STORIES FROM SAGAS OF KINGS

STORIES FROM SAGASOF KINGS
Halldórs ﬂáttr Snorrasonar inn fyrri
Halldórs ﬂáttr Snorrasonar inn sí›ari
Stúfs ﬂáttr inn meiri
Stúfs ﬂáttr inn skemmri
Völsa ﬂáttr
Brands ﬂáttr örvaWITH INTRODUCTION, NOTESAND GLOSSARY BY

ANTHONY FAULKES

VIKING SOCIETY FOR NORTHERN RESEARCH
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON

First published 1980 as
Stories from the Sagas of the Kings©Viking Society for Northern Research
New edition, with introduction, notes and glossary corrected andreformatted and minor additions 2007

ISBN: 978-0-903521-72-7

Printed by Short Run Press Limited, Exeter

CONTENTS
Abbreviated references ............................................................ vi
Introduction ............................................................................ vii
Halldórs ﬂáttr Snorrasonar inn fyrri ......................................... 3
Halldórs ﬂáttr Snorrasonar inn sí›ari ...................................... 15
Stúfs ﬂáttr inn meiri ................................................................ 31
Stúfs ﬂáttr inn skemmri .......................................................... 41
Völsa ﬂáttr ............................................................................... 49
Brands ﬂáttr örva .................................................................... 63
Notes ....................................................................................... 69
Glossary .................................................................................. 88
Index of names ..................................................................... 152

ABBREVIATED REFERENCES
AM: Árni Magnússon’s collection of manuscripts (Reykjavík and Copenhagen).
CPB: Corpvs Poeticvm Boreale I–II, ed. G. Vigfusson and F. York Powell,1883.
Flb: Flateyjarbók I–III, ed. G. Vigfusson and C. R. Unger, 1860–68(facsimile in Corpus Codicum Islandicorum Medii Aevi I, 1930).
Fms: Fornamanna sögur I–XII, 1825–37 (the contents of vols I–III are
re-edited in ÓTM; there is a facsimile of the chief manuscript used invols VI–VII in Hulda, Sagas of the Kings of Norway 1035–1177, Early
Icelandic Manuscripts in Facsimile 8, 1968).
GkS: The Old Royal Collection of Manuscripts in the Royal Library,
Copenhagen.
Heusler, A., Altisländisches Elementarbuch, 4th edn, 1950.
Hkr: Snorri Sturluson, Heimskringla I–III, ed. Bjarni A›albjarnarson,
1941–51 (ÍF XXVI–XXVIII).
ÍF: Íslenzk fornrit I ff., 1933 ff.
MRN: E. O. G. Turville-Petre, Myth and Religion of the North, 1964.
Msk: Morkinskinna, ed. Finnur Jónsson, 1932 (facsimile in Corpus
Codicum Islandicorum Medii Aevi 6, 1934).
NION II: A New Introduction to Old Norse II: Reader. 4th edition, 2007.
NN: E. A. Kock, Notationes Norrœnæ, 1923–44.
Oddr ÓT: Oddr Snorrason, Saga Óláfs Tryggvasonar, ed. Finnur Jónsson,
1932.
ÓTM: Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta I–III, ed. Ólafur Halldórsson,
1958–2000.
PE: [Poetic] Edda. Die Lieder des Codex Regius I, ed. H. Kuhn, 1962.
Skj: Den norsk-islandske Skjaldedigtning A I–II, B I–II, ed. Finnur
Jónsson, 1912–15.
SnE: Edda Snorra Sturlusonar, ed. Finnur Jónsson, 1931.
Two Icelandic Stories. Hrei›ars ﬂáttr, Orms ﬂáttr, ed. A. Faulkes, 1967
(Viking Society Text Series IV).

