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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Sigv ErfÓl 16I/4 — Þóri ‘Þórir’

Mildr fann gǫrst, hvé galdrar,
gramr sjalfr, meginrammir
fjǫlkunnigra Finna
fullstórum barg Þóri,
þás hyrsendir Hundi
húna golli búnu
— slætt réð sízt at bíta —
sverði laust of herðar.

Mildr gramr fann gǫrst sjalfr, hvé meginrammir galdrar fjǫlkunnigra Finna barg fullstórum Þóri, þás húna hyrsendir laust sverði búnu golli of herðar Hundi; slætt réð sízt at bíta.

The gracious prince discovered most clearly himself how the mightily strong spells of the magic-skilled Saami saved the very powerful Þórir when the sender of the fire of the mast-tops [(lit. ‘fire-sender of the mast-tops’) GOLD > GENEROUS MAN = Óláfr] struck with the sword adorned with gold across the shoulders of Hundr (‘Dog’); the blunt one succeeded least in biting.

notes

[4, 5] fullstórum Þóri; Hundi ‘the very powerful Þórir; Hundr (“Dog”)’: Þórir hundr (‘Dog’) Þórisson, originally a lendr maðr ‘landed man, district chieftain’ of Óláfr, became a follower of King Knútr, who gave him the Finnferð, the job of travelling to collect tax from the Saami (ÍF 27, 306). While on one of these expeditions, he acquired twelve reindeer skins which were impervious to weapons and soon after led a naval expedition from the north to defend the country from Óláfr, coming from the east (ÍF 27, 345). Þórir is one of two or three attackers accused of having been directly responsible for Óláfr’s death (ÍF 27, 385; Fidjestøl 1987). It is not clear whether fullstórum ‘very powerful’ refers to Þórir’s size or his significance, though the latter is more likely as Snorri calls him ríkastr maðr ‘the most powerful man’ in northern Norway (ÍF 27, 177). Kock (NN §663) accepts that fullstórum could be an adj. referring to Þórir, but notes the possibility that it could rather be an adv. modifying barg ‘saved’, meaning ‘fully’ or ‘strongly’.

grammar

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