫrðs Holm2, R686ˣ, 972ˣ, 68, Holm4, Kˣ, vǫrð 325VI, 75a, 73aˣ, 325VII, vǫrðum 61, norðr Flat;    í gǫrðum: om. 61    [7] harða: hǫrða 68, 61, 325VII, Flat, Tóm;    mǫrg: so R686ˣ, 325VI, 75a, 73aˣ, Holm4, Flat, Tóm, Kˣ, Bb, mǫgr Holm2, 325V, 61, 325VII, mjǫk 972ˣ, magr 68;    né: er 73aˣ, en Flat, Tóm;    heyrðak (‘ec heyrþac’): ek heyrðat 325V, ek heyrði héðra 61    [8] heið‑: heiðr 73aˣ;    tǫlur: tǫlu 325VI, tǫlu corrected from ‘tǫlur’ 325VII;    greiðri: ‘greðri’ 325V, greiðar R686ˣ, 972ˣ, 68, greiða Kˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 238-9, Skj BI, 224, Skald I, 116-17, NN §§487, 629, 2774, 3031; Fms 4, 190, Fms 12, 85-6, ÓH 1941, I, 204 (ch. 75), Flat 1860-8, II, 115; Hkr 1777-1826, II, 127, VI, 87, Hkr 1868, 310 (ÓHHkr ch. 92), Hkr 1893-1901, II, 174-5, ÍF 27, 142, Hkr 1991, I, 350 (ÓHHkr ch. 91); Ternström 1871, 22-3, 50-1, Jón Skaptason 1983, 98, 243-4.

Context: Sigvatr delivers Austv 1 then this and the following three stanzas to King Óláfr at his court after his return from the east. The four stanzas are written out with no intervening prose.

Notes: [1, 4] létk haldit ‘I kept’: The meaning is more literally ‘I caused to be kept’ (cf. st. 2/1-2 lét ... dreginn ‘I had dragged’), but the construction is a common periphrasis: see CVC: láta IV. 3. — [1, 3] es … es ‘when … when’: Kock (NN §§487, 2774) defends and cites parallels to the pleonasm. Ternström (1871, following Fms) adopts the reading (h)inn ítri of 61 and 73aˣ, regarding it as a vocative together with Ôleifr. — [2] Ôleifr ‘Óláfr’: The archaic form, though not here demanded by the rhyme, is the usual one before c. 1100, and it is required elsewhere in Sigvatr’s poetry (e.g., Víkv 9/8 and Nesv 5/4). On the development of the form, see Gordon (1957, 238-9). — [2] hugat môlum ‘conscientiously ... arrangements’: Hugat is here read as a n. p. p., used adverbially: cf. the adverbial rétt ‘precisely’ in l. 3. It is tempting to read these two words, with Konráð Gíslason (1860b, 333 n. 1), as a cpd equivalent to hugaðsmôlum. Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) actually supplies the latter form (spelt hugaz-môlum), assigning it the meaning fortroliger aftaler ‘confidential arrangements’, but there is no ms. support for making the first constituent gen. Cf. Noreen (1923, 41), and Sahlgren (1927-8, I, 177-8). — [6] vǫrðr ‘guardian’: Some of the mss have gen. sg. vǫrðs. Kock in NN §629 prefers the vocative reading, but in §3031 he defends the gen. one (with vǫrðs qualified by ens/ins milda ‘of the generous’ in l. 5), while Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson (ÍF 27) regards it as implausible that Sigvatr should have formed the gen. of vǫrðr as anything but varðar. Jón Skaptason (1983, 98) adopts the poss. reading and has ens/ins milda malma vǫrðs ‘of the generous guardian of metals’ depend on mál/môl ‘arrangements’ in l. 5. — [6] í gǫrðum ‘in the courts’: Ternström (1871, 50) would read í Gǫrðum ‘in Russia’, and Schreiner (1927-9c, 44-5) adopts this reading in support of his hypothesis that Austv is an amalgam of two poems. Sahlgren (1927-8, I, 179-80) also interprets the phrase this way, noting that in that event ens/ins milda ‘of the generous one’ in l. 5 must qualify môl ‘arrangements’ rather than gǫrðum. (Skj B takes gǫrðum ens/ins milda heiðmanns ‘courts of the generous jarl’ together.) For counter-arguments, see Toll (1927-9) and Patzig (1930b, 93-4). Finnur Jónsson (1934a, 16) argues that the claim in Fsk (cf. ÍF 29, 180) that Sigvatr visited Russia is the result of a misinterpretation of this stanza (which is not quoted in Fsk).

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. CVC = Cleasby, Richard, Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and W. A. Craigie. 1957. An Icelandic-English Dictionary. 2nd edn. Oxford: Clarendon.
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. Finnur Jónsson. 1934a. Tekstkritiske bemærkninger til skjaldekvad. Det kgl. danske videnskabernes selskab. Historisk-filologiske meddelelser 20.2. Copenhagen: Levin & Munksgaard.
13. ÍF 29 = Ágrip af Nóregskonunga sǫgum; Fagrskinna—Nóregs konungatal. Ed. Bjarni Einarsson. 1985.
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. Gordon, E. V. 1957. An Introduction to Old Norse. 2nd edn rev. A. R. Taylor. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
16. Sahlgren, Jöran. 1927-8. Eddica et Scaldica. Fornvästnordiska studier I-II. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
17. Konráð Gíslason. 1860b. ‘Mandsnavnet “Ólafr” i dets ældre islandske former’. ÅNOH, 331-5.
18. Patzig, Hermann. 1930b. ‘Sigvats Ostfahrt’. ZDA 67, 87-96.
19. Schreiner, Johan. 1927-9c. ‘Olav den hellige og nabolandene’. HT(N) 28 (5 ser. 7), 22-76.
20. Ternström, Alfred. 1871. Om skalden Sighvat Thordsson och tolkning af hans Austrfararvísur, Vestrfararvísur och Knútsdrápa. Lund: Ohlsson.
21. Toll, Hans. 1927-9. ‘Målet och sätten för Sigvat skalds Svitjodresa’. HT(N) 29 (5 ser. 7), 541-4.
22. Hkr 1777-1826 = Schöning, Gerhard et al., eds. 1777-1826. Heimskringla edr Noregs konunga-sögor. 6 vols. Copenhagen: Stein.
23. Hkr 1868 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1868. Heimskringla eller Norges kongesagaer af Snorre Sturlassøn. Christiania (Oslo): Brøgger & Christie.
24. Noreen, Erik. 1923. Studier i fornvästnordisk diktning: tredje samlingen. Uppsala: Akademiska bokhandeln.
25. Internal references
26. (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 April 2024)
27. (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 19 April 2024)
28. R. D. Fulk 2012, ‘ Sigvatr Þórðarson, Austrfararvísur’ 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. 578. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1351> (accessed 19 April 2024)
29. R. D. Fulk (ed.) 2012, ‘Sigvatr Þórðarson, Austrfararvísur 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. 583.
30. Judith Jesch (ed.) 2012, ‘Sigvatr Þórðarson, Víkingarvísur 9’ 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. 547.
31. Russell Poole (ed.) 2012, ‘Sigvatr Þórðarson, Nesjavísur 5’ 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. 563.