INTRODUCTION
The stories and their backgroundThe six texts in this book are all short stories, or ﬂættir as they are
generally called. Except for the longer Stúfs ﬂáttr they are all
found as parts of or appendices to Icelandic sagas about Norwegian kings, though it is likely that they were originally composed as independent stories and only later incorporated into thesagas; thus they may in some cases be older than the sagas inwhich they are preserved, though none is likely to have been
written before about 1200. The longer Stúfs ﬂáttr may be an
example of one of these stories in its independent form, though
the actual texts of the separate version that survive are rather
later than those of the shorter version found as part of the saga ofKing Haraldr. Both the ﬂættir and the sagas in which they arepreserved are anonymous.
The stories all concern one of the kings of Norway, who is
Haraldr har›rá›i (1046–66) in all cases except Völsa ﬂáttr, where
it is St Óláfr (1015–30); Óláfr Tryggvason (995–999 or 1000)
also appears in the enclosed story in the first Halldórs ﬂáttr. The
historical context of the stories can probably best be discoveredfrom reading the sagas of these kings in Snorri Sturluson’s
Heimskringla, though Snorri did not include any of the ﬂættir inthis book in his compilation.
Haraldr har›rá›i was particularly popular as the subject ofstories in medieval Iceland, many of which seem designed toillustrate one or other of two contrasting sides to his character as
it was traditionally remembered: his kindness and sense of humour(particularly when dealing with Icelanders and poets), and on theother hand his arbitrariness and harshness. In some stories he isviii

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contrasted with Magnús the Good (1035–47), with whom hereigned jointly for a while. With the stories in this book may becompared Hrei›ars ﬂáttr (Two Icelandic Stories 47–62) andAu›unar ﬂáttr (NION II, Text XVI).
Many of the characters in these ﬂættir besides the kings were
historical persons (including Halldórr, Stúfr and Brandr) and are
mentioned in various Icelandic sources including Heimskringla
and other versions of the sagas of kings, though it is always
impossible to know whether individual stories told of them aretrue, or at any rate based on genuine tradition, or just fictional
accounts composed in the thirteenth century. Except for Völsa
ﬂáttr, where the only Icelander is ﬁormó›r, the chief character inevery story in this book is Icelandic, though in the first Halldórsﬂáttr the most prominent character in the enclosed story, Einarr
ﬂambarskelfir, is a Norwegian.
There are many stories extant about the dealings of Icelanders
with kings of Norway, and they were evidently popular. (Most ofthem are collected in Fjörutíu Íslendinga-ﬂættir, ed. ﬁórleifr
Jónsson (1904).) They gave Icelandic authors an opportunity bothfor humorous self-criticism of the Icelandic character and forshowing Icelanders distinguishing themselves in a foreign court,
in many cases getting the better of the king himself. Such stories
could thus become a vehicle for the expression of the developing
sense of national Icelandic identity and independence, like thesagas of Icelanders generally, though on a smaller scale. Indeed
some of the sagas too are concerned largely with Icelanders
abroad, like Egils saga and Fóstbrœ›ra saga. In parts ofHeimskringla an important theme seems to be the deliberate assertion of Icelandic independence and hostility to any Norwegianclaim to sovereignty over Iceland. In subject-matter, therefore,Introductionix

