Sigv Knútdr 10I/2 — lyst ‘ for a journey’
Kom á fylki
farlyst, þeims bar
hervíg í hug,
hafanda staf.
Rauf ræsir af
Rúms veg suman
kærr keisara
klúss Pétrúsi.
Farlyst kom á fylki hafanda staf, þeims bar hervíg í hug. Ræsir, kærr keisara, klúss Pétrúsi, rauf af suman veg Rúms.
Desire for a journey came upon the ruler bearing a staff, who bore warfare in his heart. The leader, dear to the emperor, close to Peter, enjoyed some of the glory of Rome.
readings
notes
[2] farlyst ‘desire for a journey’: Emendation of ‘-laust’ seems necessary here. (a) Skj B emends to -lystir ‘desires’, adopting the pl. form in order to supply a subject for ms. kómu in l. 1. However, in order to retain a line of only four syllables, þeim is deleted, leading to farlystir, ’s bar ‘desires for a journey, which he bore’ (cf. farlystir, es bar in Finnur Jónsson’s 1902-3 edn of Fsk). ÍF 29 adopts Skj B’s emendation, but retains þeims, resulting in a five-syllable line. (b) Kock (NN §651) prefers the more modest emendation ‑lyst ‘desire’ in l. 2, with concomitant emendation in l. 1 to sg. kom á, assuming the fourth letter <a> to have been misread as <o>. (c) However, later reconsideration by Kock (NN §2516C; Skald) results in a more radical emendation in l. 1, with kómu ‘came’ being replaced by fell á (hence ‘desire for a journey fell upon the ruler’), in order to give both alliteration and skothending in the line. Kock’s first proposal ((b) above) is adopted here, as the processes of scribal miscopying involved seem more plausible than those required for Skj B’s farlystir. Moreover, the phrase kom á fylki gives better sense than simple koma fylki.