Sigv Austv 8^I

Mista ek fyr austan
Eiðaskóg á leiðu
Ôstu bús, es æstak
ókristinn hal vistar.
Ríks fannka son Saxa;
saðr vas engr fyrir þaðra
(út vask eitt kveld heitinn)
inni (fjórum sinnum).

Ek mista bús Ôstu á leiðu fyr austan Eiðaskóg, es æstak ókristinn hal vistar. Fannka son ríks Saxa; engr saðr vas fyrir inni þaðra; vask heitinn út fjórum sinnum eitt kveld.

I missed [felt the want of] Ásta’s farm on the way east of Eidskogen when I asked the unchristian man for lodging. I did not meet the son of powerful Saxi; no truth was present in that place; I was ordered out four times in one evening.

Mss: Holm2(26r), R686ˣ(49v), 972ˣ(178va), 325VI(17ra), 75a(15ra), 73aˣ(65r), 68(24v), 61(94ra-b), Holm4(17rb), 325VII(12v), Flat(93ra), Tóm(113v) (ÓH); Kˣ(304v), Bb(153ra) (Hkr)

Readings: [1] fyr: so 972ˣ, 325VI, 68, 61, Holm4, 325VII, Flat, Tóm, Kˣ, Bb, fór Holm2, er ek fór R686ˣ, 75a;    austan: ‘aistan’ R686ˣ    [2] ‑skóg: ‑skógs R686ˣ, 972ˣ, 75a, Flat;    leiðu: leiðum 73aˣ, 61, Flat    [3] Ôstu: so 325VI, 73aˣ, 68, 61, Holm4, Flat, Tóm, Kˣ, Ásta Holm2, R686ˣ, 972ˣ, 325VII, Bb, ‘osta’ 75a;    bús: bú 325VI, búss 75a, 61, Holm4, 325VII, Flat, Kˣ, býs Bb;    es (‘er’): þá es 61, sem Flat;    æstak (‘ec ęsta’): ‘ek ęst’ Bb    [4] ókristinn: ókristin R686ˣ, 972ˣ, Bb;    vistar: vista Flat    [5] Ríks: ‘riz’ 325VII;    fannka (‘fanka ec’): ‘fazka ec’ Tóm;    son: sagði R686ˣ;    Saxa: slíkan 68    [7] vask (‘var ec’): var Tóm;    heitinn: heitin R686ˣ, 972ˣ, 68, Bb    [8] inni: so 68, 61, Holm4, 325VII, Flat, Tóm, Kˣ, Bb, innan Holm2, R686ˣ, 972ˣ, 325VI, 75a, 73aˣ;    sinnum: sínum Flat, Bb

Editions: Skj AI, 235, Skj BI, 222, Skald I, 115, NN §151; Fms 4, 188, Fms 12, 84, ÓH 1853, 81, 273, ÓH 1941, I, 201 (ch. 75), Flat 1860-8, II, 114; Hkr 1777-1826, II 126, VI, 86, Hkr 1868, 308 (ÓHHkr ch. 92), Hkr 1893-1901, II, 172, ÍF 27, 139, Hkr 1991, I, 348 (ÓHHkr ch. 91); Ternström 1871, 18-19, 47, Konráð Gíslason 1892, 37, 178, 231, Jón Skaptason 1983, 89, 240.

Context: As for st. 7.