the ﬂættir can be seen as a bridge between the sagas of Norwegiankings and the sagas of Icelanders.
But the ﬂættir distinguish themselves from sagas of kings andsagas of Icelanders both in scale and in the simplicity of theirstructure, though the first Halldórs ﬂáttr does have a story withina story, which relates to a time many years before the main action,
a complexity rare in any kind of Icelandic narrative, where thestory usually progresses in direct chronological order. But though
the ﬂættir generally have a simple structure, they are carefully
composed with great concern for narrative shape and characterisation, and are particularly successful in constructing witty anddramatic dialogue. See the two articles by J. Harris, ‘Genre andNarrative Structure in some Íslendinga ﬂættir’ and ‘Theme andGenre in some Íslendinga ﬂættir’, in Scandinavian Studies 44(1972), pp. 1–27, and 48 (1976), 1–28.
There is a didactic element in Brands ﬂáttr and the first Halldórsﬂáttr, so that they can be interpreted as moral exempla, and Völsa
ﬂáttr too, in rather a different way, is evidently intended to beedifying. But in spite of this, all the stories in this book arelightweight both in tone and content (none is about events ofpolitical importance), and most have a tendency to comedy. They
are anecdotes rather than serious stories, and the closest contemporary European genre is the fabliau (though fabliaux were written
in verse). Both fabliaux and ﬂættir are examples of a phenomenon
that was new in western Europe in the twelfth century: the writing
down of stories that were important neither as myth nor as history,
in which the point lies within the story itself, rather than in any
significance, historical or moral, outside itself. The effects aimed
at were aesthetic ones; the neatness and wit of the story itself wasits justification. This tendency towards story for story’s sake isxStories from Sagas of Kings

accompanied both in Iceland and elsewhere by an increased
interest in character and individualisation, in everyday settingsand in comedy. The ﬂættir thus mark the extension of what wasconsidered possible matter for prose narrative in Iceland to include
the secular as well as the religious, the Icelandic as well as theNorwegian, the everyday as well as the historically significant;and the beginning of interest in heroes neither saintly nor royal.
The six texts in this book are reproduced from offprints fromÍslendinga sögur I–XII, ed. Gu›ni Jónsson (Reykjavík, Íslendingasagnaútgáfan, 1946–47), where the corresponding texts are involume IV, pp. 265–92 and 305–21, and volume V, pp. 373–85
and 399–403. The explanations of verses in modern Icelandic at
the foot of the pages in Völsa ﬂáttr are here omitted. The spellingand punctuation of this edition were heavily normalised inaccordance with the convention in editions intended for the general
Icelandic reader; the modern symbol ‘ö’ is used both for u/wumlaut of ‘a’ and u/w-umlaut of ‘e’. The texts, which are eclectic,
have also been freely emended, and where there is radical departurefrom the manuscript readings, the latter are quoted in the notes inthis book. Some misprints are also corrected in the notes.
Halldors ﬂáttr Snorrasonar inn fyrri
The labels ‘inn fyrri and ‘inn sí›ari’ have been attached to thetwo stories about Halldórr Snorrason simply for editorial convenience (all the titles in this selection are modern), and refer tothe relative internal chronology of the two stories, not to the
supposed dates of composition. Both take place in Norway sometime after Haraldr har›rá›i’s return from Constantinople in 1046,
and while the action of the second story may begin before that of
the first, the second covers a wider time-span and goes on to tellIntroductionxiof Halldórr’s final return to Iceland (which according to thechronology of Haralds saga must have been in 1051) and hisrefusal to return to Norway. The enclosed story in the first ﬂáttr,narrated by Einarr ﬂambarskelfir (who died probably in 1049 or
1050) relates to the time shortly after the battle of Svöl›r (probably
AD 999) which ended the reign of Óláfr Tryggvason. This ﬂáttr ispreserved with the ‘greatest’ saga of Óláfr Tryggvason (afourteenth-century compilation of very diverse material relating
to the king) in AM 62 fol. (written in the late fourteenth century),
AM 54 fol. (this part of which was written about 1500), andFlateyjarbók (Gks 1005 fol.; this part written towards the end of
the fourteenth century); see Fms III 152–63, Flb I 506–11 (columns
264–7 in the manuscript). Another version of the ﬂáttr was
included as an appendix to Haralds saga har›rá›a in the additions
made to Flateyjarbók in the fifteenth century (Flb III 428–31,
columns 836–38); this has considerable differences from and isshorter than the other texts, while the version in AM 54 fol. hassome passages that are not in AM 62 fol. or either of the versions
in Flateyjarbók. There is no evidence that the ﬂáttr was written
before the fourteenth century, though there are other stories aboutÓláfr Tryggvason’s supposed survival of the battle of Svöl›r thatwere written in the late twelfth to early thirteenth centuries (Ágrip
af Nóregskonungasƒgum, ed. M. J. Driscoll (1995), pp. 32–35;
Oddr ÓT, pp. 231, 257, 259–60; Hkr I 367–69). Though nothingis known about the author, his markedly didactic tone hassuggested to some that he was a cleric.
The text here printed corresponds mainly to the longer of thetwo versions in Flateyjarbók, but occasional readings have been
adopted from each of the other three versions. The ﬂáttr has also
been edited in ÍF V 251–60, and there is a discussion of the story

