Þfisk Lv 1^II

Ófúsa drók ýsu;
áttak fang við lǫngu;
vannk of hǫfði hennar
hlǫmm; vas þat fyr skǫmmu.
Þó mank hitt, es hrotta
hafðak gulli vafðan;
dúðum dǫrr í blóði,
drengr; vas þat fyr lengra.

Drók ófúsa ýsu; áttak fang við lǫngu; vannk hlǫmm of hǫfði hennar; þat vas fyr skǫmmu. Þó mank hitt, es hafðak gulli vafðan hrotta; dúðum dǫrr í blóði, drengr; þat vas fyr lengra.

I pulled up the reluctant haddock; I wrestled with the ling; I exulted above its head; that was recently. Yet I recall when I owned the gold-wrapped sword; we shook spears in blood, warrior; that was longer ago.

Mss: Mork(17r) (Mork); Flat(202ra) (Flat); H(69v), Hr(50va) (H-Hr); F(54vb)

Readings: [1] Ófúsa drók: Fúss brák aldri F    [2] fang: fǫng Flat    [3] of: yfir Flat, af Hr    [4] vas þat fyr (‘var þat fyr’): en þat var Flat, Hr, F    [5] Þó mank hitt es hrotta (‘þo man ec hitt er hrotta’): ‘gíorr’ F;    es (‘er’): at Flat, H, Hr    [6] hafðak (‘hafða ek’): so all others, hǫfðum Mork    [7] dúðum: dúðisk Flat, dúði F    [8] drengr: drengs Flat, H, Hr

Editions: Skj AI, 400, Skj BI, 369, Skald I, 184; Mork 1867, 101, Mork 1928-32, 247, Andersson and Gade 2000, 252-3, 479 (MH); Flat 1860-8, III, 377 (MH); Fms 6, 385 (HSig ch. 108); F 1871, 255 (HSig).

Context: See Introduction above.

Notes: [1] ýsu ‘haddock’: A fish of the cod family (Melanogrammus aeglefinus). — [2] lǫngu ‘ling’: A fish of the cod family (Molva molva). — [5-8]: The second helmingr refers to Þorgils’s participation in the battle of Stiklestad. — [6] gulli vafðan ‘gold-wrapped’: Refers to a sword that was inlaid with gold, either with an adorned hilt or with inlaid patterns on the blade itself (see Falk 1914, 30-3). — [7] dǫrr (n. acc. pl.) ‘spears’: Skj B translates this as sværdene ‘the swords’. The word darr means ‘spear’ or ‘pennant’, but it is never used for ‘sword’ (see AEW: darr; Holtsmark 1939, 84-93; Note to Gísl Magnkv 12/8). — [8] drengr (m. nom. sg.) ‘warrior’: Drengr can mean ‘(young) man, (manly) man, warrior, servant’ (see Fritzner: drengr; LP: drengr; SnE 1998, II, 258; Goetting 2006). Because Þorgils is addressing King Haraldr, ‘warrior’ is chosen here. Skj B, which adopts the F variant dúði (3rd pers. sg. pret. indic.) ‘shook’ in l. 7 (so also Skald), has svenden ‘young man’ (i.e. Þorgils): drengr dúði dǫrr í blóði translated as svenden (jeg) rystede sværdene i blod ‘the young man (I) shook the swords in blood’. H and Hr read dúðum dǫrr í blóði drengs ‘we (I) shook the spears in the blood of the warrior’, which seems to be a syntactic simplification.

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. AEW = Vries, Jan de. 1962. Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 2nd rev. edn. Rpt. 1977. Leiden: Brill.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. Falk, Hjalmar, ed. 1914a. Sólarljóð. Videnskapsselskapets skrifter II. Hist.-filos. kl. 7. 2 vols. Kristiania (Oslo): Dybwad.
9. 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.
10. 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.
11. Mork 1928-32 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1928-32. Morkinskinna. SUGNL 53. Copenhagen: Jørgensen.
12. F 1871 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1871. Fríssbók: Codex Frisianus. En samling af norske konge-sagaer. Christiania (Oslo): Malling.
13. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
14. Goetting, Lauren. 2006. ‘Þegn and drengr in the Viking Age’. SS 78, 375-404.
15. Holtsmark, Anne. 1939. ‘Vefr Darraðar’. MM, 74-96.
16. 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.
17. Internal references
18. (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 18 April 2024)
19. (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 18 April 2024)
20. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Gísl Illugason, Erfikvæði about Magnús berfœttr 12’ 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. 424-5.