Arn Hardr 5II/1 — Gengr ‘It runs’
Gengr í ætt, þats yngvi
Upplendinga brenndi
(þjóð galt ræsis reiði,)
rǫnn (þess’s fremstr vas manna).
Vildut ǫflgar aldir,
áðr vas stýrt til váða,
— grams dolgum fekksk galgi —
gagnprýðanda hlýða.
Gengr í ætt, þats yngvi brenndi rǫnn Upplendinga; þjóð galt reiði ræsis, þess’s vas fremstr manna. Ǫflgar aldir vildut hlýða gagnprýðanda, áðr vas stýrt til váða; galgi fekksk dolgum grams.
It runs in the family that the prince burned the dwellings of the Upplendingar; the people paid for the wrath of the ruler who was foremost of men. Mighty men were not willing to heed the glorious victor, before their course turned to ruin; the gallows were the lot of the foes of the fierce lord.
notes
[1] gengr í ætt ‘it runs in the family’: The two main interpretations of the idiom, which is not precisely paralleled in ON, and of the st., were examined by Konráð Gíslason (1879b, especially 158-9), and much of the following discussion is indebted to his. (a) That gengr í ætt means ‘it runs in the family’ is suggested by the adj. ættgengr ‘characteristic of the family’ and by ModIcel. ganga í ætt ‘run in the family’. If this interpretation is correct, the subject to gengr í ætt is the cl. þats yngvi brenndi rǫnn Upplendinga ‘that the prince burned the dwellings of the Upplendingar’ and the overall sense, ‘the prince [Haraldr] takes after his half-brother Óláfr in that he burned the dwellings of the Upplendingar’. The Context above shows that at least some compilers or scribes understood the st. thus, and this is the solution favoured by Konráð Gíslason. (b) Ganga can have the figurative sense ‘it is current’ (of a report or story), as in geingr þersi saga ... mest af Suerri konungi ‘this story is much told about King Sverrir’ (Flat 1860-8, II, 533), and í ætt can mean ‘down the generations, from generation to generation’ as in SnSt Ht 89/4III þat spyrr framm í tt ‘that will be heard for generations’. Lines 1-2 could hence be rendered, ‘It is related from generation to generation, how the prince burned the dwellings of the Upplendingar’. But this would fail to explain how the st. came to be associated with Óláfr helgi, for whom Arnórr is unlikely to have composed.
grammar
Verbs: Strong Verbs
The stem of the subjunctive pl. is i-mutation of the indicative pl..
lúka ‘shut, end’
| Indicative | Subjunctive | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Present | Past | Present | Past | ||
| Active voice | |||||
| sing. | 1 2 3 | lýk lýkr lýkr | lauk laukt lauk | lúka lúkir lúki | lyka lykir lyki |
| pl. | 1 2 3 | lúkum lúkið lúka | lukum lukuð luku | lúkim lúkið lúki | lykim lykið lyki |
| infinitive pres. part. past part. | lúka lúkandi lúkinn, lúkin, lúkit | ||||
| Middle voice | |||||
| sing. | 1 2 3 | lýkumk lýksk lýksk | laukumk laukzk lauksk | lúkumk lúkisk lúkisk | lykumk lykisk lykisk |
| pl. | 1 2 3 | lúkumk lúkizk lúkask | lukumk lukuzk lukusk | lúkimk lúkizk lúkisk | lykimk lykizk lykisk |
| infinitive pres. part. past part. | lúkask lúkandisk lúkizk | ||||