Sigv Berv 9^II

Skulut ráðgjafar reiðask
(ryðr þat, konungr) yðrir
(dróttins orð til dýrðar)
dǫglingr, við bersǫgli.
Hafa kveðask lǫg, nema ljúgi
landherr, búendr verri
endr í Ulfasundum
ǫnnur, an þú hézt mǫnnum.

Dǫglingr, ráðgjafar yðrir skulut reiðask við bersǫgli; þat orð dróttins ryðr til dýrðar, konungr. Búendr kveðask hafa ǫnnur verri lǫg, nema landherr ljúgi, an þú hézt mǫnnum endr í Ulfasundum.

Lord, your counsellors must not get enraged at my plain-speaking; that royal command will open the way for glory, king. The farmers claim they have other, inferior laws, unless the countrymen lie, than you promised people earlier in Ulvesundet.

Mss: Kˣ(504v), 39(14va), E(5v), J2ˣ(245v) (Hkr); Holm2(74r), 972ˣ(584va), 972ˣ(585vb), 325VI(42rb), 321ˣ(283), 73aˣ(216v), 325VII(41v), 325V(89va-b), 61(130rb-va), Tóm(161r), Bb(206rb) (ÓH); FskBˣ(54r), FskAˣ(208-209) (Fsk, ll. 5-8); H(4v), Hr(6ra) (H-Hr); 325XI 3(1r), Flat(190ra) (Flat)

Readings: [1] Skulut: Skulu 61, Flat;    ‑gjafar: so E, J2ˣ, Holm2, 972ˣ(584va), 972ˣ(585vb), 325VI, 321ˣ, 73aˣ, 325VII, 325V, 61, Bb, H, Hr, 325XI 3, Flat, ‑gjǫfum Kˣ, 39, gjafa Tóm    [2] ryðr: ryð er 61;    þat: því at Hr, Flat;    konungr: konung 972ˣ(585vb), konungar Flat;    yðrir: so E, J2ˣ, Holm2, 325VI, 321ˣ, 73aˣ, 325VII, 325V, Tóm, Bb, H, 325XI 3, Flat, yðrum Kˣ, 39, 61, ‘yþr’ 972ˣ(584va), ‘ydur’ 972ˣ(585vb), yðvar Hr    [3] dróttins: dróttni 325VII;    til dýrðar: om. 61    [4] við: í 972ˣ(584va), viðr 325VI;    ‑sǫgli: ‑sǫglu or ‑sǫgli 321ˣ    [5] kveðask: kvðusk 972ˣ(584va), Tóm, kveða 325V, 61, kvezk FskBˣ, ‘kuozt’ Flat;    ljúgi: lýgi Holm2, 972ˣ(584va), 972ˣ(585vb), Flat    [6] land‑: ‘[…]’ 325XI 3;    búendr: so E, J2ˣ, Holm2, 972ˣ(584va), 972ˣ(585vb), 321ˣ, 73aˣ, 325V, 61, H, 325XI 3, bœndr Kˣ, 325VI, Bb, FskBˣ, FskAˣ, Hr, Flat, konungr 39, 325VII, Tóm    [7] í: om. E;    Ulfa‑: ‘vilpa’ E, ‘ulba‑’ Flat    [8] ǫnnur: ‘[…]nvr’ 325XI 3;    mǫnnum: manna FskBˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 253, Skj BI, 236, Skald I, 122, NN §1866; ÍF 28, 28 (Mgóð ch. 16), E 1916, 17; ÓH 1941, I, 626 (ch. 261); ÍF 29, 213 (ch. 48); Fms 6, 41-2 (Mgóð ch. 22); Louis-Jensen 1970b, 149, Flat 1860-8, III, 268, Mork 1928-32, 28, Andersson and Gade 2000, 106, 467 (MH); Jón Skaptason 1983, 145, 291-2.

Notes: [1, 2] ráðgjafar yðrir skulut reiðask ‘your counsellors must not get enraged’: Skulut reiðask ráðgjǫfum yðrum ‘you should not get enraged at your counsellors’ (so Kˣ, 39) is syntactically correct but goes against the majority ms. witnesses (so also Skald). Moreover, Sigvatr is speaking against the king’s counsellors on behalf of the farmers (see also the prose in H-Hr). Skj B follows the Kˣ version but emends skulut (2nd pers. pl.) (l. 1) to skalat (3rd pers. sg.) ‘one should not’. — [3] orð dróttins ‘royal command’: Lit. ‘word of the lord’. Anticipates Magnús’s command to his counsellors to refrain from interfering with Sigvatr’s plea. Finnur reads til dýrðar dróttins ‘[that word leads] to the glory of the king’, which creates an awkward w. o. Kock’s translation of orð dróttins as härskarns rykte ‘the lord’s reputation’ (det renar härskarns rykte, banar vägen för beröm ‘that clears the lord’s reputation, opens up the way for glory’; NN §1866) is syntactically obscure (ryðja til e-s ‘clear, open up’ is never constructed with an acc. in addition to the prepositional phrase; see Fritzner: ryðja). — [5-8]: Magnús’s earlier legislation in Ulvesundet (in Nordfjord, Norway) is not mentioned in any saga. — [8] þú hézt ‘you promised’: Retention of the pron. þú ‘you’ (so all mss) forces elision in metrical position 2 involving a closed syllable and a syllable with vocalic onset (-ur a-; ǫnnur an ‘other than’). That does not otherwise occur in early dróttkvætt poetry (see Kuhn 1983, 67). However, Sigvatr is known for bending the rules of skaldic composition, and full stress on the pron. þú certainly seems warranted by the tenor of the st.

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. Andersson, Theodore M. and Kari Ellen Gade, trans. 2000. Morkinskinna: The Earliest Icelandic Chronicle of the Norwegian Kings (1030-1157). Islandica 51. Ithaca and London: Cornell University 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. 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.
9. 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.
10. Kuhn, Hans (1899). 1983. Das Dróttkvætt. Heidelberg: Winter.
11. Mork 1928-32 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1928-32. Morkinskinna. SUGNL 53. Copenhagen: Jørgensen.
12. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
13. E 1916 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1916. Eirspennill: AM 47 fol. Nóregs konunga sǫgur: Magnús góði – Hákon gamli. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske historiske kildeskriftskommission.
14. ÍF 29 = Ágrip af Nóregskonunga sǫgum; Fagrskinna—Nóregs konungatal. Ed. Bjarni Einarsson. 1985.
15. 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.
16. Louis-Jensen, Jonna. 1970b. ‘Et forlæg til Flateyjarbók? Fragmenterne AM 325 IV ß og XI, 3 4to’. Opuscula 4. BA 30, 141-58. Copenhagen: Munksgaard.
17. Internal references
18. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Hulda-Hrokkinskinna’ 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=84> (accessed 19 April 2024)
19. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Magnúss saga góða ok Haralds harðráða’ 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=147> (accessed 19 April 2024)