SnH Lv 1^II

Fœrðr sýndisk mér frændi
Frísa kyns í brynju;
gengr fyr hirð í hringum
hjalmfaldinn kurfaldi.
Flœrat eld í ári
úthlaupi vanr Túta;
sék á síðu leika
sverð rúghleifa skerði.

{Frændi kyns Frísa} sýndisk mér fœrðr í brynju; hjalmfaldinn kurfaldi gengr fyr hirð í hringum. Túta, vanr úthlaupi, flœrat eld í ári; sék sverð leika á síðu {skerði rúghleifa}.

{The kinsman of the Frisians’ clan} [= Túta] showed himself to me dressed in a coat of mail; the helmet-clad dwarf prances before the retinue in a ring-byrnie. Túta, accustomed to furtive raids, does not flee the kitchen-fire early; I see a sword dangling by the side {of the cleaver of rye-loaves} [MAN].

Mss: Mork(15v) (Mork); H(65v), Hr(47vb) (H-Hr); Flat(207ra) (Flat); 593b(30v), 563aˣ(11)

Readings: [1] sýndisk: ‘syneztt’ Flat, sýnisk 563aˣ    [2] kyns: ‘Eims’ 563aˣ    [3] fyr: so all others, með Mork;    hirð: kóng 563aˣ    [4] ‑faldinn: ‑fallinn 593b, ‑falldur 563aˣ;    kurfaldi: ‘kurualldi’ Flat, ‘kurvalldi’ 593b, ‘Burvalldj’ 563aˣ    [5] Flœrat: flýrat Hr, ‘hlyrar’ 593b;    eld í: ‘helldur i’ 593b, eldi 563aˣ    [6] úthlaupi vanr Túta: ‘uteigdur er Tute’ 563aˣ;    vanr: valr Hr    [8] sverð rúghleifa skerði: sverð ok hleifa skerði 563aˣ;    skerði: skerðir 593b

Editions: Skj AI, 388, Skj BI, 358, Skald I, 179, NN §3222; ÍF 9, 270-1 (Snegl ch. 4), Mork 1867, 94, Mork 1928-32, 236-7, Andersson and Gade 2000, 245, 479 (MH); Fms 6, 363 (HSig ch. 101); Flat 1860-8, III, 418 (Snegl).

Context: Halli responds to King Haraldr’s challenge to compose a st. about Túta, a Frisian dwarf, who on this occasion parades before the retinue wearing Haraldr’s byrnie and weapons.

Notes: [3] fyr ‘before’: The Mork variant með ‘among’ is possible but not supported by the other ms. witnesses. — [3] í hringum ‘in a ring-byrnie’: This was a byrnie made of iron rings that were joined together. Fragments of such armour have been found in Dan. graves (see Falk 1914, 175-6). Haraldr’s byrnie (called Emma) was so long that it reached down to the middle of his calves (see ÍF 28, 188), and Túta the dwarf would certainly have provided quite a sight wearing it. See also Note to Þham Magndr 3/8. — [5] flœrat (3rd pers. sg. pres. ind.) ‘does not flee’: The weak verb flœja is a secondary formation to the strong flýja ‘flee’ (see ANG §486 Anm. 2). — [5] eld ‘the kitchen-fire’: Lit. ‘the fire’. That kitchen-fire is meant, is implied by the derogatory kenning for ‘man’ in l. 8 (see Note to that l. below). — [5] í ári ‘early’: Kock (NN §3222) translates í ári as med det första ‘in a hurry’. However, ár (n.) means ‘early, in the beginning’ (it could also mean ‘year’), and given such phrases as at morgins ári, um morguninn í ár ‘early in the morning’ (see Fritzner: ár), Kock’s interpretation is tenuous. According to Konungs skuggsjá (Holm-Olsen 1983, 57) not hurrying to meet the king in the morning constituted a breach of courtly decorum: Þvi skalltþu oc vænia þec at þu vitia arla um morna konongs hærbærgis aðr en hann se upp staðenn oc vær þu þo þvæginn oc vaskaðr oc buinn allri a(t)giervi oc bið hans ínannd hærbærgi þar til er hann vil hafa upp staðet ‘You must also accustom yourself to visiting the king’s lodging early in the morning before he has got out of bed, and then you must be clean and washed and readied with all your gear. And wait for him close to his lodging until he has got out of bed’. — [8] skerði rúghleifa ‘the cleaver of rye-loaves [MAN]’: This is a derogatory term for ‘man’ modelled on such kennings as skerðir hringa ‘cleaver of rings’ i.e. ‘generous man’.

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. 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.
6. ANG = Noreen, Adolf. 1923. Altnordische Grammatik I: Altisländische und altnorwegische Grammatik (Laut- und Flexionslehre) unter Berücksichtigung des Urnordischen. 4th edn. Halle: Niemeyer. 1st edn. 1884. 5th unrev. edn. 1970. Tübingen: Niemeyer.
7. Falk, Hjalmar, ed. 1914a. Sólarljóð. Videnskapsselskapets skrifter II. Hist.-filos. kl. 7. 2 vols. Kristiania (Oslo): Dybwad.
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. Holm-Olsen, Ludvig, ed. 1983. Konungs skuggsiá. 2nd rev. edn. Norrøne tekster 1. Oslo: Norsk historisk kjeldeskrift-institutt.
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. ÍF 9 = Eyfirðinga sǫgur. Ed. Jónas Kristjánsson. 1956.
14. Mork 1867 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1867. Morkinskinna: Pergamentsbog fra første halvdel af det trettende aarhundrede. Indeholdende en af de ældste optegnelser af norske kongesagaer. Oslo: Bentzen.
15. Internal references
16. (forthcoming), ‘ Anonymous, Sneglu-Halla þáttr’ 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=57> (accessed 19 April 2024)
17. (forthcoming), ‘ Heimskringla, Haralds saga Sigurðssonar’ 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=142> (accessed 19 April 2024)
18. (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)
19. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Þorkell hamarskáld, Magnússdrápa 3’ 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, pp. 411-12.
20. Not published: do not cite ()