Sturl Hrafn 17^II

Sendi snarlynda
sverða blikskerðir
sveit inn sigrmæti
síð til brynhríðar.
Drap í dul greypa
drengja lof þengils,
drótt sá er dal-Gauta
dæmði hersæmða.

{Inn sigrmæti blikskerðir} sendi snarlynda sveit sverða síð til {brynhríðar}. Lof þengils drengja drap í greypa dul, sá er dæmði drótt {dal-Gauta} hersæmða.

{The victory-glorious gleam-diminisher} [GENEROUS MAN] finally sent a quick-witted company of swords to {the byrnie-storm} [BATTLE]. The ruler’s praise of the warriors was gravely misplaced, he who deemed the retinue {of the bow-Gautar <= Óðinn’s>} [WARRIORS] battle-famed.

Mss: F(123ra), 304ˣ(363v), Flat(185vb) (Hák)

Readings: [5] Drap í (‘drꜳpi’): so Flat, drap ina F, 304ˣ;    greypa: so Flat, miklu F, 304ˣ    [6] þengils: þengill 304ˣ    [7] dal‑Gauta: ‘dalm gamla’ 304ˣ    [8] ‑sæmða: sæmði Flat

Editions: Skj AII, 123, Skj BII, 130-1, Skald II, 70, NN §§1360, 1361, 1779C, 2992D; F 1871, 576, Hák 1977-82, 202, Flat 1860-8, III, 225.

Context: The Scots attacked those Norwegians who had been forced ashore in the storm. The Norwegians defended themselves behind a beached merchantman until Hákon could send men ashore to help them. Few fell, but many were wounded.

Notes: [2] blikskerðir ‘gleam-diminisher [GENEROUS MAN]’: So NN §1360. According to this interpretation, blik- ‘gleam-’ is taken to mean ‘gold’ (see also LP: blik 1). Skj B emends bryn- ‘the byrnie-’ (l. 4) to brims ‘of the surf’ and construes the gold-kenning blik brims ‘the gleam of the surf’. Sverða ‘of swords’ (l. 2) is then taken with hríðar ‘of the storm’ (l. 4) (til hríðar sverða ‘to the storm of swords’, i.e. ‘to the battle’). This construction forces a separation of the unstressed prep. til ‘to’ from its object hríðar ‘the storm’ which does not otherwise occur in poetry. A more plausible emendation would be to change blik- to brík-: sverða bríkskerðir ‘the diminisher of the plank of swords’, i.e. ‘the diminisher of the shield’ (‘warrior’). — [3] inn sigrmæti ‘the victory-glorious’: Hap. leg. — [5-8]: This helmingr is difficult to make sense of. The present edn mostly follows NN §1361. The ruler whose flattering opinion about his troops is misplaced is likely to be Alexander, king of the Scots. Alternatively it could refer to Hákon, since the Norw. troops were in trouble at this point. Skj B construes the half-st. as follows: herr drengja þengils, sás lof sæmði, dæmði dulgreypa drótt dal-Gauta drápi, translated as kongens mænds hær, han, hvem lovprisning hædrede, dömte den indbilske, grumme krigerskare til døden ‘the army of the king’s men, he, whom praise honoured, sentenced the conceited, cruel band of warriors to death’. In addition to the convoluted w. o., which is unprecedented in Hrafn, there is a violation of syntax because the finite verb in the main cl. (dæmði ‘sentenced’ (l. 8)) occurs further back than syntactic position 1 or 2. The F version of ll. 5-8 can be construed as follows: drótt drap ina dulmiklu drengja lofþengils, sá er dæmði dal-Gauta hersæmða ‘the retinue killed the highly conceited warriors of the praiseworthy ruler, he who deemed the bow-Gautar battle-famed’. Aside from the fact that this version has no support in the accompanying prose, l. 5 lacks internal rhyme. — [7] drótt (f. acc. sg.) ‘the retinue’: Kock (NN §1361) takes this with the first cl. of the helmingr: lof þengils drótt drengja ‘the ruler’s praise of the retinue of the warriors’. However, lof ‘praise’ in the sense ‘praise of sby’ is construed with the gen. and not with the acc. or dat. (see Fritzner: lof). — [7] sá er ‘he who’: We would have expected the dem. pron. in the gen. (þess) to agree with the antecendent þengils (m. gen. sg.) ‘the ruler’s’ (l. 6), but in poetry the dem. could also occur in the nom. as the subject of the rel. cl. (see NS §260). — [8] hersæmða ‘battle-famed’: Hap. leg. Not in LP (see Notes to ll. 5-8 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. LP = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1931. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis: Ordbog over det norsk-islandske skjaldesprog oprindelig forfattet af Sveinbjörn Egilsson. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Møller.
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. 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.
8. NS = Nygaard, Marius. 1906. Norrøn syntax. Kristiania (Oslo): Aschehoug. Rpt. 1966.
9. F 1871 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1871. Fríssbók: Codex Frisianus. En samling af norske konge-sagaer. Christiania (Oslo): Malling.
10. 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.
11. Internal references
12. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Hrafns saga Sveinbjarnarsonar in sérstaka’ in Guðrún Nordal (ed.), Poetry on Icelandic History. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 4. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=42> (accessed 19 April 2024)
13. Elena Gurevich 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Sverða heiti’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 789. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=3194> (accessed 19 April 2024)
14. Not published: do not cite ()