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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Sigv Austv 1I/5 — ǫndrum ‘the skis’

Hugstóra biðk heyra
hressfœrs jǫfurs, þessar
— þolðak vás — hvé vísur,
verðung, of fǫr gerðak.
Sendr vask upp af ǫndrum
austr (svafk fátt í hausti)
til Svíþjóðar (síðan)
svanvangs í fǫr langa.

Biðk hugstóra verðung hressfœrs jǫfurs heyra, hvé gerðak þessar vísur of fǫr; þolðak vás. Vask sendr upp af ǫndrum svanvangs í langa fǫr austr til Svíþjóðar; svafk fátt síðan í hausti.

I ask the mighty-hearted retinue of the energetic ruler [Óláfr] to hear how I composed these verses about a journey; I endured hardship. I was sent up from the skis of the swan-plain [SEA > SHIPS] on a long journey east to Sweden; I slept little after that in the autumn.

notes

[5, 8] upp af ǫndrum svanvangs ‘up from the skis of the swan-plain [SEA > SHIPS]’: Snorri must have understood the phrase to mean simply that Sigvatr and his companions travelled inland, given the point of departure and route of travel he describes in this chapter (see the Introduction). Some scholars have taken it to mean that the first part of the journey was accomplished on shipboard: see, e.g., Barði Guðmundsson (1927, 548).

kennings

grammar

case: dat.
number: pl.

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