Anon Mhkv 20^III

Ástblindir ’ró seggir svá
sumir, at þykkja mjǫk fás gá;
þannig verðr of mansǫng mælt;
marga hefr þat hyggna tælt.
Ekki var þat forðum farald;
Finnan gat þó œrðan Harald;
hánum þótti sólbjǫrt sú;
slíks dœmi verðr mǫrgum nú.

Sumir seggir ’ró svá ástblindir, at þykkja gá mjǫk fás; þannig verðr mælt of mansǫng; þat hefr tælt marga hyggna. Ekki var þat farald forðum; Finnan gat þó Harald œrðan; hánum þótti sú sólbjǫrt; mǫrgum verðr nú dœmi slíks.

Some men are so blinded by love that they seem to heed very little; so it is said about a love-song; it has entrapped many wise men. It wasn’t a malady in the old days; still, the Saami girl drove Haraldr out of his mind; to him she seemed bright as the sun; instances of such happen to many now.

Mss: R(55r)

Readings: [5, 6, 7, 8] Ekki var þat forðum farald Finnan gat þó œrðan Harald hánum þótti sólbjǫrt sú slíks dœmi verðr mǫrgum nú: abbrev. as ‘Ecki varþ a. f. f. f.’ R

Editions: Skj AII, 134, Skj BII, 143, Skald II, 76; Möbius 1874, 9, Wisén 1886-9, I, 75.

Notes: [1-4]: The opening couplet employs a rare enjambement (one of two in the poem), as if imitative of the speaker’s ‘heedlessness’ and distraction. On such lovesickness, see Anon Sól 10-14^VII, especially st. 12/1^VII hvárskis þeir gáðu ‘they paid no heed to anything’; the mental confusion of men in love is also described in Hávm 93-7, 114. See also Note to st. 11/5 above. — [1] ástblindir ‘blinded by love’: Lit. ‘love-blind’: Hap. leg. — [1] ’ró ‘are’: For this short form of the verb (usually eru), which is required by the metre here, see ANG §§122 Anm. 2, 158 Anm. 2 and 532.3 Anm. 1. — [3] mansǫng ‘a love-song’: As a neutral designation, the word occurs in skaldic verse only here and in Bjbp Jóms 42/4^I. Gylf  (SnE 2005, 25) reports that Freyja was fond of mansǫngr, and in Egils saga (Eg ch. 56, ÍF 2, 149) a character refers to a lausavísa as a mansǫngr. The final medieval prose instance – Tristrams saga ok Ísǫndar (Kölbing 1878-82, 83) – associates mansǫngvar with love longing and music, as does the later mansǫngur or opening ‘love-complaint’ of rímur poetry. See Marold (2007, 256-7). — [5-8]: The words of the refrain are abbreviated in the ms. and the full text is here supplied from st. 11/5-8.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
3. 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.
4. Wisén, Theodor, ed. 1886-9. Carmina Norrœnæ: Ex reliquiis vetustioris norrœnæ poësis selecta, recognita, commentariis et glossario instructa. 2 vols. Lund: Ohlsson.
5. ÍF 2 = Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar. Ed. Sigurður Nordal. 1933.
6. SnE 2005 = Snorri Sturluson. 2005. Edda: Prologue and Gylfaginning. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
7. Marold, Edith. 2007. ‘Mansǫngr – A Phantom Genre?’. In Quinn et al. 2007, 239-62.
8. Möbius, Theodor. 1874. ‘Malshatta-kvædi’. ZDP Ergänzungsband, 3-73, 615-16.
9. Kölbing, Eugen, ed. and trans. 1878-82. Tristrams saga ok Ísǫndar. 2 vols. Heilbronn: Gebr. Henninger.
10. Internal references
11. 2022, ‘ Anonymous, Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar’ in Margaret Clunies Ross, Kari Ellen Gade and Tarrin Wills (eds), Poetry in Sagas of Icelanders. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 5. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 162-389. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=14> (accessed 24 April 2024)
12. (forthcoming), ‘ Snorri Sturluson, Gylfaginning’ 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=113> (accessed 24 April 2024)
13. Carolyne Larrington and Peter Robinson (eds) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Sólarljóð 10’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 302.
14. Emily Lethbridge (ed.) 2012, ‘Bjarni byskup Kolbeinsson, Jómsvíkingadrápa 42’ 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. 995.
15. Not published: do not cite ()