Judith Jesch (ed.) 2012, ‘Sigvatr Þórðarson, Erfidrápa Óláfs helga 15’ 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. 682.
Undr láta þat ýtar
eigi smátt, es máttit
skæ-Njǫrðungum skorðu
skýlauss rǫðull hlýja.
Drjúg varð á því dœgri
— dagr náðit lit fǫgrum —
— orrostu frák austan
atburð — konungs furða.
Ýtar láta þat eigi smátt undr, es skýlauss rǫðull máttit hlýja {{skorðu skæ-}Njǫrðungum}. Drjúg varð furða konungs á því dœgri; dagr náðit fǫgrum lit; frák atburð orrostu austan.
People declare that no small wonder, that the cloudless sun was not able to warm {the Njǫrðungar <gods> {of the steed of the prop}} [(lit. ‘steed-Njǫrðungar
Mss: Kˣ(470r-v) (Hkr); Holm2(68r), J2ˣ(226v), 321ˣ(255), 73aˣ(201r), Holm4(63va), 61(125va), 325V(80vb), 325VII(38r), Flat(124vb), Tóm(156r) (ÓH); W(168) (ll. 1-4) (SnE)
Readings: [1] Undr: auðr 321ˣ; þat: því 61, þat corrected from þeir 325VII [2] máttit: metit 321ˣ, máttuð 73aˣ, 325V, mátta 61, mátti Flat, ‘ma(ttud)’(?) W [3] skæ‑Njǫrðungum: ‘ske mordungum’ 321ˣ, ‘skein j orðungum’ 73aˣ, ‘sk(yniorvngvm)’(?) 61, ‘skeiniordvngvm’ 325V, ský‑Njǫrðungum Flat, Tóm; skorðu: skorðum 73aˣ, skatna 61 [4] ‑lauss: ‑laust 321ˣ, Flat; hlýja: hylja Holm2, 321ˣ, 73aˣ, Holm4, 325V, Tóm, W [5] Drjúg: drýg Holm2, ‘dvinor’ 321ˣ, draug 73aˣ, 325V, drjúgr 325VII; dœgri: degi 73aˣ [6] náðit: náði 73aˣ, 61, Flat; lit: lítt Flat, Tóm [7] frák (‘fra ec’): ‘[…]’ 61; austan: ‘austa’ J2ˣ, ‘[…]st[…]’ 61 [8] furða: fyrða Holm2, furðu 73aˣ, Holm4, 325V, spurðan 61
Editions: Skj AI, 261, Skj BI, 242, Skald I, 125, NN §662; Hkr 1893-1901, II, 491, IV, 169, ÍF 27, 382-3, Hkr 1991, II, 532 (ÓHHkr ch. 227); ÓH 1941, I, 572 (ch. 225), Flat 1860-8, II, 356; SnE 1848-87, II, 497, W 1924, 105; Jón Skaptason 1983, 170, 305-6.
Context: In ÓH-Hkr, the narrative mentions the solar eclipse (see Note to [All]). In the W text of SnE, ll. 1-4 are adduced as an example of the fact that men can be called Njǫrðungar (see Note to l. 3 below).
Notes: [All]: There was a solar eclipse on 31 August 1030; for discussion of the dating of the battle, and whether it coincided with the eclipse see ÍF 27, xcii-xcviii. — [3] skorðu skæ-Njǫrðungum ‘the Njǫrðungar <gods> of the steed of the prop [(lit. ‘steed-Njǫrðungar of the prop’) SHIP > MEN]’: Njǫrðungar appears to be derived from the god-name Njǫrðr, and is used in kennings for ‘man’ or ‘warrior’, always in the pl., and normally in compounds (LP: njǫrðungar). Skorða ‘prop’, used occasionally in ship-kennings (Meissner 215), is a support for the ship on dry land (Jesch 2001a, 171). — [5] dœgri ‘daytime’: Dœgr normally refers to either the daytime or night-time half of the twenty-four-hour period (LP: dœgr; see also Introduction to Þul DœgraIII). — [7] austan ‘from the east’: The force of this is uncertain, since Sigvatr was seemingly in Rome at the time of the battle (see Sigv Lv 18; ÍF 28, 14). (a) Finnur Jónsson (Hkr 1893-1901, IV; Skj B) suggests that austan is equivalent to austr ‘in the east, i.e. Norway’ (cf. Sigvatr’s apparent use of austan in Sigv Víkv 9/5 to mean ‘from the east, Norwegian’). See also Note to st. 17/2. In this case austan refers to the source of the news and characterises Norway as easterly, perhaps from the general viewpoint of an Icelander, though not from the specific viewpoint of an Icelander currently in Rome. (b) ÍF 27 suggests more specifically that Sigvatr was í Vesturlöndum ‘in the British Isles’ when he heard the news from Norway, presumably on his way back from Rome. This matches the usage in Sigv Knútdr 7/2, where Knútr in England frá austan ‘learned [news] from the east’, in this case Denmark. (c) Kock (NN §662B) translates austan as i öster ‘in the east’, noting that Sigvatr’s travels c. 1030 took him south and east. This seems to presuppose that austan locates the hearer of the news, rather than the source of the news. — [7] frák ‘I heard’: See Note to st. 7/1, above.
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