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Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Tindr Hákdr 7I

Russell Poole (ed.) 2012, ‘Tindr Hallkelsson, Hákonardrápa 7’ 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. 350.

Tindr HallkelssonHákonardrápa
678

Saddi jarl, þars odda
ofþing saman gingu,
(vann Hanga vals hungri)
hrafna (byrgis nafni).
Morðskýja* varð mávi
Mistar gótt til vista
heiðins dóms at háða
hríð v markar síðu.

Jarl saddi hrafna, þars {ofþing odda} gingu saman; {nafni byrgis} vann hungri {vals Hanga}. Varð gótt til vista {mávi Mistar} v síðu {markar heiðins dóms} at háða {hríð {morðskýja*}}.

The jarl sated the ravens, where {the mighty assemblies of barbs} [BATTLES] came together; {the namesake of the protector} [= Hákon] overcame the hunger {of the falcon of Hangi <= Óðinn>} [RAVEN]. It became good for provisions {for the seagull of Mist <valkyrie>} [RAVEN/EAGLE] by the coast {of the forest of heathendom} [NORWAY] after {the storm {of killing-clouds}} [SHIELDS > BATTLE] [was] waged.

Mss: 510(62r) (Jvs)

Readings: [3] Hanga: hugða 510;    vals: valt 510    [4] hrafna: hranna 510    [5] ‑skýja*: ‘skyar’ 510;    mávi: mǫnnum 510    [8] hríð: ǫld 510;    v: vann 510

Editions: Skj AI, 146, Skj BI, 137, Skald I, 75, NN §434; Fms 11, 138, Fms 12, 239-40, SHI 11, 119-20, 125-6, Jvs 1879, 83-4.

Context: As for st. 4.

Notes: [1-4]: Some emendations in the helmingr are unavoidable, and the following are adopted: Hanga ‘of Hangi <= Óðinn>’ for hugða and vals ‘of the falcon’ for valt in l. 3; and hrafna ‘ravens’ for hranna in l. 4. These were originally proposed by Sveinbjörn Egilsson in Fms 12 and/or SHI 12. — [4] nafni byrgis ‘the namesake of the protector [= Hákon]’: Although the referent is unmistakable, the working of the allusion remains obscure. The noun nafni ‘namesake’ can be used to denote a person who shares a given name with another well-known figure, as with the two kings Óláfr (Sigv Berv 6/8II). In one instance the clue is instead given by the gen. of a nickname accompanying nafni: Hildr Lv 1/1 nafni Nefju ‘[Hrólfr], namesake of [Hrólfr] Nefja’. A relevant Byrgi(r) (whether given name or nickname) has yet to be identified, but if byrgi(r) is a nickname or common noun it is likely to mean ‘protector, protection, defence’ (cf. borg f. and byrgi n., both ‘fortress, stronghold’, and byrgja ‘to enclose’). Meanwhile, the most likely namesake for Hákon jarl would be his C10th predecessor King Hákon góði, and since heiðinn dómr ‘heathendom’ is pointedly referred to in l. 7 (see Note below), it is possible that the allusion is to Hákon (indeed both Hákons) as a protector of the ancestral religion (cf. ‘Ruler biographies’ in Introduction to this volume). Finnur Jónsson (1886b, 342; Skj B) proposed emendation to fylkis ‘of the leader, ruler’; a nafni fylkis would in his analysis be a jarl, i.e. Hákon, but this diverges from the skaldic usage of nafni noted above. — [5-8]: (a) The solution of Finnur Jónsson (partly based on conjectures by Sveinbjörn Egilsson) is adopted in this edn. Finnur (1886b, 343) emended ms. mǫnnum ‘to men’ to mávi (dat. sg.) ‘for the sea-gull’ in l. 5. For ms. vann in l. 8 he initially proposed fyr ‘before’ (1886b, 343) but later við ‘by’ (Skj B). He adopted Sveinbjörn Egilsson’s explanation of the phrase mǫrk heiðins dóms ‘forest-land of heathendom’ in ll. 7-8 and his emendation to hríð ‘storm’ in l. 8 (see Notes below). — [5, 7, 8] at háða hríð morðskýja* ‘after the storm of killing-clouds [SHIELDS > BATTLE] [was] waged’: Háða is f. acc. sg. p. p. from heyja ‘to perform, hold, wage’, hence lit. ‘after the waged battle’. For the construction of at + acc., cf. LP: 1. at B. — [7, 8] markar heiðins dóms ‘of the forest of heathendom [NORWAY]’: The basis of the kenning appears to be that the part of Norway controlled by Hákon jarl represented the strongest bastion of heathendom, in contradistinction to Denmark and the districts in Norway controlled by Denmark, where Christianity was assuming dominance (Fms 12; LP (1860): mörk 2; cf. Finnur Jónsson 1886b, 342). This attestation of heiðinn dómr, which is among the first in ON, seems to acknowledge paganism as a religion distinct from kristindómr ‘Christianity’, a loan from OE which is unrecorded before the early C11th (Abrams 1998, 111-12, 124). — [8] hríð ‘the storm’: This emendation of ms. ǫld is indicated by both metre and sense, and is generally accepted. Kock (NN §434) suggests taking hríð as the ókend heiti for ‘battle’, combining Mistar morðskýja ‘of the Mist <valkyrie> of killing-clouds’ in ll. 5, 6 to give sköldrustad valkyria ‘shield-equipped valkyrie’, and taking this as a determinant for mávi ‘seagull’, but this analysis is counter to skaldic usage, despite the further putative examples given in NN §2987H.

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. 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.
  7. LP (1860) = Sveinbjörn Egilsson, ed. 1860. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis. Copenhagen: Societas Regia antiquariorum septentrionalium.
  8. SHI = Sveinbjörn Egilsson, ed. 1828-46. Scripta historica islandorum de rebus gestis veterum borealium, latine reddita et apparatu critico instructa, curante Societate regia antiquariorum septentrionalium. 12 vols. Copenhagen: Popp etc. and London: John & Arthur Arch.
  9. Jvs 1879 = Petersens, Carl af, ed. 1879. Jómsvíkinga saga (efter Cod. AM. 510, 4:to) samt Jómsvíkinga drápa. Lund: Gleerup.
  10. Abrams, Lesley. 1998. ‘History and Archaeology: The Conversion of Scandinavia’. In Crawford 1998, 109-28.
  11. Finnur Jónsson. 1886b. ‘Bidrag til en rigtigere forståelse af Tindr Hallkelssons vers’. ÅNOH, 309-68.
  12. Internal references
  13. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2012, ‘Hildr Hrólfsdóttir nefju, Lausavísa 1’ 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. 139.
  14. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Sigvatr Þórðarson, Bersǫglisvísur 6’ 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. 17-18.
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