Þloft Glækv 4^I

Hafði sér
harðla ráðit
Haralds sonr
til himinríkis,
áðr seimbrjótr
at sætti varð.

{Sonr Haralds} hafði harðla ráðit sér til himinríkis, áðr {seimbrjótr} varð at sætti.

{The son of Haraldr} [= Óláfr] had powerfully taken himself to the heavenly kingdom, before {the treasure-breaker} [GENEROUS MAN] became a mediator.

Mss: Kˣ(486v-487r), 39(11ra) (Hkr); Holm2(71v), 61(128vb), 325V(86rb), 325VII(40r), Bb(203rb), Flat(127va), Tóm(159r) (ÓH)

Readings: [3] sonr: mǫgr 325VII, son Flat    [4] himin‑: himi‑ Flat, ‘hini’ Tóm    [5] seim‑: seimi Bb;    ‑brjótr: broti Tóm    [6] at: om. 325V;    sætti: setti Kˣ, 39, Bb, ‘set’ Holm2, sætu 61, Flat, Tóm, om. 325V, sæti 325VII;    varð: om. Holm2, varð Kristi þekkr konungr in œzti 61

Editions: Skj AI, 325, Skj BI, 300, Skald I, 153, NN §965; Hkr 1893-1901, II, 520, IV, 175, ÍF 27, 407 (ÓHHkr ch. 245); ÓH 1941, I, 603 (ch. 245), Flat 1860-8, II, 377; Magerøy 1948, 11, 17, 22.

Context: See Context to st. 2 above.

Notes: [All]: As it stands, this stanza has only six lines, and so it must be assumed that at least two lines have been lost at the end (so Skj B; Skald; Magerøy 1948; ÍF 27). Hence it must remain uncertain as to whether the clause beginning at l. 5 is grammatically complete, even though it can be construed as such (especially with emendation); moreover, the syntactic connection between sts 4 and 5 is unclear, especially in those mss which read svát ‘so that’ in st. 5/1. The stanza is completed in 61 with the lines Kristi þekkr | konungr inn œzti ‘the highest king, pleasing to Christ’, but the authority of this reading must be doubted. — [2] ráðit ‘taken’: The phrasal verb is ráða(sk) til ‘to move, decide to move’ (Fritzner: ráða 7; CVC: ráða B. 3). — [3] Haralds ‘of Haraldr’: Haraldr inn grenski ‘from Grenland’ Guðrøðarson. — [4] himinríkis ‘the heavenly kingdom’: See Note to st. 3/4 above. — [6] sætti ‘a mediator’: Given the incomplete state of the helmingr, no interpretation can be more than tentative. (a) Skj B’s reading (which would seem to assume the agent noun sættir ‘mediator, reconciler’) is adopted here (see also Hkr 1893-1901, IV). It ties in well with the theme of the poem (cf. st. 9, where Óláfr intercedes with God for the benefit of humans) and, although an emendation, makes sense of the ms. readings. (b) Other solutions have been proposed. LP: sætti suggests a n. noun sætti ‘(means) of reconciliation’ here, but also notes that the text is corrupt, and this lexeme is usually f. sátt/sætt (the idiom verða at sætt is recorded, e.g., in Gylf, SnE 2005, 23). (c) Kock (NN §965), linking up with his reading kykvasætr in st. 3/7, suggests the noun involved is sætr n. ‘seat, residence’ or sæti n. ‘seat’; Skald prints sætri. (d) ÍF 27 simply retains the Kˣ reading of setti, and assumes that the clause cannot be construed as it stands since the last two lines of the stanza are missing.

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. CVC = Cleasby, Richard, Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and W. A. Craigie. 1957. An Icelandic-English Dictionary. 2nd edn. Oxford: Clarendon.
7. 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.
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. ÓH 1941 = Johnsen, Oscar Albert and Jón Helgason, eds. 1941. Saga Óláfs konungs hins helga: Den store saga om Olav den hellige efter pergamenthåndskrift i Kungliga biblioteket i Stockholm nr. 2 4^to med varianter fra andre håndskrifter. 2 vols. Det norske historiske kildeskriftfond skrifter 53. Oslo: Dybwad.
10. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
11. Hkr 1893-1901 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1893-1901. Heimskringla: Nóregs konunga sǫgur af Snorri Sturluson. 4 vols. SUGNL 23. Copenhagen: Møller.
12. SnE 2005 = Snorri Sturluson. 2005. Edda: Prologue and Gylfaginning. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
13. Magerøy, Hallvard, ed. 1948. Glælognskviða av Toraren Lovtunge. Bidrag til nordisk filologi av stederende ved Universitet i Oslo 12. Oslo: Aschehoug.
14. Internal references
15. (forthcoming), ‘ Snorri Sturluson, Gylfaginning’ 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=113> (accessed 26 April 2024)
16. (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 26 April 2024)