Þsvart Lv 1^II

Vask í hirð með herði
hjǫrþeys í Orkneyjum;
réð folkstara fœðir
fyrr of vetr til styrjar.
Nú berum rǫnd með reyndum
raunsnarliga jarli
ǫrt á úrga vǫrtu
Akrsborg fríamorgin.

Vask í hirð með {herði {hjǫrþeys}} í Orkneyjum; {fœðir {folkstara}} réð fyrr of vetr til styrjar. Nú berum rǫnd raunsnarliga með reyndum jarli, ǫrt á úrga vǫrtu, Akrsborg, fríamorgin.

I was in the retinue with {the strengthener {of sword-wind}} [BATTLE > WARRIOR] in the Orkneys; {the feeder {of the fight-starling}} [RAVEN > WARRIOR] went to battle earlier in the winter. Now we [I] carry the shield very quickly with the tested jarl, bravely towards the wet gate, Acre, on a Friday morning.

Mss: R702ˣ(49v), Flat(140vb) (Orkn)

Readings: [1] Vask (‘Var ek’): ‘vard ek’ Flat;    í hirð: um hríð Flat;    með herði: ‘med herdín’ Flat    [2] ‑þeys: ‑þyss Flat;    Orkn‑: ‘ork’ Flat    [3] ‑stara: so Flat, ‘star’ R702ˣ    [4] fyrr: so Flat, firr R702ˣ;    of vetr: um nætr Flat    [6] raunsnarliga: so Flat, ‘rannsnarpliga’ R702ˣ    [7] úrga vǫrtu: so Flat, ‘viga po᷎rtu’ R702ˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 531, Skj BI, 512, Skald I, 251, NN §§806, 987, 1853E, 1875; Flat 1860-8, II, 486, Orkn 1913-16, 253, ÍF 34, 229-30 (ch. 88).

Context: On their way to the Holy Land in 1152, Jarl Rǫgnvaldr Kali Kolsson of Orkney and his companions sail to Crete and then on to Acre, where they put ashore on a Friday and enter the city with great pomp. Then Þorbjǫrn speaks this st.

Notes: [1-2]: The Flat reading of these ll. may conceivably be construed as varðk of hríð með herði hjǫrþyss í Orkneyjum ‘I was for a while with the strengthener of sword-tumult in the Orkneys’. However, þyss ‘tumult’, usually denoting uproar in a crowd of people, does not otherwise occur as a part of kennings (see LP: þyss), and the Flat version appears to be secondary. — [4] fyrr of vetr ‘earlier in the winter’: If this refers to a battle fought in Orkney, it is not clear which battle is meant, but if Þorbjǫrn recalls a battle that took place in the winter before they arrived in Acre, it could well be the battle fought by Rǫgnvaldr and his men in Galicia against the castellan Guðifreyr (see Orkn chs 86-7, ÍF 34, 212-18; see also Rv Lv 17-19, Sigm Lv 1). The Flat variant, fyrr of nætr ‘earlier in the nights’, is likely to be a scribal error. — [6] raunsnarliga ‘very quickly’: So Flat. In compounds, raun- functions as an intensifier (see Fritzner IV: raun). The R702ˣ reading, rann snarpliga ‘ran bravely’, does not make much sense in the context. Skj B construes the adv. with með reyndum jarli ‘with the tested jarl’ as með raunsnarliga reyndum jarli, translated as med den overmåde dygtig prøvede jarl ‘with the extremely capable, tested jarl’. However, the adv. snarliga means ‘quickly, fast’, and, as Kock points out (NN §§806, 987, 1853E), the two adverbs raunsnarliga ‘very quickly’ and ǫrt ‘bravely’ must be parallel here (so also ÍF 34). — [7] á úrga vǫrtu ‘towards the wet gate’: So Flat. The R702ˣ reading ‘a viga po᷎rtu’ cannot be construed to make any sense: á vígaport ‘towards the battle-gates’ is possible syntactically (port ‘gate’ is n.) but unmetrical. The meaning of varta (vǫrtu f. acc. sg.) ‘gate’, is debated (see the overview in Lidén 1928, as well as ÍF 28, 253 n. 3 and ÍF 34, 230 n. f). The word, which as a common noun means ‘wart’, is otherwise attested as a heiti for a part of a ship (Þul Skipa 8/6^III; see Note to Arn Hryn 4/6) and in the name Gullvarta, the Golden Gate (Lat. Aurea porta) in Constantinople (see MsonaHkr ch.12, ÍF 28, 252). Lidén (1928, 360-1) argues convincingly that varta was the Varangian version of Russian vorotá, voróta ‘gate’, and that Þorbjǫrn must have become acquainted with the word on the voyage in the Mediterranean. It is not immediately clear why Acre should be called ‘the wet gate’, but Þorbjǫrn is likely to have perceived this heavily fortified city, which was the most important port of the Crusaders, as the (wet) harbour gate to the Holy Land. — [8] Akrsborg ‘Acre’: Taken here as f. acc. sg. ((á) Akrsborg) and as a parallel construction to á vǫrtu ‘towards the gate’ (l. 7). Both Skj B and Skald emend to Akrsborgar (f. gen. sg. with ms. 762ˣ; see Introduction to Lv above), which they construe with úrga vǫrtu (‘the wet gate of Acre’). According to that interpretation (which has no support in the main ms. witnesses), fríamorgin ‘Friday morning’ is treated as a trisyllabic cpd (frjámorgin) rather than occupying four metrical positions (fríamorgin) (see ANG §134.2), which would be a very early example of such a contracted hiatus word. Finnbogi Guðmundsson (ÍF 34) retains the form Akrsborg, which he takes as a dat. sg. (poss. dat.). While that construction may not be impossible, it is unlikely, because poss. dat. usually occurs with body parts, pieces of clothing etc. (see NS §100 Anm. 3). Alternatively, Akrsborg could be taken as a (rare) locative dat. (‘in Acre’; cf. NS §117). For Akrsborg ‘Acre’, see also ESk Sigdr I 3/8 and Note.

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. 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. 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. NS = Nygaard, Marius. 1906. Norrøn syntax. Kristiania (Oslo): Aschehoug. Rpt. 1966.
9. ÍF 34 = Orkneyinga saga. Ed. Finnbogi Guðmundsson. 1965.
10. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
11. Fritzner IV = Hødnebø, Finn. 1972. Ordbog over det gamle norske sprog af Dr. Johan Fritzner: Rettelser og tillegg. Oslo, Bergen, Tromsø: Universitetsforlaget.
12. Orkn 1913-16 = Sigurður Nordal, ed. 1913-16. Orkneyinga saga. SUGNL 40. Copenhagen: Møller.
13. Lidén, Evald. 1928. ‘Gullvarta. – Síbilia’. In Brøndum-Nielsen et al. 1928, 358-64.
14. Internal references
15. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Orkneyinga 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=47> (accessed 24 April 2024)
16. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Skipa heiti 8’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 873.
17. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Arnórr jarlaskáld Þórðarson, Hrynhenda, Magnússdrápa 4’ 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. 187-9.
18. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Einarr Skúlason, Sigurðardrápa I 3’ 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. 540.
19. Judith Jesch (ed.) 2009, ‘Rǫgnvaldr jarl Kali Kolsson, Lausavísur 17’ 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. 595-6.
20. Judith Jesch (ed.) 2009, ‘Sigmundr ǫngull, Lausavísur 1’ 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. 626-7.