Sturl Hrafn 14^II

Herðu herferðir
hryggs í stórbygðir
víða vargfæðis
virðar geðstirðir.
Fekk inn fólkrakki
felli gunnspelli
öldum ósjaldan
Aleinn lífdvalar.

Geðstirðir virðar herðu herferðir víða í stórbygðir {hryggs vargfæðis}. Inn fólkrakki Aleinn fekk ósjaldan öldum {felli lífdvalar} gunnspelli.

The mind-strong men intensified military campaigns far and wide in the large settlements {of the gloomy wolf-feeder} [WARRIOR = Alexander]. The battle-brave Alan gave people not seldom {a slayer of life’s duration} [DEATH] by battle-destruction.

Mss: F(122vb), 304ˣ(362v), Flat(185vb) (Hák)

Readings: [6] felli: fellu 304ˣ, Flat;    ‑spelli: ‘‑spellur’ 304ˣ    [7] ósjaldan: so 304ˣ, Flat, ókaldan F    [8] Aleinn: alinn 304ˣ, Flat

Editions: Skj AII, 122-3, Skj BII, 130, Skald II, 70, NN §§1358, 2992D; F 1871, 576, Hák 1977-82, 200-1, Flat 1860-8, III, 224.

Context: One of Hákon’s allies, Alan, the brother of King Dugald of the Hebrides, marched through Scotland killing people, capturing more than a hundred head of cattle and doing the worst damage.

Notes: [5]: The l. echoes ÞTref Hrafn 2/1^V. — [6] felli (m. acc. sg.) ‘a slayer’: Lit. ‘feller’. So Konráð Gíslason (1895-7, I, 100-1) and Skj B. Kock (Skald; NN §§1358, 2992D) adopts the Flat variant fellu, which he interprets as an adj. fellu (n. dat. sg.) ‘terrible, unpleasant, bitter’ and connects with gunnspelli (‘by battle-destruction’; l. 6), translated as ‘battle-announcement’ (= hersaga, vígspjall). The problem with that interpretation is the absence of an ON adj. fellr ‘terrible, unpleasant, bitter’ (the Modern Scandinavian adj. that Kock adduces as an example, fæl, fel (‘terrible, unpleasant’, is derived from ON fæla) as well as a confusion between ON spell (n.) ‘destruction’ and spjall (n.) ‘destruction, announcement’. — [6] gunnspelli ‘by battle-destruction’: Hap. leg. — [7] ósjaldan (adv.) ‘not seldom’: So 304ˣ, Flat. Ókaldan (m. acc. sg.) ‘not a cold’ (so F) could be taken to mean that Alan and his men caused death by burning the Scottish settlements (qualifying felli (m. acc. sg.) ‘slayer’). — [8]: Note that the internal rhyme, falling on a short, penultimate syllable (-al- : -al-), is otherwise unattested in haðarlag. Also note that there is suspended resolution in the first lift, which is characteristic of málaháttr, the unrhymed prototype of haðarlag (see Sievers 1893, 73). — [8] lífdvalar (f. gen. sg.) ‘of life’s duration’: So Skj B. Hap. leg. Kock (NN §1358) takes this as an acc. pl., as an object of fekk ‘gave’ (l. 5), and he translates fekk … öldum lífdvalar as satte … stopp för männens liv ‘put … an end to men’s lives’. That translation is possible but untenable because of Kock’s misinterpretation of felli ‘slayer’ (see Note to felli ‘slayer’ (l. 6) above).

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. Sievers, Eduard. 1893. Altgermanische Metrik. Sammlung kurzer Grammatiken germanischer Dialekte. Ergänzungsreihe 2, ed. Wilhelm Braune. Halle: Niemeyer.
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. F 1871 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1871. Fríssbók: Codex Frisianus. En samling af norske konge-sagaer. Christiania (Oslo): Malling.
8. Hák 1977-82 = Mundt, Marina, ed. 1977. Hákonar saga Hákonarsonar etter Sth. 8 fol., AM 325VIII, 4° og AM 304, 4°. Oslo: Forlagsentralen. Suppl. by James E. Knirk, Rettelser til Hákonar saga Hákonarsonar etter Sth. 8 fol., AM 325VIII, 4° og AM 304, 4°. Norrøne tekster 2. Oslo: Norsk historisk kjeldeskrift-institutt, 1982.
9. Konráð Gíslason. 1895-7. Efterladte skrifter. 2 vols. I: Forelæsninger over oldnordiske skjaldekvad. II: Forelæsninger og videnskablige afhandlinger. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
10. Internal references
11. Judy Quinn (ed.) 2022, ‘Eyrbyggja saga 26 (Þormóðr Trefilsson, Hrafnsmál 2)’ 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. 456.