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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Sturl Hákfl 5II/8 — víkingar ‘vikings [= the Ribbungar]’

Ríkr gaf hlenna hneykir
herþrungit Ribbungum
ógnar skýs í Ósló
eitt kveld meginsveitum.
Mildr kom heimskum hauldum
hervígs á glapstígu;
kendu langt í landi
Laufvíkingar ríkis.

Ríkr hneykir hlenna gaf Ribbungum eitt herþrungit kveld í Ósló meginsveitum skýs ógnar. Mildr hervígs kom heimskum hauldum á glapstígu; Laufvíkingar kendu ríkis langt í landi.

The powerful repressor of robbers [JUST RULER = Hákon] gave the Ribbungar one very oppressive evening in Oslo with the main forces of the cloud of terror [SHIELD]. The one generous with battle forced the foolish men onto pernicious paths; the Forest-vikings [= the Ribbungar] felt the power far into the land.

readings

[8] ‑víkingar: víkinga Flat

notes

[8] Laufvíkingar ‘the Forest-vikings [= the Ribbungar]’: Lit. ‘Leaf-vikings’. Taken (with Kock, Skald and NN §§1366, 1997) as a derogatory term for the Ribbungar; i.e. outlaws who live in the forest. This interpretation is strengthened by the fact that ll. 5-8 of the present st. bear strong resemblance to Sturl Hákkv 6/5-8: ok þar stökk lið Grýtlinga á glapstíg ‘and there the force of the Grýtlingar [= the Ribbungar] fled on a pernicious path’. That helmingr describes an earlier battle in Oslo (in 1221) against the Ribbungar, and it contains the phrase á glapstíg ‘on a pernicious path’ (l. 8; cf. á glapstígu ‘onto pernicious paths’ (l. 6 above)) as well as the derogatory label Grýtlingar lit. ‘Gravelings’ (i.e. outlaws who hide among cliffs or rocks or live in caves), which parallels Laufvíkingar ‘Forest-vikings’ in the present st. Skj B treats lauf ‘leaf’ as a separate word but marks it as untranslatable. In LP: lauf, lauf is taken with ríkis ‘power’: magtens løv (eller frugt) ‘the leaf (or fruit) of power’, which makes little sense.

grammar

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