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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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ÞjóðA Magnfl 19II/3 — þylja ‘recite’

Háðisk heilli góðu
hildr, sem Magnús vildi;
selr of sigr at þylja
sóknstœrir mér fœri.
Brand rauð buðlungr Þrœnda;
berr íðula síðan
hann ept hervíg þrennin
hæra skjǫld at gjǫldum.

Hildr háðisk góðu heilli, sem Magnús vildi; sóknstœrir selr mér fœri at þylja of sigr. Buðlungr Þrœnda rauð brand; ept þrennin hervíg berr hann hæra skjǫld íðula síðan at gjǫldum.

The battle was waged with good fortune, as Magnús wished; the onslaught-sweller [WARRIOR] gives me opportunity to recite about victory. The prince of the Þrœndir [NORWEGIAN KING = Magnús] reddened the sword; after threefold pitched battle he carries the higher shield ever afterwards in repayment.

notes

[3, 4] selr mér fœri at þylja of sigr ‘gives me opportunity to recite about victory’: This is akin to Arnórr’s comment on Magnús providing him yrkisefni ‘material for composition’ (Arn Hryn 14). Such statements are not common, to judge from Kreutzer 1977, 196. The verb þylja is a derivative of þulr ‘sage’ (cf. þula ‘metrical catalogue’), but it probably functions as a generic term for performing poetry here (see Kreutzer 1977, 155-6).

grammar

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