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by J. Harris, ‘Christian Form and Christian Meaning in Halldórsﬂáttr I’, in The Learned and the Lewed, ed. L. D. Benson (Harvard
English Studies 5, 1974), pp. 249–64.
Halldórs ﬂáttr Snorrasonar inn sí›ari
The second Halldórs ﬂáttr is probably older than the first. It
contains a number of archaic linguistic features (see ÍF V xci,
note 2) and is thought to have been written in the early thirteenth
century. It is preserved as part of Haralds saga har›rá›a in
Morkinskinna (Gks 1009 fol., written about 1275), Hulda (AM66 fol., written c.1350–75), and Hrokkinskinna (Gks 1010 fol.,
fifteenth century); see Msk 148–55, Fms VI 237–51, Hulda fols.
41r–44r. These manuscripts contain versions of a collection ofsagas about kings of Norway of the eleventh and twelfth centuries
that is thought to have been first compiled in the early thirteenth
century, before Snorri Sturluson’s Heimskringla. In Hulda andHrokkinskinna the text of the original compilation has beencombined with that of parts of Heimskringla and other sources,
and the narrative is often more wordy and diffuse than that inMorkinskinna. All three manuscripts include various ﬂættir which
seem once to have been independent stories, though it is uncertain
whether they were included in the compilation when it was first
made. The first two sagas in it (Magnúss saga gó›a and Haralds
saga har›rá›a) are also found in the part of Flateyjarbók written
in the fifteenth century, but there some of the ﬂættir are lacking,including the second Halldórs ﬂáttr and Brands ﬂáttr, thoughsome others, including a version of the first Halldórs ﬂáttr, wereadded. The sources and relationships of these manuscripts are
discussed in J. Louis-Jensen, Kongesagastudier (Bibliotheca
Arnamagnæana 32, 1977; English summary on pp. 190–96).

Introductionxiii

The leaf in Morkinskinna that contained the beginning of thesecond Halldórs ﬂáttr has been lost (the extant text in thismanuscript begins at the point corresponding to 20/29 in thepresent edition). There is also a passage near the end of the story
in Hulda and Hrokkinskinna that is lacking in Morkinskinna(29/4–18 in this edition). This passage is very similar to one inHaralds saga har›rá›a in Hkr III 119–20. It perhaps was not
originally part of the ﬂáttr, but if it was, Snorri may have derived
his passage from it. If so, the ﬂáttr must be older than Heimskringla.
Besides lacking this passage and the beginning of the story, thetext of the ﬂáttr in Morkinskinna is in many places more compact
than those in Hulda and Hrokkinskinna, and may have beenshortened.
The text printed in this edition is a conflation of what remainsof the text in Morkinskinna with that in Hulda, with occasional
readings also adopted from Hrokkinskinna (Morkinskinna is notfollowed exclusively even in the parts of the text that are extant
in it). There is an edition of the ﬂáttr in ÍF V 265–77 and atranslation by Hermann Pálsson in Hrafnkel’s saga and other
Icelandic stories (Penguin Books, 1971).
Stúfs ﬂáttr inn meiri, Stúfs ﬂáttr inn skemmri
The separate version of Stúfs ﬂáttr (Stúfs ﬂáttr inn meiri) ispreserved in three manuscripts of the fifteenth century that also
contain a variety of other unrelated stories, AM 533 4to, AM 557
4to (of which there is a facsimile in Corpus Codicum Islandicorum
Medii Aevi 13, 1940), and AM 589 4to. In AM 557 4to it has thetitle ‘Saga Stúfs’. The shorter version (Stúfs ﬂáttr inn skemmri) is
found as part of Haralds saga har›rá›a in Morkinskinna, Flateyjarbók, Hulda and Hrokkinskinna (see Msk 251–54, Flb III 379–81,

