HSt Rst 22I/1 — síks ‘whitefish’
Randsíks remmilauka
rógsvellir bað fella
— styrr þreifsk — stœrri aska
strangr á Orm inn langa.
Ættstórr ella mætti
Eirekr í dyn geira
oflinn aldri vinna.
Óláfr und veg sólar.
Strangr rógsvellir bað remmilauka randsíks fella stœrri aska á Orm inn langa; styrr þreifsk. Ella mætti ættstórr Eirekr aldri vinna oflinn í dyn geira. Óláfr und veg sólar …
The tough strife-sweller [WARRIOR = Eiríkr] ordered the forceful masts of the shield-whitefish [SWORD > WARRIORS] to make larger ash-timbers fall onto Ormr inn langi (‘the Long Serpent’); battle flourished. Otherwise, the high-born Eiríkr would never have been able to defeat the mighty snake in the din of spears [BATTLE]. Óláfr under the path of the sun [SKY] …
readings
[1] ‑síks remmi‑: so 61, harri reins Bb(112ra), 54, harri róins or harri reins Bb(101vb), ríki remmi Flat
notes
[1] randsíks ‘of the shield-whitefish [SWORD]’: (a) This edn follows Kock (Skald) in emending to rand ‘shield’. Síkr is houting, a type of whitefish (Coregonus lavaretus; CVC: síkr; Þul Fiska 2/3III), and together the two elements produce a standard sword-kenning (cf. Meissner 154). Like other analyses this results in the finite verb bað ‘ordered’ in l. 2 being preceded by both its subject and its object, a word order that is abnormal in standard dróttkvætt but not in Rst; see Note to st. 7/1-4. (b) Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) emends instead to Ránsóks ‘Rán-fire’, i.e. ‘sea-fire [GOLD]’. (c) Konráð Gíslason (1895-7) assumes that síkr means fire, but this does not seem to be the case. — [1] remmilauka randsíks ‘the forceful masts of the shield-whitefish [SWORD > WARRIORS]’: This line from 61 (partly supported by Flat) is preferable to the highly problematical line in Bb(112ra) (partly supported by 54), rann harri reins lauka. The latter line is unmetrical and also lacks the oddhending in the penultimate syllable which is usual in Rst (and dróttkvætt generally), although that is also true of l. 3; cf. M. Kristensen (1928, 276). Further, the line apparently only makes sense when construed as part of Harri, rógsvellir, bað fella stœrri lauka aska Rán-reins ‘The ruler, strife-sweller [WARRIOR], ordered the larger masts of the ash-trees of the land of Rán <goddess> [SEA > SHIPS > MEN] to be killed’, but ‘larger masts’ is unexpected, the kenning Rán-rein ‘land of Rán [SEA]’ only works with tmesis, and the general meaning of the stanza is not consonant with the prose context. In contrast the line from 61 is satisfactory both on metrical and contextual grounds.
kennings
- randsíks — of the shield-whitefish [SWORD]
- remmilauka randsíks — the forceful masts of the shield-whitefish [WARRIORS]
grammar
case: gen.