ÞjóðA Har 2^II

Slyngr laugardag lǫngu
lið-Baldr af sér tjaldi,
út þars ekkjur líta
orms súð ór bœ prúðar.
Vestr réð ór Nið næsta
nýri skeið at stýra
ungr, en árar drengja,
allvaldr, í sæ falla.

{Lið-Baldr} slyngr laugardag lǫngu tjaldi af sér, þars prúðar ekkjur líta súð orms út ór bœ. Ungr allvaldr réð at stýra næsta nýri skeið vestr ór Nið, en árar drengja falla í sæ.

{The troop-Baldr <god>} [RULER] throws, on a Saturday, the long awning off [lit. off himself], where fine women gaze at the side-planking of the serpent [dragon-ship], [looking] out from the town. The youthful overlord set about steering the brand-new longship west out of Nidelven (Nið), and the oars of the warriors plunge into the sea.

Mss: Kˣ(558r), F(48va), E(20v), J2ˣ(281r) (Hkr); 570a(24r) (HÍ); H(55r), Hr(40rb) (H-Hr)

Readings: [1] lǫngu: lǫgðu 570a    [3] út: ‘vtt’ 570a;    þars (‘þar er’): þá er H, Hr;    ekkjur: ‘eikíur’ Hr    [4] ór: í F, 570a, ‘ǫr’ H;    prúðar: ‘pruðǫm’ E    [5] ór: ǫr H;    næsta: ‘nę[…]ta’ 570a    [6] nýri: ‘nyrri’ 570a, H    [7] en (‘enn’): er H, Hr    [8] ‑valdr: ‘‑vallz’ 570a;    í: á J2ˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 381, Skj BI, 351, Skald I, 176, NN §§1141, 2033, 2831Bb; Hkr 1893-1901, III, 156, IV, 224, ÍF 28, 142, Hkr 1991, 651 (HSig ch. 60), F 1871, 226, E 1916, 72; HÍ 1952, 24; Fms 6, 309 (HSig ch. 76), Fms 12, 154.

Context: In Hkr and H-Hr, the st. follows st. 1, with the comment that Haraldr set sail down the river and (in Hkr) that the rowing was most careful (þar var vandaðr róðr mjǫk). HÍ has a similar context to Hkr.

Notes: [1, 2] slyngr lǫngu tjaldi af sér ‘throws the long awning off [lit. off himself]’: This tjald seems to be a cover running the length of the ship and used chiefly in harbour. Casting it off, as Jesch notes, is a signal for departure once the ship is in the water. She also notes the rarity of the motif, but compares Hhund I, 26/1-2 brá stýrir stafntioldum af ‘the captain smartly pulled the stem-covers off’ (Jesch 2001a, 173 and cf. p. 165; NK 134). — [3]: The l. recalls Sigvatr’s Út munu ekkjur líta ‘women will look out’ (Sigv Austv 12/1^I). — [5, 6] næsta nýri ‘brand-new’: Most eds, including this one, take the adv. næsta as an intensifier. Kock suggested ‘before, recently’ in NN §1141, then ‘next’ in §2033, 2831 (so also Fms 12). — [7] ungr ‘youthful’: As Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson remarks, Haraldr would have been about forty-five at this point (ÍF 28).

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. Jesch, Judith. 2001a. Ships and Men in the Late Viking Age: The Vocabulary of Runic Inscriptions and Skaldic Verse. Woodbridge: Boydell.
6. NK = Neckel, Gustav and Hans Kuhn (1899), eds. 1983. Edda: Die Lieder des Codex Regius nebst verwandten Denkmälern. 2 vols. I: Text. 5th edn. Heidelberg: Winter.
7. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
8. Hkr 1893-1901 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1893-1901. Heimskringla: Nóregs konunga sǫgur af Snorri Sturluson. 4 vols. SUGNL 23. Copenhagen: Møller.
9. Hkr 1991 = Bergljót S. Kristjánsdóttir et al., eds. 1991. Heimskringla. 3 vols. Reykjavík: Mál og menning.
10. F 1871 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1871. Fríssbók: Codex Frisianus. En samling af norske konge-sagaer. Christiania (Oslo): Malling.
11. E 1916 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1916. Eirspennill: AM 47 fol. Nóregs konunga sǫgur: Magnús góði – Hákon gamli. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske historiske kildeskriftskommission.
12. HÍ 1952 = Jón Helgason and Jakob Benediktsson, eds. 1952. Hákonar saga Ívarssonar. SUGNL 62. Copenhagen: Jørgensen.
13. Internal references
14. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Heimskringla’ 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=4> (accessed 24 April 2024)
15. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Hulda-Hrokkinskinna’ 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=84> (accessed 24 April 2024)
16. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Hákonar saga Ívarssonar’ 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=141> (accessed 24 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 24 April 2024)
18. R. D. Fulk (ed.) 2012, ‘Sigvatr Þórðarson, Austrfararvísur 12’ 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. 600.