ÞSjár Frag 1^III

This stanza (ÞSjár Frag 1) is cited in mss R, Tˣ, W, U and A of Skm (SnE) and in mss papp10ˣ, 2368ˣ and 743ˣ of LaufE. It was copied from a LaufE ms. in RE 1665(Kk3), which has no independent value. The stanza describes a journey along the south-western coast of Norway, from the island of Bømlo near Stord and past Agder and Lista. The poet is given as Þórðr Sjáreksson in Tˣ, W, papp10ˣ and 743ˣ; R has ‘siarraks son’ corrected from ‘snarrars son’, A has Hallvarðr and 2368ˣ ‘Biareksson’. It has been suggested that the stanza originally belonged to Róðudrápa (ÞSjár Róðdr^I; see CPB II, 165, LH 1894-1901, I, 618, Fidjestøl 1982, 127 and SnE 1998, I, 199) and that it described Óláfr Haraldsson’s journey to Sweden in 1027 (cf. ÓHHkr ch. 144, ÍF 27, 267-9). In view of the lack of reference to any royal patron, that attribution is doubtful. Jón Sigurðsson (SnE 1848-87, III, 557-8) believed that the stanza depicted a sea-voyage south from Trondheim after Sveinn jarl Hákonarson’s attack on Óláfr Haraldsson and the subsequent burning of the town of Trondheim in 1014 (see ÞSjár Klœingr^I).

Sveggja lét fyr Siggju
sólborðs Goti norðan;
gustr skaut Gylfa rastar
Glaumi suðr fyr Aumar.
En slóð-Goti síðan
sæðings fyr skut bæði
— hestr óð lauks fyr Lista —
lagði Kǫrmt ok Agðir.

{Goti sólborðs} lét sveggja fyr norðan Siggju; gustr skaut {Glaumi {rastar Gylfa}} suðr fyr Aumar. En {{sæðings slóð}-Goti} lagði síðan bæði Kǫrmt ok Agðir fyr skut; {hestr lauks} óð fyr Lista.

{The Goti <horse> of the ship-plank} [SHIP] rocked north of Siggjo; the wind-gust pushed {the Glaumr <horse> {of Gylfi’s <sea-king’s> path}} [SEA > SHIP] south past Eime. And {the Goti <horse> {of the seagull’s track}} [(lit. ‘seagull’s track-Goti’) SEA > SHIP] then put both Karmøy and Agder behind the stern; {the horse of the mast} [SHIP] advanced past Lista.

Mss: R(35r), Tˣ(36v), W(80), U(34r) (ll. 1-6), A(12r) (SnE); papp10ˣ(51v), 2368ˣ(129), 743ˣ(96v-97r) (LaufE)

Readings: [1] Sveggja: ‘svegia’ Tˣ, Sveigja U;    fyr Siggju: ‘ec siglo’ Tˣ, fyr sygju U    [2] sólborðs: ‘solb[…]z’ W;    norðan: so W, U, A, papp10ˣ, 2368ˣ, 743ˣ, ‘noþan’ R, norðra Tˣ    [3] rastar: rastir A    [4] fyr: om. U;    Aumar: raumi U, raumar A, auman 2368ˣ    [5] síðan: ‘su[...]an’ W    [6] sæðings: ‘sæþins’ U;    skut: skaut A, papp10ˣ    [7] lauks: so all others, ‘lavgs’ R

Editions: Skj AI, 329, Skj BI, 303, .Skald I, 154; SnE 1848-87, I, 442, II, 331, 443, III, 87, SnE 1931, 156, SnE 1998, I, 74-5; LaufE 1979, 304, 393

Context: The stanza illustrates various kennings for ‘ship’ (SnE 1998, I, 75): Hér er skip kallat sólborðs hestr ok sær Gylfa land, sæðings slóð særinn ok hestr skipit ok enn lauks hestr ‘Here a ship is called the ship-plank’s horse and the sea Gylfi’s land, the sea the seagull’s track and a ship a horse, and, again, the mast’s horse’ (closely similar in LaufE).

