Ótt Lv 1I/5 — stjóri ‘The ruler’
Hnøtr sendi mér handan
hrǫnduðr alinbranda
— ár vas, þats mank meiri
mín þing — konungr hingat.
Mær es markar stjóri;
meir sék þar til fleira;
niðrat oss í ǫðru,
íslands mikils vísi.
Konungr, hrǫnduðr alinbranda, sendi mér handan hnøtr hingat; ár vas, þats mank þing mín meiri. Stjóri markar es mær; meir sék þar til fleira; niðrat oss í ǫðru, vísi mikils íslands.
The king, the distributor of arm-flames [GOLD > GENEROUS MAN = Óláfr], sent some nuts across to me here; it was long ago, when I remember my position [to have been] greater. The ruler of the forest [TREE] is slender; later I will look for more there; do not humiliate us again, sovereign of the great ice-land [SEA > RULER].
readings
[5] markar stjóri: ‘marka[…]’ NRA52
notes
[5] stjóri markar ‘the ruler of the forest [TREE]’: The thought seems to be that great trees grow out of small seeds or nuts (cf. the English proverb ‘Great oaks from little acorns grow’), suggesting that greater favour from the king might grow out of this meagre gift (with possible awareness of Óláfr as a literal rather than metaphorical stjóri). The kenning stjóri markar is, however, unparalleled, and indeed tree-kennings in general are extremely rare; perhaps the present example should be viewed as a witty one-off suitable for a lausavísa.
kennings
- Stjóri markar — The ruler of the forest [TREE]
grammar
case: nom.