FriðÞ Lv 4^VIII (Frið 4)

Þat var forðum         á Framnesi;
rera ek opt á tal         við Ingibjörgu.
Nú skal ek sigla         í svölu veðri,
láta létt und mér         lögdýr bruna.

Þat var forðum á Framnesi; ek rera opt á tal við Ingibjörgu. Nú skal ek sigla í svölu veðri, láta {lögdýr} bruna létt und mér.

It was long ago at Framnes; I often rowed to have conversation with Ingibjǫrg. Now I must sail in the cold storm, make {the sea-animal} [SHIP] speed easily beneath me.

Mss: 510(93r), 568ˣ(100r), 27ˣ(134v), papp17ˣ(358v), 109a IIˣ(146v), 1006ˣ(582-583), 173ˣ(84r) (Frið)

Readings: [1] forðum: fyrri papp17ˣ, 109a IIˣ, fyrr 1006ˣ, 173ˣ    [2] á Framnesi: ‘a fra[…]’ 568ˣ    [3] rera ek opt: ‘[…]’ 568ˣ, rædda ek oft 27ˣ, at reri ek papp17ˣ, 109a IIˣ, 1006ˣ, 173ˣ;    á tal: ‘[…] vit’ 568ˣ, á vit papp17ˣ, 1006ˣ, 173ˣ, á 109a IIˣ    [4] við Ingibjörgu: Ingibjargar 568ˣ    [5] ek: om. 568ˣ, papp17ˣ, 109a IIˣ, 1006ˣ, 173ˣ    [6] svölu: svöl‑ papp17ˣ, 109a IIˣ, 1006ˣ    [7] láta: so all others, ok láta 510;    und mér (‘under mier’): ‘u[…]’ 568ˣ, undan papp17ˣ, 109a IIˣ, 1006ˣ, 173ˣ    [8] lög‑: ‘[…]’ 568ˣ, lang papp17ˣ, 109a IIˣ, 1006ˣ, 173ˣ;    bruna: ‘[…]runa’ 568ˣ, hlaupa papp17ˣ, 109a IIˣ, 1006ˣ, 173ˣ

Editions: Skj AII, 269-70, Skj BII, 292, Skald II, 154; Falk 1890, 72, Frið 1893, 12, 43, 70, Frið 1901, 16-17, Frið 1914, 11-12; Edd. Min. 98.

Context: Shortly after a lull in the storm, the wind begins to freshen and Friðþjófr speaks this stanza.

Notes: [All]: This is the first stanza in the A redaction of Frið and the fourth in the B redaction, the first to appear in both redactions. Larsson (Frið 1901, xiv) detected a similarity with Friðþjófs rímur III, 12-13, but it is not very close. The stanza contrasts Friðþjófr’s previously happy life courting Ingibjörg and his present privations at sea. The metre is fornyrðislag, although l. 4 is in málaháttr. Clear differences between the two redactions are apparent in ll. 1, 2, 3, 6, 7 and 8 (cf. Wenz’s discussion in Frið 1914, lxxiii). — [2] á Framnesi ‘at Framnes’: In the A redaction, this p. n. is not mentioned in the prose text, but only in this stanza and Frið 25/2. In the B redaction, Framnes is named in the prose of the saga’s first chapter (Frið 1901, 2) as the farm of Þorsteinn, Friðþjófr’s father, which lay on the opposite side of Sognefjorden from King Beli’s dwelling. — [3-4] ek rera opt á tal við Ingibjörgu ‘I often rowed to have conversation with Ingibjǫrg’: This is the reading of 510. There is a considerable variation in the ms. readings of these two lines, with the B recension mss favouring rera ek opt á vit ‘I often rowed to pay a visit’ in l. 3, followed by við Ingibjörgu ‘to Ingibjǫrg’ in l. 4. Ms. 568ˣ alone has the gen. Ingibjargar, which has been adopted by Edd. Min., Skj B and Skald, though the many lacunae in this ms. at this point make it difficult to recover the reading of l. 3, except that the word before Ingibjargar was vit. It may be that scribes confused á vit ‘on a visit’ which usually takes the gen. of the person or place visited, with the prep. við ‘with, towards’. There also seems to have been some confusion about the main verb of l. 3, as between rera ek ‘I rowed’ and rædda ek ‘I spoke’ (so 27ˣ), which was then reflected in the variation between á vit ‘on a visit’ and á tal ‘for conversation’. — [8] lögdýr ‘the sea-animal [SHIP]’: The reading of 510 and 27ˣ, 568ˣ having a lacuna. A regular ship-kenning with an animal name as base-word, cf. Meissner 208-12. The B redaction mss all have langdýr ‘long animal’, an inferior reading probably affected by the cpd langskip ‘longship’; the second element -dýr ‘animal’, present in all mss except 568ˣ, signals a ship-kenning, however. The B mss also read hlaupa ‘leap, jump’, a verb that fits the metaphorical sense of the ship as an animal, but is the lectio facilior by comparison with the A mss’ bruna ‘speed, rush’. Lögdýr could be sg. or pl.: Skj B treats it as pl., but the speaker, Friðþjófr, is talking about his own actions sailing his own ship, Elliði, hence the sg. translation here. The saga prose does not state that Friðþjófr commanded more than one ship.

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. Meissner = Meissner, Rudolf. 1921. Die Kenningar der Skalden: Ein Beitrag zur skaldischen Poetik. Rheinische Beiträge und Hülfsbücher zur germanischen Philologie und Volkskunde 1. Bonn and Leipzig: Schroeder. Rpt. 1984. Hildesheim etc.: Olms.
5. Frið 1893 = Larsson, Ludvig, ed. 1893b. Sagan ock rimorna om Friðþiófr hinn frækni. SUGNL 22. Copenhagen: Malmström.
6. Frið 1901 = Larsson, Ludvig, ed. 1901. Friðþjófs saga ins frœkna. ASB 9. Halle: Niemeyer.
7. Frið 1914 = Wenz, Gustaf, ed. 1914. Die Friðþjófssaga in ihrer Überlieferung untersucht und der ältesten Fassung kritisch herausgegeben. Halle: Niemeyer.
8. Falk, Hjalmar. 1890. ‘Om Friðþjófs saga’. ANF 6, 60-102.
9. Internal references
10. 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Friðþjófs saga ins frœkna’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 190. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=8> (accessed 19 April 2024)
11. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Friðþjófs saga ins frœkna 25 (Friðþjófr Þorsteinsson, Lausavísur 19)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 223.