xiv

Stories from Sagas of KingsFms VI 339–93, Hulda foll. 70v–71r). The Morkinskinna and
Flateyjarbók texts are similar and rather different from those in
Hulda and Hrokkinskinna.
Stúfs ﬂáttr inn meiri and Stúfs ﬂáttr inn skemmri contain thesame story (unlike the two Halldórs ﬂættir, which are distinct
stories, though about the same person), but the first is quite a lot
longer. It is likely that the story was shortened when it was madeinto a part of Haralds saga, though the shortening seems to havebeen mainly verbal: the main events and the essence of theconversations in the longer version are all present in the shorter.
So although the separate version of the ﬂáttr is only preserved inlate manuscripts, and stylistically and linguistically belongs to
the fifteenth century, in content it probably represents the original
story as it was before it was included in Haralds saga better than
the shorter version; many of the details of information on which
the two versions differ are likely to be more correct in the longer
version (though not in all cases; e.g. the number of poems Stúfr
recites to the king in the Morkinskinna/Flateyjarbók version ismore credible than the numbers given in Hulda, Hrokkinskinna
and the separate version; see note to 45/14–15).
The story must have been first written considerably earlier thanthe date of the oldest manuscript (Morkinskinna, c.1275), perhaps
early in the thirteenth century. The narrative skill it displays is
considered comparable to that in what are held to be the bestearly stories of this kind (Hrei›ars ﬂáttr, Au›unar ﬂáttr). Thereis no indication of when in the reign of Haraldr har›rá›i it is
supposed to have taken place.
The text of the longer version printed here follows mainly AM
533 4to, with occasional readings from one or other of the othertwo manuscripts, and with word forms and spelling archaised toIntroduction

xv

conform to the other texts in the selection. The text of the shorter
version follows mainly that in Hulda (and Hrokkinskinna; muchof the text in Morkinskinna is illegible, and the text in Flateyjarbók
has a number of variants and additional phrases which seem tobe due to scribal alteration; some of the changes are pointed out
in the notes). Both versions are edited in ÍF V 281–90; there is aseparate edition of the longer one in Stúfs saga, ed. B. M. Ólsen
(1912; Filgir Árbók Háskóla Íslands). There is a translation of
the longer version by H. G. Leach in A Pageant of Old Scandinavia(1946), pp. 195–99, and of the shorter one in CPB II 221–22.
These two texts make it possible to compare the results ofmedieval redaction on a piece of short narrative, and are a usefulreminder that other texts, though they may only survive in one
version, may well have also been subject to similar alteration
during their transmission.
Völsa ﬂáttr
Völsa ﬂáttr is only preserved in Flateyjarbók (in the part written
in the fourteenth century), where it is included as part of Óláfs
saga helga (Flb II 331–36, columns 483–85 in the manuscript).
There are many stories extant about St Óláfr’s missionary activity
in various parts of Norway (there are a number of others in
Flateyjarbók) and the type is undoubtedly very old and someexamples may be historical; but there is little likelihood that thisone is, and nothing to show that it is older than the fourteenth
century. None of the verses is preserved elsewhere, and various
aspects of their language and metre suggest that they too are late,perhaps no older than the prose itself. But many have thought itpossible that the story contains genuine tradition about ancientfertility cults such as must have existed in pre-Christian Scandinavia

