Sigv Erlfl 1^I

Út réð Erlingr skjóta
eik, sás rauð inn bleika,
— iflaust es þat — jǫfri,
arnar fót, at móti.
Skeið hans lá svá síðan
siklings í her miklum
(snarir bǫrðusk þar sverðum)
síbyrð við skip (fyrðar).

Erlingr, sás rauð inn bleika fót arnar, réð skjóta út eik at móti jǫfri; þat es iflaust. Skeið hans lá svá síðan í miklum her siklings, síbyrð við skip; snarir fyrðar bǫrðusk þar sverðum.

Erlingr, who reddened the pale foot of the eagle, caused the oak vessel to be launched against the ruler [Óláfr]; that is without doubt. His warship lay thus afterwards in the great host of the prince [Óláfr], alongside [his] ship; brisk men fought there with swords.

Mss: Kˣ(431r) (Hkr); Holm2(57v), J2ˣ(207v-208r), 321ˣ(215-216), 73aˣ(178r), 68(57r), Holm4(55rb), 61(116rb), 325V(68va) (ll. 1-4), 325VII(31v), Flat(119ra), Tóm(146v) (ÓH)

Readings: [1] Út: ótt 61;    Erlingr: Erlings 321ˣ    [2] eik: ‘æk’ 325VII;    sás rauð inn bleika: sá eldin bleiki 61;    sás (‘sa er’): sá Tóm;    rauð: ráði 321ˣ, ‘ranð’ 73aˣ, réð 68, ráð Flat, Tóm;    inn (‘hinn’): enn Holm2, J2ˣ, 68, Holm4, 325V;    bleika: bleiki 321ˣ, Flat, Tóm, ‘blæka’ 325VII    [3] es (‘er’): var J2ˣ;    jǫfri: jǫfra 68    [4] fót: fóts 68;    at: í 321ˣ, 61, Flat, Tóm, á 73aˣ, Holm4    [5] Skeið: þá er skeið 321ˣ;    hans lá: lá hans 68;    svá: svá at 68    [6] siklings: siklingr 73aˣ    [7] sverðum: síðan Holm2, J2ˣ, 321ˣ, 68, 61, Flat, Tóm, síðan with sverðum added in the margin 325VII    [8] síbyrð: síbyrt J2ˣ, 321ˣ, Flat, Tóm, ‘siþvrþ’ 68, síbyrr 325VII;    skip: skipi 321ˣ;    fyrðar: fyrða 321ˣ, 73aˣ, 61, Flat, Tóm

Editions: Skj AI, 244, Skj BI, 228, Skald I, 118-19, NN §§620, 638; Hkr 1893-1901, II, 403-4, IV, 154-5, ÍF 27, 314, Hkr 1991, II, 482 (ÓHHkr ch. 176); ÓH 1941, I, 481 (ch. 172), Flat 1860-8, II, 309; Jón Skaptason 1983, 113, 260-1.

Context:

Erlingr Skjálgsson joins battle with King Óláfr and fights valiantly, with the odds against him. Sigvatr is in Vík (Viken) when he hears of the death of his friend Erlingr.

Notes: [All]: For the sea-battle at Bókn (Bokn in Boknafjorden, Jæren, Rogaland), c. 1027, see also Ólhelg Lv 6-7, BjHall Kálffl 1-2. — [2] eik ‘the oak vessel’: Although the word is metrically convenient, it may also be apt since oak was the most common wood for building ships, particularly large and prestigious ones (Jesch 2001a, 132-4). — [2] inn ‘the’: While the main ms. and several others have a form that is unambiguously the def. art. (inn or hinn), a substantial number of mss have the form enn which could conceivably be adverbial ‘again, further’. However, constructions with def. art. + adj. + noun are common in poetic language (NS §43), as in prose, and the def. art. is more likely in context, hence inn bleika fót ‘the pale foot’. — [5-8]: Finnur Jónsson in Skj B posits a convoluted word order which is deplored by Kock (NN §638) and avoided here. — [8] við skip ‘alongside [his] ship’: Here taken to refer to the king’s ship, but skip could also be pl., as in ÍF 27 which translates við (önnur) skip ‘alongside (other) ships’.

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. 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. Jesch, Judith. 2001a. Ships and Men in the Late Viking Age: The Vocabulary of Runic Inscriptions and Skaldic Verse. Woodbridge: Boydell.
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. NS = Nygaard, Marius. 1906. Norrøn syntax. Kristiania (Oslo): Aschehoug. Rpt. 1966.
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 = Íslenzk fornrit.
10. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
11. Hkr 1893-1901 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1893-1901. Heimskringla: Nóregs konunga sǫgur af Snorri Sturluson. 4 vols. SUGNL 23. Copenhagen: Møller.
12. Hkr 1991 = Bergljót S. Kristjánsdóttir et al., eds. 1991. Heimskringla. 3 vols. Reykjavík: Mál og menning.
13. 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.
14. Internal references
15. (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 25 April 2024)
16. Alison Finlay (ed.) 2012, ‘Bjarni gullbrárskáld Hallbjarnarson, Kálfsflokkr 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. 879.
17. Russell Poole (ed.) 2012, ‘Óláfr inn helgi Haraldsson, Lausavísur 6’ 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. 524.