Notes: [3] bús Ôstu ‘Ásta’s farm’: (a) The reference seems to be to Ásta, King Óláfr’s mother, and hence to the king’s hospitality. Judging from ÓHLeg (1982, 80-1) she resided by the great lake of Mjǫrs (Mjøsa) in southern Norway, hence on the route that Toll (1924) and Sahlgren (1927-8, I, 181-2) believe Sigvatr took from the north, though Beckman (1934, 214 n. 2) is right that it is not necessary to assume that Sigvatr visited her on this particular journey. (b) Sveinbjörn Egilsson (LP (1860): buss) reads búss/buss in some mss as burs (nom. sg. burr ‘son’), hence ‘I longed for Ásta’s son [Óláfr]’. (c) Ternström (1871, 47) instead reads ástabús ‘loving farmstead’, in reference to desired lodging. The name Ásta may be a fiction (according to de Vries 1932-3, 173, like Ǫlvir in st. 6) chosen only for the ironic implications of its literal meaning. — [5] son Saxa ‘the son of Saxi’: Unidentified. Hildebrand (1869-71, II, 100, followed by Ternström 1871) maintains that saxi is an epithet for a wolf, and hence ‘Saxi’s son’ is Rǫgnvaldr Úlfsson (so also Tveiten 1966, 92); but cf. Toll (1924, 563 n. 1). Toll himself (1925, 157) proposes that son Saxa is Sigtryggr, a chieftain in Næríki (ÓH 1941, I, 500; ÍF 27, 328), though his father’s name is not known. Ellekilde (1933-4) proposes that whoever Saxi’s son is, it was Sigvatr’s intention to stay the night with him, but he could not because he had lost his way in Eidskogen. — [6] engr saðr ‘no truth’: Alternatively, saðr may be an adj. and engr a pron., hence ‘no one true’ (so Jón Skaptason 1983, 89). In either case, the meaning may be simply that Sigvatr was lied to, or more contextually, that he was treated unfairly. — [6] fyrir ‘present’: Or ‘at hand’; the word appears to be adverbial, modifying vas ‘was’.  — [6, 8] þaðra inni ‘in that place’: Lit. ‘therein’. To simplify the word order, Kock (NN §151; so also de Vries 1932-3, 173) prefers the reading innan ‘from within’ of some mss to inni. The word must then depend on vask … heitinn ‘I was ordered’ in l. 7 rather than vas ‘was’ in l. 6. — [8] fjórum sinnum ‘four times’: This refers to the events in sts 6-7.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Fms = Sveinbjörn Egilsson et al., eds. 1825-37. Fornmanna sögur eptir gömlum handritum útgefnar að tilhlutun hins norræna fornfræða fèlags. 12 vols. Copenhagen: Popp.
3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. LP (1860) = Sveinbjörn Egilsson, ed. 1860. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis. Copenhagen: Societas Regia antiquariorum septentrionalium.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
9. Hkr 1893-1901 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1893-1901. Heimskringla: Nóregs konunga sǫgur af Snorri Sturluson. 4 vols. SUGNL 23. Copenhagen: Møller.
10. Hkr 1991 = Bergljót S. Kristjánsdóttir et al., eds. 1991. Heimskringla. 3 vols. Reykjavík: Mál og menning.
11. 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.
12. Konráð Gíslason, ed. 1892a. Udvalg af oldnordiske skjaldekvad, med anmærkninger. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
13. Sahlgren, Jöran. 1927-8. Eddica et Scaldica. Fornvästnordiska studier I-II. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
14. Tveiten, Hallvard, trans. 1966. Norrøne skaldekvad. Oslo: Saabye.
15. Beckman, Nat. 1934. ‘Ytterligare om Sigvats Austrfararvísur’. ANF 50, 197-217.
16. Ellekilde, Hans. 1933-4. ‘Om Sigvat skjalds Alfeblotsstrofer og Alfhildsagnet i Hervararsaga’. APS 8, 182-92.
17. Hildebrand, Hans, trans. 1869-71. Konunga-boken, eller, Sagor om Ynglingarne och Norges konungar intill år 1177. 3 vols. Örebro: A. Bohlin.
18. Ternström, Alfred. 1871. Om skalden Sighvat Thordsson och tolkning af hans Austrfararvísur, Vestrfararvísur och Knútsdrápa. Lund: Ohlsson.
19. Toll, Hans. 1924. ‘Sighvat skalds resa till Svithjod’. HT(N) 26 (5 ser. 5), 546-65.
20. Vries, Jan de. 1932-3. ‘Über Sigvats Álfablót-Strophen’. APS 7, 169-80.
21. Hkr 1777-1826 = Schöning, Gerhard et al., eds. 1777-1826. Heimskringla edr Noregs konunga-sögor. 6 vols. Copenhagen: Stein.
22. Hkr 1868 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1868. Heimskringla eller Norges kongesagaer af Snorre Sturlassøn. Christiania (Oslo): Brøgger & Christie.
23. ÓH 1853 = Munch, P. A. and C. R. Unger, eds. 1853. Saga Olafs konungs ens helga. Christiania (Oslo): Det kongelige norske Fredriks Universitet.
24. Internal references
25. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Óláfs saga helga (Legendary)’ 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=31> (accessed 26 April 2024)
26. (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 26 April 2024)