Notes: [1] Siggju ‘Siggjo’: A mountain on the island of Bømlo, Sunnhordland, on the western coast of Norway. — [2] sólborðs ‘of the ship-plank’: Lit. ‘of the sun-board’. The meaning of this word is unclear (see SnE 1998, II, 398). Falk (1912, 19, 54) and Fritzner: sólborð list it as synonymous with sólbyrðingr ‘sun-board’, apparently a row of planks above the railing of the ship (to measure the height of the sun?). Lúðvík Kristjánsson (1982, 153-4) believed it to be a strake just above the surface of a ship floating without a cargo, or the second, third, or fourth plank from the top in the side of a ship. — [2] Goti ‘the Goti <horse>’: The horse that belonged to Gunnarr Gjúkason (see Anon Kálfv 4/7). See also l. 5 below. — [4] Glaumi ‘the Glaumr <horse>’: Glaumr was Atli Buðlason’s horse (see Anon Kálfv 4/3). — [4] Aumar (f. acc. pl.) ‘Eime’: An island with smaller surrounding islands northeast of Kvitsøy in Rogaland, on the western coast of Norway. — [7] Lista: The southern-most tip of Norway. — [8] Kǫrmt ‘Karmøy’: An island south of Haugesund in Sunnhordland. — [8] Agðir ‘Agder’: The districts of Vest-Agder and Aust-Agder in southern Norway west and east of Lista (see Note to l. 7 above), here most likely modern Vest-Agder.

References

1. Bibliography
2. SnE 1848-87 = Snorri Sturluson. 1848-87. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar: Edda Snorronis Sturlaei. Ed. Jón Sigurðsson et al. 3 vols. Copenhagen: Legatum Arnamagnaeanum. Rpt. Osnabrück: Zeller, 1966.
3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. LaufE 1979 = Faulkes, Anthony, ed. 1979. Edda Magnúsar Ólafssonar (Laufás Edda). RSÁM 13. Vol. I of Two Versions of Snorra Edda from the 17th Century. Reykjavík: Stofnun Árna Magnússonar, 1977-9.
5. Fidjestøl, Bjarne. 1982. Det norrøne fyrstediktet. Universitet i Bergen Nordisk institutts skriftserie 11. Øvre Ervik: Alvheim & Eide.
6. CPB = Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and F. York Powell, eds. 1883. Corpus poeticum boreale: The Poetry of the Old Northern Tongue from the Earliest Times to the Thirteenth Century. 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon. Rpt. 1965, New York: Russell & Russell.
7. Falk, Hjalmar. 1912. Altnordisches Seewesen. Wörter und Sachen 4. Heidelberg: Winter.
8. 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.
9. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
10. SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
11. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
12. LH 1894-1901 = Finnur Jónsson. 1894-1901. Den oldnorske og oldislandske litteraturs historie. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Gad.
13. Lúðvík Kristjánsson. 1982. Íslenzkir sjávarhættir II. Reykjavík: Bókaútgáfa menningarsjóðs.
14. Internal references
15. Edith Marold 2017, ‘Snorra Edda (Prologue, Gylfaginning, Skáldskaparmál)’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols [check printed volume for citation].
16. (forthcoming), ‘ Snorri Sturluson, Skáldskaparmál’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=112> (accessed 19 April 2024)
17. (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 19 April 2024)
18. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Kálfsvísa 4’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 668.
19. Kari Ellen Gade 2012, ‘ Þórðr Særeksson (Sjáreksson), Flokkr about Klœingr Brúsason’ 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. 241. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1418> (accessed 19 April 2024)
20. Kari Ellen Gade 2012, ‘ Þórðr Særeksson (Sjáreksson), Róðudrápa’ 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. 242. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1419> (accessed 19 April 2024)
21. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Þórðr Særeksson (Sjáreksson), Fragments 1’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 476.
22. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Laufás Edda’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=10928> (accessed 19 April 2024)