Sigv Lv 20^I

Fúss læzk maðr, ef missir
meyjar faðms, at deyja;
-keypt es ôst, ef eptir,
of-, látinn skal gráta.
En fullhugi fellir
flóttstyggr, sás varð dróttin,
várt torrek lízk verra,
vígtôr, konungs ôrum.

Maðr læzk fúss at deyja, ef missir faðms meyjar; ôst es ofkeypt, ef skal gráta eptir látinn. En flóttstyggr fullhugi, sás varð dróttin, fellir vígtôr; torrek várt lízk verra ôrum konungs.

A man claims he is ready to die if he misses the embrace of a maiden; love is too dearly bought if one must weep for the departed. But the flight-shunning man full of courage who has lost his lord sheds slaying-tears; our grievous loss seems worse to the servants of the king.

Mss: Holm2(73v), 972ˣ(580va), 325VI(41rb), 321ˣ(278), 73aˣ(214r), Holm4(68vb-69ra), 61(129vb), 325V(88va), 325VII(41r), Bb(205rb), Flat(126vb), Tóm(160v) (ÓH); Kˣ(498v-499r), 39(13rb), F(38ra), J2ˣ(241v), E(4r) (Hkr)

Readings: [1] læzk: so Flat, Kˣ, lézk Holm2, 321ˣ, 73aˣ, Holm4, 325V, 325VII, Bb, Tóm, 39, F, J2ˣ, E, lét 325VI, 61;    ef: en 325VII, er Tóm, F;    missir: misti 325VII    [2] meyjar: þreyjar Tóm;    faðms: ‘famðs’ E;    deyja: dýja Tóm    [3] ‑keypt: geyst Bb;    ef: ok 325VI, om. 321ˣ, 61, Kˣ, enn 73aˣ, ⸜ef⸝ Holm4    [4] of‑: so all others, ‘ob‑’ Holm2;    látinn: ‑lati Holm2, ‑látinn 325VI, Holm4, 325VII, Flat, Tóm, 39, F, J2ˣ, ‘‑lan’ 321ˣ, látan 73aˣ, ‑látum 61, ‘latunn’ 325V, ‑látin Bb, Kˣ, E    [5] En: en ef 325V;    ‑hugi: so Kˣ, 39, ‑huginn Holm2, 972ˣ, 325VI, 321ˣ, 73aˣ, Holm4, 325V, 325VII, Bb, Flat, Tóm, F, J2ˣ, E, hugum 61    [6] flótt‑: fljótt‑ 325VI, Flat, 39, flot 61, flóð Tóm;    sás (‘sa er’): sá 325VI, 321ˣ;    varð: var 325VI, 73aˣ, Holm4, 325V, ann 61, Flat, Tóm, varr 325VII;    dróttin: dróttinn 325VI, 321ˣ, 73aˣ, Holm4, 61, 325VII, 39, J2ˣ, E, dróttar Bb, dróttni Flat, dróttni or dróttin Tóm    [7] várt: vár 325V, ‘var[…]’ 325VII;    torrek: ‘tor hrek’ 972ˣ, ‘torck’ 73aˣ, af rek 61, ‘[…]’ 325VII, ár rekk Flat, ár rek Tóm, ‘torreg’ F;    lízk: ‘lict’ 39;    verra: vera 321ˣ, 325V    [8] konungs: konung 61

Editions: Skj AI, 272, Skj BI, 251, Skald I, 130, NN §§679, 1120; Fms 5, 122-3, Fms 12, 107, ÓH 1853, 236, ÓH 1941, I, 618 (ch. 253), Flat 1860-8, II, 372; Hkr 1777-1826, III, 10-11, VI, 125, Hkr 1868, 521 (MGóð ch. 9), Hkr 1893-1901, III, 16-17, IV, 182-3, ÍF 28, 15, Hkr 1991, I, 565 (MGóð ch. 7), F 1871, 172, E 1916, 12; Konráð Gíslason 1892, 41, 187-8, Jón Skaptason 1983, 204, 325.

Context: In ÓH and Hkr, one day Sigvatr, while walking through a village, hears a man wailing about having lost his wife. The man beats his breast, tears his clothing, and weeps a great deal, saying he wishes to die. Then Sigvatr speaks this stanza. In Flat it is said that Sigvatr wept when he lost his king, and those who saw this said he was unmanly to react so to such news, and he must have little courage. He responds with this stanza.

