87
(Meissner 1921: 134–138); one wants the
English translation to read ‘in his heart’, yet
the kenning used is not a kenning for
HEART
, as the latter has a different model
(Meissner 1921: 138).
On the syntax of this
noun phrase, see “Noun Phrase Word
Order” above.
(2.3)
fríðr – [adj.masc.nom.sg. ‘beautiful’].
This word cannot be
friðr [n.masc. ‘peace’]
with short
i, because
r in this word is not
radical (acc. sg. from is
frið)
and the phrase
already has a noun in the nominative (
Óláfr).
(2.3)
fyllir dáða – fyllir [n.masc.nom.sg.
‘filler’],
dáða [n.fem.gen.pl. of
dáð ‘deed’].
The whole is an awkward kenning for
WARRIOR
, referring to Óláfr. See “Kennings”
above.
(2.4)
Fáfnis bing – bing
[n.masc.acc.sg. of
bingr ‘bed, bolster’],
Fáfnis [n.masc.gen.sg.
of
Fáfnir ‘Fafnir’, a dragon’s name]. The
whole is a straightforward kenning ‘bed of a
dragon’
→
GOLD
. On the manuscript’s dotted
y for short
i, see “Manuscript Spelling”.
(2.4)
Hjarð-hyltingum – [n.masc.dat.pl. of
Hjarð-hyltingr ‘person who dwells at
Hjarðarholt’, the farmstead of Óláfr
pái].
Lines 2.3 and 2.4 as a whole amount to:
fríðr fyllir dáða gaf Hjarðhyltingum bing
Fáfnis [‘lit. ‘the handsome warrior gave
gold to the dwellers of Hjarðarholt’],
portraying Óláfr as a king giving gold to his
retainers. Being a 10
th
-century Icelander,
Óláfr was not a king and had no retainers
either.
22
This is just a poetic way to indicate
his status as a leader of men and owner of
Hjarðarholt, paralleling asimilar description
of Auðr in stanza 1. On alliteration in this
line, see “Alliteration” above.
(2.5)
markverðr – mark- [bare stem of n.neut.
mark ‘mark, brand; sign’],
verðr [adj.masc.
nom.sg. ‘worthy’]. The whole is a compound
adjective meaning ‘remarkable’; this word
in not in ClVig, hence it is another
indication of lateness of our text.
(2.7)
bygðisk af mægðum – [v.3.sg.pret.ind. of
byggjask ‘to become populated’],
mægðum
[n.fem.dat.pl. of
mægð ‘relationship through
marriage’]. A rather unusual construction
given the verb’s meaning. It is normally
used in phrases such as in
Ísland byggðisk
[‘Iceland was settled, became an inhabited
land’]; here it seems that this verb is applied
to Óláfr
pái and means ‘became inhabited
through marriage by the decisiveness of
Egill of Borg’. Highlighting his settlement
in Iceland contrasts with ‘he had continued
the heart and family of Myrkjartan’ (i.e.
Óláfr
pái’s Irish maternal grandfather) of
the previous line. Another possibility is to
read
byggjask
as ‘marry, establish
relationship with’, in ClVig, however, it is
implied that only the non-reflexive form
byggja can carry this meaning; if so, as it
takes an object in genitive,
Egils ódeiga is
to be read as the genitive singular (
ódeiga
[adj.masc.gen.sg. of
ódeigi, the weak form
of
ódeigr ‘unsoft, harsh’], it agrees with
Egils [n.masc.gen.sg. of
Egill]), yielding
‘and then established a connection with the
harsh Egill of Borg through marriage’
(Óláfr
pái married Egill’s daughter
Þorgerðr). We prefer the latter, but it seems
to be stretching the limits of grammar.
(2.8)
Egils – [n.masc.gen.sg. of
Egill,
personal
name]; on the manuscript spelling
Eigils,
see “Alliteration” above.
(2.8)
ódeiga – [adj.masc.gen.sg. of
ódeigi, the
weak form of
ódeigr ‘unsoft, harsh’], a
fitting epithet for Egill’s fiery temper. On
alliteration and stem-rhyme in this line, see
“Alliteration” above.
3.
Kúrt bar ŐlafsSon Ki
r
tan,
kla̋ra, fagúr a̋ ha̋ren̄,
gődlÿndúr, giófúll, Sÿnde,
gnőtter meſtú iþrőtta,
miallhvÿtú af bar óllúm,
i trű viſtadeſt chriſte,
dő vid Stein dal a̋ Svÿna,
dórþoll
7
knia̋m i Bolla.
3.
Kurt bar Óláfsson Kjartan
klára, fagr á hárin,
góðlyndr, gjǫfull sýndi
gnóttir mestu íþrótta.
Mjallhvítu – af bar ǫllum –
í trú vistaðisk Kristi;
dó við stein dal á Svína
dǫr-þollr knjám í Bolla.
Regular word order
Kjartan Óláfsson bar klára kurt. [Kjartan var]
fagr á hárin [neuter plural with definite article].
