Valg Har 3^II

Bjartr sveimaði brími
(brutu víkingar fíkjum)
vísa styrks af virki
— varp sorg á mey — (borgar).

Bjartr brími styrks vísa sveimaði af virki; víkingar brutu borgar fíkjum; sorg varp á mey.

The bright fire of the strong leader surged from the rampart; vikings destroyed strongholds ferociously; grief afflicted the maiden.

Mss: Tˣ(40v), R(38v-39r), 761bˣ(401r), U(40v) (l. 1), A(13v), B(6r), 744ˣ(38v), C(8r) (SnE)

Readings: [1] Bjartr: so U, C, Bjart Tˣ, R, brátt A, Bratt B;    brími: so R, A, B, C, ‘bruni’ Tˣ, U    [2] brutu: brutusk A, B    [3] styrks: sterks B;    af: of A, ór B;    virki: verki C    [4] sorg á mey borgar: ‘[…]’ R;    á mey: á men 761bˣ, ‘[…]’ B

Editions: Skj AI, 391, Skj BI, 360, Skald I, 180, NN §1143; SnE 1848-87, I, 508-9, II, 355, 454, 537, 603, SnE 1931, 178, SnE 1998, I, 98.

Context: Brími is given in Skm as a heiti for ‘fire’.

Notes: [All]: The helmingr is difficult to interpret with any certainty, and the many variants show that the scribes and redactors tried to solve the problems in various ways. The last four words are missing in R because the top of 39r has been removed. ÁM’s copy of R in AM 761 b 4°ˣ (761bˣ) has also been consulted selectively for this helmingr. Because 761bˣ shows no lacuna, R was likely complete when it was copied by ÁM. — [2] víkingar ‘vikings’: For this term, see Note to Hskv Útdr 1/1, 4. — [2] fíkjum ‘ferociously’: For this adv., see also Bkrepp Magndr 5/1 and Mark Eirdr 6/2. — [3] af virki ‘from the rampart’: Virki (n. sg.) can mean both ‘rampart’ or ‘deeds’. Af virki ‘because of the deeds’ would give the following reading of ll. 1, 3: bjartr brími sveimaði af virki styrks vísa ‘the bright fire surged because of the deeds of the strong leader’. However, because of the strongholds (borgar) mentioned in l. 4, it is preferable to equate virki with ‘rampart’ rather than with ‘deeds’ here. Skj B adopts the A variant of ‘above’ and construes ll. 1-4 as follows (so also SnE 1998, I): Bjartr brími styrks vísa sveimaði of borgar virki; víkingar brutu fíkjum; sorg varp á mey ‘The bright fire of the strong leader surged over the ramparts of the stronghold; the vikings destroyed [them] ferociously; grief afflicted the maiden’. However, brjóta ‘break, destroy’ (l. 2) is regularly construed with an overt acc. object (see Fritzner: brjóta 1, 4; LP: brjóta 1-2). Styrks vísa ‘of the strong ruler’ could also modify víkingar ‘vikings’ (l. 2) (see SnE 1998, I, 218). Kock (NN §1143) takes af virki with brutu (víkingar brutu fíkjum af virki borgar styrks vísa ‘vikings broke off the rampart of the stronghold of the strong leader ferociously’), but brjóta af in that meaning is very rare (see Fritzner: brjóta af), and it is not clear who ‘the strong leader’ is. — [4] sorg varp á mey ‘grief afflicted the maiden’: AM 761bˣ has varp á men ‘afflicted the necklace [of the stronghold] (i.e. rampart (?))’, which makes little sense but likely represents the R reading. For the possible mistreatment of women by victorious vikings, see Note to ÞjóðA Magn 7/5, 6, st. 9 below, Grani Har 1/1, 4 and Hskv Útdr 5. — [4] borgar ‘strongholds’: Taken here as f. acc. pl. (see ANG §390.4), as the object of brutu (‘broke’). Skj B and Skald construe it as a gen. sg. with virki ‘rampart’ (virki borgar ‘the rampart of the stronghold’; see Note to l. 3 above).

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. SnE 1848-87 = Snorri Sturluson. 1848-87. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar: Edda Snorronis Sturlaei. Ed. Jón Sigurðsson et al. 3 vols. Copenhagen: Legatum Arnamagnaeanum. Rpt. Osnabrück: Zeller, 1966.
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. 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.
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. SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
10. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
11. Internal references
12. (forthcoming), ‘ Snorri Sturluson, Skáldskaparmál’ 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=112> (accessed 16 April 2024)
13. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Bjǫrn krepphendi, Magnússdrápa 5’ 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. 399-400.
14. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Grani skáld, Poem about Haraldr harðráði 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. 296-7.
15. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Halldórr skvaldri, Útfarardrápa 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. 484-5.
16. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Halldórr skvaldri, Útfarardrápa 5’ 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. 487-8.
17. Jayne Carroll (ed.) 2009, ‘Markús Skeggjason, Eiríksdrápa 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. 438-9.
18. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Þjóðólfr Arnórsson, Stanzas about Magnús Óláfsson in Danaveldi 7’ 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. 94-6.