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and perhaps survived into Christian times. But the actual treatmentof the story in the ﬂáttr shows that the author was more interested
in the comic possibilities of the idea than in either the historicalreality of such cults or their threat to orthodox Christianity. Thereis perhaps also an element of satire directed at Norwegian peasantryby the Icelandic author.
There is a (probably much later) parallel to Völsa ﬂáttr in thestory of Ásmundr flag›agæfa and Völski (Jon Árnason, Íslenzkar
ﬂjó›sögur og ævint‡ri, 1862–64, I 176 ff.).
The ﬂáttr has been edited by G. Vigfusson with Bár›ar sagain Nordiske Oldskrifter XXVII (1860), pp. 133–38, and the verses
by A. Heusler and W. Ranisch in Eddica minora (1903), pp.
123–36 (see the introduction, pp. xcv–xcvii), in Skj A II 219–21,
B II 237–39, and in CPB II 381–82 (cf. also 609). There isdiscussion in A. Heusler, ‘Die Geschichte vom Völsi’, Zeitschrift
des Vereins für Volkskunde 13 (1903), pp. 24–39; S. Eitrem, ‘Lina
Laukar’, Festskrift tilegnet A. Kjær (1924), pp. 85–94; H. S.
Joseph, ‘Völsa ﬂáttr: A Literary Remnant of a Phallic Cult’,
Folklore 83 (1972), pp. 245–52; Ólafur Halldorsson, ‘Grettisfœrsla’,
Opuscula I (1960), pp. 49–77 (Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana 20;
reprinted with additional material in Grettisfærsla (1990), pp.
19–50); MRN 256–58.
Brands ﬂáttr örvaBrands ﬂáttr örva, like the second Halldórs ﬂáttr, is preserved aspart of Haralds saga har›rá›a in Morkinskinna, Hulda andHrokkinskinna (see Msk 194–95, Fms VI 348–50, Hulda fol. 62),
but is not in Flateyjarbók. Its date is difficult to guess, but it mustbe earlier than the date of Morkinskinna (c.1275) and may bemuch earlier. There is no indication of when in Haraldr’s reign

Introduction

xvii

the story is supposed to take place, but Brandr was born about
980 and would therefore have been very old even when Haraldr
first became king. He is mentioned in many sagas (see ÍF IV 181
and note 1), and there is another story in Flateyjarbók that
illustrates his generosity (Ísleifs ﬂáttr, Flb II 140–42; this is in
the part written in the fourteenth century). It may be the same
person who is said in Arons saga ch. 1 to have been renowned bothin Iceland and abroad (Sturlunga saga, ed. Jón Jóhannesson,
Magnús Finnbogason and Kristján Eldjárn, 1946, II 238).
The text printed here mostly reproduces that of Morkinskinna,
but corrections and in two passages (65/1–6 and 66/11) additional
words are included from the Hulda/Hrokkinskinna version.
The ﬂáttr has been edited in ÍF IV 189–91 and in G. Vigfusson
and F. York Powell, An Icelandic Prose Reader (1879), pp. 143–44.
There is a translation of the Morkinskinna text by H. G. Leach in
A Pageant of Old Scandinavia (1946), pp. 201–02, and a discussion by Sverrir Tomasson, ‘Vinveitt skemmtan og óvinveitt’,
Maukastella fær› Jónasi Kristjánssyni fimmtugum, 1973, pp. 65–68.