Notes: [4] of- ‘too’: (a) The present interpretation assumes that of ‘too’ and keypt ‘bought’ (l. 3) form a cpd by tmesis (so also Skj B). (b) Kock (NN §679), objecting to this separation of elements, proposes that the word is actually an adverbial case-form of the noun óf ‘excess’, or that it should be gen. ófs, in either event producing the same meaning. (c) The eds of ÍF 28 and Hkr 1991, as well as Jón Skaptason (1983, 204), form with of a cpd oflátinn ‘the ostentatious person’, as in nearly all the mss, and take ef oflátinn skal eptir gráta to mean ‘if the ostentatious person must weep after (the death of his wife)’. Some such interpretation must lie behind the context offered by Snorri. But the use of the suffixed def. art. is not likely to be what Sigvatr intended, and omission of an object meaning ‘the departed one’ for eptir … gráta ‘weep after’ is awkward. In CVC: oflátinn the word is cited from Sigvatr with the meaning ‘much lamented’. — [7] torrek ‘grievous loss’: The word is rare: unique in the skaldic corpus, though attested in prose (see Fritzner: torrek) and in the title of Egill Skallagrímsson’s poem Sonatorrek (Egill St^V), in which he rails against the deaths of his sons. The prefix tor- implies ‘difficult’ (AEW: tor-). — [8] vígtôr ‘slaying-tears’: Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) takes the sense of the cpd to be ‘tears for the slain one’; Kock (NN §1120; 1929, 17) takes it to be ‘bitter tears’. In Flat it is said after this stanza, Uigtár kollum ver þat sagde Sighuatr er ver fellum vid slik tidende ‘“Slaying-tears” is what we call that,’ said Sigvatr, ‘which we shed at such news.’ A further possibility is some such sense as ‘battle tears’ or ‘warrior’s tears’ (as perhaps suggested by ÍF 28’s tár, sprottið af vígahug ‘tears springing from a warlike mood’), since the stanza establishes a contrast between what is perceived as a trivial and effete loss and manly grief for a lord.

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. AEW = Vries, Jan de. 1962. Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 2nd rev. edn. Rpt. 1977. Leiden: Brill.
7. CVC = Cleasby, Richard, Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and W. A. Craigie. 1957. An Icelandic-English Dictionary. 2nd edn. Oxford: Clarendon.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. 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.
11. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
12. Hkr 1893-1901 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1893-1901. Heimskringla: Nóregs konunga sǫgur af Snorri Sturluson. 4 vols. SUGNL 23. Copenhagen: Møller.
13. Hkr 1991 = Bergljót S. Kristjánsdóttir et al., eds. 1991. Heimskringla. 3 vols. Reykjavík: Mál og menning.
14. F 1871 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1871. Fríssbók: Codex Frisianus. En samling af norske konge-sagaer. Christiania (Oslo): Malling.
15. E 1916 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1916. Eirspennill: AM 47 fol. Nóregs konunga sǫgur: Magnús góði – Hákon gamli. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske historiske kildeskriftskommission.
16. 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.
17. Konráð Gíslason, ed. 1892a. Udvalg af oldnordiske skjaldekvad, med anmærkninger. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
18. Hkr 1777-1826 = Schöning, Gerhard et al., eds. 1777-1826. Heimskringla edr Noregs konunga-sögor. 6 vols. Copenhagen: Stein.
19. Hkr 1868 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1868. Heimskringla eller Norges kongesagaer af Snorre Sturlassøn. Christiania (Oslo): Brøgger & Christie.
20. ÓH 1853 = Munch, P. A. and C. R. Unger, eds. 1853. Saga Olafs konungs ens helga. Christiania (Oslo): Det kongelige norske Fredriks Universitet.
21. Internal references
22. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Heimskringla’ 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=4> (accessed 26 April 2024)
23. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Flateyjarbók’ 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=44> (accessed 26 April 2024)
24. Not published: do not cite (Egill^V)
25. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Óláfs saga helga’ 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=53> (accessed 26 April 2024)
26. (forthcoming), ‘ Heimskringla, Magnúss saga ins góða’ 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=116> (accessed 26 April 2024)
27. Margaret Clunies Ross (forthcoming), ‘ Egill Skallagrímsson, Sonatorrek’ in Margaret Clunies Ross, Kari Ellen Gade and Tarrin Wills (eds), Poetry in Sagas of Icelanders. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 5. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1166> (accessed 26 April 2024)