Sigv Nesv 12I/2 — minna ‘less’
Frýrat oss í ári
innþrœnzk, þótt lið minna,
— gǫrt hugðak svá — snertu
snotr mær, konungs væri.
Brúðr mun heldr at háði
hafa drótt, þás framm sótti,
— fold ruðum skers — ef skyldi,
skeggi, aðratveggju.
Snotr innþrœnzk mær frýrat oss snertu í ári, þótt lið konungs væri minna; hugðak svá gǫrt. Brúðr mun heldr hafa at háði drótt, þás sótti framm skeggi, ef aðratveggju skyldi; ruðum fold skers.
The wise inner-Trøndelag maiden does not reproach us for our effort in a hurry, although the king’s force was less; I thought so decidedly. The woman will rather hold in derision the company that lunged forward with their beards, if she should [deride] one or the other; we reddened the land of the skerry [SEA].
readings
notes
[2, 4] þótt lið konungs væri minna ‘although the king’s force was less’: While it seems to be stated here that the king had lower numbers than Sveinn, st. 6 claims that mildr fekk meira lið an gløggr ‘the generous one [Óláfr] gained a greater force than the mean one [Sveinn]’. This has been seen as an internal contradiction on Sigvatr’s part. It is notable that Fsk and ÓH-Hkr do not include st. 6, and the reason may well be that the redactors detected a discrepancy (Fidjestøl 1997b, 15). Numerous attempts at harmonisation have been made in modern scholarship (e.g. Johnsen 1916, 35; Schreiner 1926, 106; Schreiner 1927, 418; Schreiner 1929, 86; van Eeden 1945b, 128; Petersen 1946, 48; and Fidjestøl 1997b). There is, however, no contradiction if ‘more’ means that Óláfr had more men than Sveinn had overall and ‘fewer’ means that Óláfr received fewer men than originally pledged, thanks to the people of Trøndelag having defaulted on their oaths (cf. st. 13; see Poole 2005d, 189-92).