Þloft Tøgdr 4^I

Ok fyr fornan
friðmenn liðu
haug Hjǫrnagla
hvasst griðfastir.
Þás stóð fyr Stað
stafnklifs drifu,
vasa eyðilig
ǫrbeiðis fǫr.

Ok griðfastir friðmenn liðu hvasst fyr fornan haug Hjǫrnagla. Þás {stóð {stafnklifs}} drifu fyr Stað, vasa fǫr {ǫrbeiðis} eyðilig.

And the protection-secure men of peace travelled keenly past the ancient mound of Tjernagel. When {the stud-horses {of the prow-cliff}} [SEA > SHIPS] sped past Stad, the journey {of the arrow-demander} [WARRIOR] was not wasted.

Mss: Kˣ(428r-v) (Hkr); Holm2(57r), Bæb(2va), 68(56v), Holm4(54va), 61(115vb), 325V(67va), 325VII(31r), 325XI 2 g(3rb), Flat(118va), Tóm(145v) (ÓH); DG8(96r) (ÓHLeg); FskAˣ(180-181) (Fsk)

Readings: [1] Ok: enn FskAˣ;    fornan: norðan 68, ‘for(an)’(?) Tóm    [3] Hjǫrnagla: ‘hiarn æla’ 325VII;    Hjǫr‑: ‘hꜹr‑’ Holm2, ‘hrór‑’ Bæb, ‘hiar‑’ Holm4, 61, ‘biar‑’ Flat, Tóm    [4] hvasst: haust 61, ‘h[…]’ 325XI 2 g, ‘hafuazst’ Flat, hraust FskAˣ;    grið‑: ‘gid’ Tóm    [5] Þás (‘þa er’): so Holm4, 61, 325V, 325VII, Flat, Tóm, DG8, FskAˣ, þar er Kˣ, Holm2, Bæb, 68, 325XI 2 g;    stóð: stór Bæb, Holm4, 61, 325V, 325VII, Flat, FskAˣ    [6] ‑klifs: klif Holm4, 61, 325V, Flat, Tóm, DG8, FskAˣ, ‘skrif’ 325VII, ‘kvig[…]’ 325XI 2 g    [7] vasa (‘vara’): ‘varað’ 325VII, varð FskAˣ;    eyðilig: ‘eyþiðig’ 325V, ‘æðeleg’ 325VII, œgilig FskAˣ    [8] ǫrbeiðis: ‘audbeydir’ 61, ‘aurbelldis’ Tóm

Editions: Skj AI, 323, Skj BI, 299, Skald I, 152, NN §1129; Hkr 1893-1901, II, 398, IV, 153, ÍF 27, 309 (ÓHHkr ch. 172); ÓH 1941, I, 475 (ch. 166), Flat 1860-8, II, 306; ÓHLeg 1922, 72, ÓHLeg 1982, 168-71; Fsk 1902-3, 172-3 (ch. 28), ÍF 29, 193 (ch. 33).

Context: See Context to st. 1 above.