88
[Kjartan var] góðlyndr. [Kjartan var] gjǫfull.
[Kjartan] sýndi gnóttir mestu íþrótta. [Kjartan]
af bar ǫllum. [Kjartan] vistaðisk í mjallhvítu
trú Kristi. Dǫr-þollr [=Kjartan] dó í knjám
Bolla við stein á Svínadal.
Approximate Engl
ish translation
Kjartan, son of Óláfr, was a true
gentleman,
and a fair-haired one at that,
good-natured, munificent, possessed a lot
of various skills.
[He] was head and shoulders
above all the rest,
was a firm believer in the spotless faith of Christ,
[he] died by a stone in Svínadal,
tree of spears [→
WARRIOR
(Kjartan)], on Bolli’s
knees.
Commentary
(3.1)
kurt – [n.fem.acc.sg. of
kurt ‘courtesy,
fine manners, chivalrous feat’], often used
with verb
bera [‘carry, bear’].
(3.2)
klára – klár [adj.fem.acc.sg. of
klárr
‘clear’],
strong form, agreed with
kurt.
(3.3)
góðlyndr – góð- [bare stem of adj.
góðr
‘good’],
-lyndr [adj.masc.nom.sg. ‘mooded,
tempered in this or that manner’]; the whole
is a compound adjective meaning ‘good-
natured, good-spirited’.
(3.3)
gjǫfull – [adj.masc.nom.sg. ‘munificent’],
an epithet used in classical
dróttkvætt for
princes. As pointed out above, none of the
characters mentioned is a king or a prince;
nonetheless, Kjartan here is given this
particular epithet to indicate his high social
status, just as his father Óláfr and his great-
great-grandmother Auðr
djúpúðga are said
to ‘distribute gold’ in stanzas 2 and 1
respectively.
(3.3)
sýndi – [v.3.sg.pret.ind. of
sýna ‘to
show’]. For the whole phrase, see the note
following. Notice the enjambment:
sýndi //
gnóttir mestu íþrótta, where the object and
the verb are separated by the end of the line;
this type of syntax follows the lines of
classical
dróttkvætt.
(3.4)
gnóttir mestu íþrótta – gnóttir [n.fem.
acc.pl. of
gnótt ‘abundance, plenty’],
mestu
[adj. ‘most’],
íþrótta [n.fem.gen. pl. of
íþrótt ‘sport, skill’]. The adjective is in a
weak form in the plural, thus it can be
agreed with either
íþrótta or with
gnóttir.
The resulting meanings ‘awesome plenty of
skills’ or ‘plenty of awesome skills’ are
identical.
(3.5)
mjallhvítu –
mjall- [bare unumlatued stem
of n.masc.
mjǫll ‘fresh powdery snow’],
hvítu [adj.fem.dat.sg. of
hvítr ‘white’, weak
form]. A compound adjective meaning ‘as
pure as driven snow’, rendered here in
translation as ‘spotless’. The second
element is relevant there: ‘white’ is a
traditional ON epithet for Christ, and the
weak form of the adjective denotes the
permanence of the characteristic denoted.
The compound adjective is agreed with
trú
[n.fem.dat.sg. of
trúa ‘faith’] in 3.6 (on the
syntax, see “Features Retained from
Classical
dróttkvætt”).
(3.5)
af bar ǫllum –
bar [v.3.sg.pret.ind of
bera
‘carry, bear’] +
af [postverbial],
ǫllum
[pron.dat.pl. of
allr ‘all’]. The phrase reads
[
Kjartan]
af bar ǫllum [‘Kjartan was head
and shoulders above all other [men]’]. The
expression
bera af [‘to excel, surpass’]
(ClVig: 59,
s.v. ‘bera
B, III’) is very frequent
and typical for this meaning; the noun in
dative refers to the class of objects that the
noun in nominative belongs to, while the
exact quality in which the noun in the
nominative is better than other members of
its class (lacking in our stanza) can be
referred to using a noun phrase introduced
by
um.
(3.6)
vistaðisk í trú – [v.3.sg.pret.ind.refl. of
vista ‘to remain, stay somewhere, lodge with
someone’],
í [prep. ‘in’],
trú [n.fem.dat.sg.
of
trúa ‘faith’]. The phrase reads as
‘remained in faith’, i.e. ‘was steadfastly
faithful’, which makes sense semantically
but seems to deviate from attested usage:
according to dictionaries,
vista is strictly
used to denote physical lodgings and never
used for abstract things such as faith. Such
usage may be seen as a kind of innovation
or pun. If we opt for the pun, it would
presumably refer (rather cruelly) to the
episode of Kjartan’s stay in Norway as a
hostage of King Óláfr Tryggvason in his
move to compel Iceland to convert to
Christianity (
Laxdæla saga 41) – so, Kjartan
‘lodged’ (
vistaði)
with the king because of
his faith. This episode is a pivotal moment
in the saga. Kjartan’s faith is mentioned
explicitly in
Laxdæla 43, as the king bids
Kjartan farewell and admonishes him to
stay true to his faith; yet the verb the king