Anon Hafl 1^III

Rístu nú, Fála,        farðu í búð hinig;
        þó es málsgengi mikit.

Rístu nú Fála, farðu í búð hinig; þó es mikit málsgengi.

Get up now, Fála, go over there to the booth; there is nonetheless great support for the case.

Mss: A(4v), W(103) (TGT)

Readings: [1] nú: tví‑ W    [2] búð: so W, byggð A    [3] þó es málsgengi (‘þo ær malsgængi’): þú est málfengi W

Editions: Skj AI, 590, Skj BI, 590, Skald I, 288; SnE 1818, 315, SnE 1848, 185, SnE 1848-87, II, 116-17, 410, III, 141, TGT 1884, 17, 77, 185-6, TGT 1927, 52, 95-6.

Context: Óláfr cites this half-stanza as an example of soloecismus involving a change of gender (kynja skipti; TGT 1927, 62): Hér er hvárginligt kyn sett fyrir karlmannligu kyni ‘Here the neuter gender is used instead of the masculine gender’. The only word treated as n. in the fragment is málsgengi ‘support for the case’ (A) or málfengi ‘chatterbox’ (W), but both would be n. in any case, making it unclear what constitutes the solecism here.

Notes: [All]: Ms. W’s reading for the whole fragment differs considerably from the above:

Ristu, tvífála,      farðu í búð hinnig;
      þú est málfengi mikit.

‘Rise, double(?)-slut, go over there to the booth; you are a great chatterbox’. Ms. A’s reading fits better with the context suggested by the poem’s title. — [1] Fála: The title of the poem and the name Fála here connect it with an episode in Stu. A Hallr Fáluson appears in connection with the legal conflict between Hafliði Másson and Þorgils Oddason (Stu 1878, I, 24-5), and Björn Magnússon Ólsen suggests that he is the person referred to here. However it seems more likely that Fála was Hallr’s mother. Fála occurs as a word for ‘axe’ or ‘giantess’ (LP: fála; cf. Þul Øxar l. 6 and Note to ll. 4, 6 as well as Þul Trollkvenna 3/2), and also perhaps for ‘disreputable woman, slut’ (cf. CVC: fála and supplement). Sveinbjörn Egilsson (SnE 1848-87, III, 141) and Finnur Jónsson (TGT 1927, 96) both considered that an axe was being addressed here. In the episode in Stu, Þorgils and Hafliði have axes, and Þorgils chops off Hafliði’s finger. Ms. W’s tvífála seems to be an error. — [2] búð ‘the booth’: Ms. A’s reading byggð ‘abode, habitation, settlement’ is possible, but búð gives better sense if this refers to an episode that takes place at the alþingi. — [3] málsgengi ‘support for the case’: Both readings málfengi (W) and málsgengi (A) are hap. leg.; further, the second elements of both these compounds are both normally n., which does not explain Óláfr’s comment on the change of gender. Sveinbjörn Egilsson (LP (1860): málfengi) translates the former as dubium, forte loquacitas, garrulitas ‘uncertain, perhaps verbosity, talkativeness’, and suggests (loc. cit.) that málsgengi in A was used for m. *málsgangr ‘progress of the case’, clarifying Óláfr’s comment about the change of gender. Björn Magnússon Ólsen (TGT 1884, 185) argued against this, giving instead the interpretation of málsgengi adopted in the present edn, procesfølge ‘support for the case’. Finnur Jónsson preferred W’s málfengi, suggesting the skald substituted the n. -fengi for the m. -fengr ‘advantage, benefit’.

References

1. Bibliography
2. TGT 1884 = Björn Magnússon Ólsen, ed. 1884. Den tredje og fjærde grammatiske afhandling i Snorres Edda tilligemed de grammatiske afhandlingers prolog og to andre tillæg. SUGNL 12. Copenhagen: Knudtzon.
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. SnE 1848 = Sveinbjörn Egilsson, ed. 1848. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar, eða Gylfaginning, Skáldskaparmál og Háttatal. Reykjavík: Prentsmiðja landsins.
5. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 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. CVC = Cleasby, Richard, Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and W. A. Craigie. 1957. An Icelandic-English Dictionary. 2nd edn. Oxford: Clarendon.
9. Stu 1878 = Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon], ed. 1878. Sturlunga Saga including the Islendinga Saga of Lawman Sturla Thordsson and Other Works Edited with Prolegomena, Appendices, Tables, Indices, and Maps. 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon.
10. TGT 1927 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1927b. Óláfr Þórðarson: Málhljóða- og málskrúðsrit. Grammatisk-retorisk afhandling. Det kgl. Danske Videnskabernes Selskab. Historisk-filologiske meddelelser 13, 2. Copenhagen: Høst.
11. SnE 1818 = Rask, Rasmus Kristian, ed. 1818a. Snorra Edda ásamt Skáldu og þarmeð fylgjandi ritgjörðum. Stockholm: Elmen.
12. Internal references
13. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Sturlunga saga’ in Guðrún Nordal (ed.), Poetry on Icelandic History. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 4. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=88> (accessed 25 April 2024)
14. Not published: do not cite (ÞorgO^IV)
15. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Trollkvenna heiti 3’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 727.
16. Elena Gurevich 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Øxar heiti’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 813. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=3195> (accessed 25 April 2024)