Notes: [All]: The relationship between the two helmingar is problematic. The most normal configuration would be that the clause beginning at l. 5 þás ‘when’ (variant þars ‘where’) is subordinate to the clause in ll. 1-4, i.e. the main clause precedes the subordinate clause. However, this produces the meaning that the ships travelled past Tjernagel, when/where they sped past Stad, which cannot be the case since Stad is some 200 kilometres north of Tjernagel. The clause in ll. 5-6 must therefore be subordinate to the following clause (ll. 7-8), although that is not the standard configuration (see Kuhn 1983, 190). — [3] haug Hjǫrnagla ‘mound of Tjernagel’: Tjernagel is in southern Hordaland. As LP: haugr notes, haugr ‘mound’ in skaldic poetry can either indicate a natural hill or a man-made one (i.e. a grave-mound), and it is often unclear which is intended. The use of the adj. forn ‘old’ here may possibly suggest that the haugr Hjǫrnagla was (or was believed to be) man-made. — [4] griðfastir friðmenn ‘the protection-secure men of peace’: Grið n. normally means ‘truce, protection, quarter’ on a more individual basis than friðr f. ‘peace’ (on the two terms in OE and ON, see Fell 1982-3). The reference here could be to the Danes’ situation as former enemies of Norway: they keep their promises of truce (cf., e.g., heitfastr, eiðfastr ‘oath-firm, true to one’s oath’) and bring protection to Norway. Alternatively, the emphasis may be on the way in which Knútr’s followers enjoy the protection, friendship and peace conferred on his household and supporters (cf. LP: griðfastr; ÍF 27; IF 29). — [5] Stað ‘Stad’: This is on the prominent peninsula Stadlandet in modern Sogn og Fjordane, at the border with Møre og Romsdal. It is also mentioned in Ólhelg Lv 4/2, Anon Liðs 9/8. — [7] eyðilig ‘wasted’: The adj. has the sense ‘empty, desolate’, and hence in this context could mean either ‘wasted, without purpose’ or ‘lacking in splendour’; cf. the related auðligr in Arn Hardr 13/2^II (eigi varð) auðligr ‘(was not) unadorned’ and Note ad loc. for discussion of possible meanings. A further possibility here is that the journey was not ‘destructive’ (see Fritzner: eyðiligr 2), particularly if the sense of griðfastir (l. 4, see Note) is that the Danes bring protection. — [8] fǫr ǫrbeiðis ‘the journey of the arrow-demander [WARRIOR]’: This interpretation is most consonant with skaldic style (so also Skj B; LP: 2. ǫrbeiðir; ÍF 27; ÍF 29; ÓHLeg 1982). Kock (NN §1129C) suggests that ǫrbeiðir here has the same meaning as in st. 2/2, with ǫr from adj. ǫrr ‘eager’, and that what Knútr is the ‘eager desirer’ of is the stóð stafnklifs ‘stud-horses of the prow-cliff [SEA > SHIPS]’ of ll. 5-6, even though (as he points out) the two phrases are not in a direct grammatical relationship.

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. 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.
9. ÓHLeg 1982 = Heinrichs, Anne et al., eds and trans. 1982. Olafs saga hins helga: Die ‘Legendarische Saga’ über Olaf den Heiligen (Hs. Delagard. saml. nr. 8^II). Heidelberg: Winter.
10. Kuhn, Hans (1899). 1983. Das Dróttkvætt. Heidelberg: Winter.
11. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
12. Hkr 1893-1901 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1893-1901. Heimskringla: Nóregs konunga sǫgur af Snorri Sturluson. 4 vols. SUGNL 23. Copenhagen: Møller.
13. Fsk 1902-3 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1902-3. Fagrskinna: Nóregs kononga tal. SUGNL 30. Copenhagen: Møller.
14. ÍF 29 = Ágrip af Nóregskonunga sǫgum; Fagrskinna—Nóregs konungatal. Ed. Bjarni Einarsson. 1985.
15. ÓHLeg 1922 = Johnsen, Oscar Albert, ed. 1922. Olafs saga hins helga efter pergamenthåndskrift i Uppsala Universitetsbibliotek, Delagardieske samling nr. 8^II. Det norske historiske kildeskriftfond skrifter 47. Kristiania (Oslo): Dybwad.
16. Fell, Christine E. 1982-3. ‘Unfrið: An Approach to a Definition’. SBVS 21, 85-100.
17. Internal references
18. (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 25 April 2024)
19. Russell Poole (ed.) 2012, ‘Anonymous Poems, Liðsmannaflokkr 9’ 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. 1027.
20. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Arnórr jarlaskáld Þórðarson, Haraldsdrápa 13’ 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. 274-5.
21. Russell Poole (ed.) 2012, ‘Óláfr inn helgi Haraldsson, Lausavísur 4’ 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. 521.