Arn Hryn 4II/4 — reiði ‘tackle’
Herskip vannt af harða stinnum
hlunni geyst í Salt it Eystra;
skjǫldungr, stétt á skǫrum hvéldan
skeiðar húf með girzku reiði.
Vafðir lítt, en vendir bifðusk;
varta hrǫkk, en niðr nam søkkva;
geystisk hlýr, en hristi* bára,
hrími stokkin, búnar grímur.
Vannt herskip geyst af harða stinnum hlunni í it Eystra Salt; skjǫldungr, stétt á húf skeiðar, hvéldan skǫrum, með girzku reiði. Vafðir lítt, en vendir bifðusk; varta hrǫkk, en nam søkkva niðr; hlýr geystisk, en bára, stokkin hrími, hristi* búnar grímur.
You made warships surge [lit. surged, propelled] from the most firm launcher into the Baltic; king, you boarded the warship’s hull, curved by its jointed planks, [and] with Russian tackle. You wavered little, but masts shuddered; the prow jolted, and started to plunge; the bow surged on, and the billow, flecked with rime, shook the adorned figure-heads.
readings
[4] reiði: skrúði Hr
notes
[4] girzku reiði ‘Russian tackle’: The adj. girzkr can mean ‘Greek, Byzantine’, but it also occurs as a doublet of gerzkr with the sense ‘Russian, from Garðar’, as, probably, in st. 9/8, where Hr reads ‘girzkum’ and Flat ‘gerzskum’ (see also Fritzner: girzkr). ‘Russian’ may be more appropriate here since Magnús is sailing from Russia. Ms. skrúði ‘ornamentation’ would add a supernumary member to the alliterative sequence on sk- and would fail to produce aðalhending with skeiðar. Emendation to the synonymous reiði seems justifiable especially since st. 9/1 affords a definite instance of the scribe of Hr (or its archetype) displacing the original rhyme-word by a synonym. The emendation was first proposed by Konráð Gíslason (1877, 54). Reiði can refer either to the whole of a ship’s equipment or else specifically to the rigging; see Fritzner: reiði and Jesch 2001a, 165. Jesch (2001a, 165) points out that, while it may be that Russian tackle was special, the Norwegians who fetched Magnús from Russia (Garðar) may simply have needed to re-rig their ship for the return voyage.