Þstf Stuttdr 6^II

Varðir, Hǫrða
hvatr fylkir, at
grǫf góðra lof*
geti kviksettra.
Á skínn æva
Yggs fjǫldyggra
sól svangœli,
siklingr, an þik.

{Hvatr fylkir Hǫrða}, varðir, at grǫf góðra kviksettra geti lof*. Sól skínn æva á {fjǫldyggra {Yggs svan}gœli} an þik, siklingr.

{Swift ruler of the Hǫrðar} [NORWEGIAN KING = Sigurðr], may you ensure that the grave of the good holy ones obtains glory. The sun will never shine upon {a more virtuous pleaser {of Yggr’s <= Óðinn’s> swan}} [(lit. ‘Yggr’s swan-pleaser’) RAVEN/EAGLE > WARRIOR] than you, lord.

Mss: H(97r), Hr(65vb) (H-Hr)

Readings: [3] góðra: guðs H, góðu Hr;    lof*: lofs H, gulli Hr    [4] geti: skulut H, glaðr Hr;    kviksettra: ‘kviksattar’ H, ‘quiksættar’ Hr    [6] Yggs: so Hr, ‘ygs’ H

Editions: Skj AI, 490-1, Skj BI, 463, Skald I, 227, NN §§965, 3107; Fms 7, 92 (Msona ch. 10).

Context: In Palestine, Sigurðr gave treasures to the Holy Sepulchre and to other holy places.

Notes: [1-4]: One must resort to emendations in the first helmingr because the readings of both mss make little sense and are unmetrical as well. — [1] varðir (2nd pers. sg. pres. subj.) ‘may you ensure’: For this meaning of the verb, see Fritzner: varða 6-8. — [3] góðra (m. gen. pl.) ‘of the good’: In H, the l. (grǫf guðs lofs ‘the grave of God’s glory’) is hypometrical but has internal rhyme, whereas, in Hr, grǫf góðu golli ‘the grave with the good gold’ has three alliterative staves, lacks internal rhyme and is hypermetrical. — [4] geti ... kviksettra ‘obtain ... of the holy ones’: The H variant (skulut kviksattar ‘shall not [be] buried alive’) lacks both alliteration and internal rhyme, and the Hr reading (glaðr kviksættar ‘cheerful “quiksættar”’) lacks internal rhyme. The stem vowel in -settra (m. gen. pl.) is an -e-: kviksettr ‘holy one’ from setja ‘place’ (see ANG §513.2 and Note to l. 4 below). Because the metre of Stuttdr is in general very regular (with some internal rhymes and double alliterations lacking in the odd ll.), the first word in l. 4 must be a monosyllabic or a short-stemmed disyllabic word beginning with g- and containing the stem -et- or -ett-. Skj B suggests (at) grǫf golli lofs | glaðr kviksettra ‘[you gave] gold (to) the grave of holy ones, cheerful of glory’ (ll. 3-4), which still leaves l. 4 without internal rhyme. Kock (NN §965; Skald) emends ll. 3-4 to (at) grǫf golli lofs | glætt kviksæti ‘(at) the grave [you covered] the shining relics with gold of praise’. That reading presupposes a suppressed verb and an unattested word, kviksæti ‘relics’. In the present edn, at ‘that’ (l. 2) is taken as a conj. rather than as a prep., and skulut (3rd pers. pl. pres. indic.) ‘shall not’ (so H; glaðr m. nom. sg. ‘cheerful’; Hr) has been emended to geti (3rd pers. sg. pres. subj.) ‘obtain’. — [4] kviksettra ‘holy ones’: Lit. ‘those buried alive’. Fritzner: kyksettr glosses this as hellig efter Døden ‘holy after death’. The adj. is also found in Þloft Glækv 3/7^I, where it is used about S. Óláfr. In ÍF 27, 406-7 n., Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson explains the word as referring to the fact that Óláfr’s hair and nails reportedly continued to grow after he was dead and buried. In Sv, Sverrir Sigurðarson also uses the substantivised adj. in one of his speeches in the meaning ‘holy ones’ (see ÍF 30, 62 and n. 5). The prose texts offer no information about which ‘holy ones’ (saints, relics) Sigurðr bestowed gifts upon, but it could be that he visited the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron.

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. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
6. ANG = Noreen, Adolf. 1923. Altnordische Grammatik I: Altisländische und altnorwegische Grammatik (Laut- und Flexionslehre) unter Berücksichtigung des Urnordischen. 4th edn. Halle: Niemeyer. 1st edn. 1884. 5th unrev. edn. 1970. Tübingen: Niemeyer.
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. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
9. ÍF 30 = Sverris saga. Ed. Þorleifur Hauksson. 2007.
10. Internal references
11. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Sverris saga’ 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=2> (accessed 20 April 2024)
12. (forthcoming), ‘ Heimskringla, Magnússona saga’ 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=149> (accessed 20 April 2024)
13. Kari Ellen Gade 2009, ‘ Þórarinn stuttfeldr, Stuttfeldardrápa’ 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. 473-9. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1477> (accessed 20 April 2024)
14. Matthew Townend (ed.) 2012, ‘Þórarinn loftunga, Glælognskviða 3’ 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. 867.