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NOTES(For persons and places see Index of Names)
3/1–3 The heading in Flb (column 264) is ‘Einarr hjálpa›i Halldóri eftirv(íg)’; in AM 62 fol. it is ‘Sí›asti ﬂáttr Óláfssögu Tryggvason(ar) Nóregs
konungs’.
5/1 Snorri go›i (964–1031) is well known from several sagas, particularlyLaxdœlasaga and Eyrbyggja saga. In his time he was one of the mostinfluential men in Iceland.
5/3 The story of Haraldr har›rá›i’s adventures in Constantinople andthe Mediterranean area between his escape from the battle of Stiklasta›ir
in 1030 in which St Óláfr died and his return to Norway in 1046 is told
in various versions of Haralds saga; see Msk 56–88, Hkr III 68–91, and
S. Blöndal, The Varangians of Byzantium, tr. B. S. Benedikz, 1978, pp.
54–102. Halldórr Snorrason is frequently mentioned in these accounts
and was evidently on close terms with Haraldr. In ﬁorsteins ﬂáttr
sögufró›a (ÍF XI 335–36; Msk 199–200, Fms VI 354–56) an Icelandic
story-teller is said to have entertained King Haraldr’s court for several
evenings with an account of their adventures which he is said to havelearned from Halldórr during several successive meetings at the Icelandic
Alﬂingi (cf. 6/1–3 below and Hkr III 79). This ﬂáttr is however probably
a late literary reconstruction, and it is not likely that the extant stories ofHaraldr’s adventures resemble closely oral accounts brought back by
his companions; they contain many story motives that have close parallels
in literary narratives from other parts of Europe relating to other heroes(see J. de Vries, ‘Normannisches Lehngut in den isländischen Königssagas’, Arkiv för nordisk filologi 47 (1931), pp. 51–79; A. H. Krappe,‘The Sparrows of Cirencester’, Modern Philology 23 (1925–26), pp.
7–16).
5/6 Eilífr is not known from other sources.
5/12 Compare the comment on the Icelandic character in Hrei›ars ﬂáttr
145 (Two Icelandic Stories p. 51).

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5/15 Einarr ﬂambarskelfir was remembered for his part in the last battleof Óláfr Tryggvason in AD 999; see Hkr I 362–63 and II 27. He would
have been very old by the time of Halldórr’s visit to him. He was killed
by King Haraldr’s men in about 1049–50 (Hkr III 125–26; NION II,
VII B). He was renowned as a bowman, and his nickname may refer tothat (see glossary), but originally it may have meant ‘paunch-shaker’(ﬂömb: belly) because he was very fat. It appears in a verse attributed toHaraldr har›rá›i in Hkr III 124 and elsewhere, though some manuscripts
have the alternative form ‘-skelmir’ as the second element, which might
have been interpreted by Icelanders as ‘devil, rogue’.
5/23 The jarls of Hla›ir (now Lade, near Trondheim in northern Norway),
were a powerful family in the tenth and eleventh centuries. Hákon (innríki) Sigur›arson was ruler of Norway from about 974 to 995. He waskilled during Óláfr Tryggvason’s struggle for the throne. His alternative
nickname ‘inn illi’ probably relates to his heathen practices and apostasy(Hkr I 241, 260, 286).
Bergljót appears in several places in Heimskringla, where her personality
is presented in a way that corresponds more or less to her role in thisstory (cf. Hkr II 27, III 122, 125–26).
6/4 Kali is not known from other sources.
6/12 In Flb (column 264) there is the word ‘a›ra’ before ‘menn’.
‘Ní›’ was a formal, perhaps even ritual insult, usually in verse, andwas considered highly damaging to a man’s honour. The law books
prescribe severe penalities for both composers and circulators of ‘ní›’.
It was common for it to contain accusations of sexual perversion (cf.
6/23 below). See F. Ström, ‘Ní›, ergi and Old Norse moral attitudes’,Dorothea Coke memorial lecture, London 1974; T. L. Marky, ‘Nordicní›vísur’, Mediaeval Scandinavia 5 (1972), pp. 7–18; Bo Almqvist,
Norrön Niddiktning I–II, 1965–74.
6/25 There are several examples of the word ‘mörlandi’, which refers tosome of the less attractive items of Icelandic diet, being applied to
Icelanders by foreigners, usually Norwegians, in medieval texts. Seeﬁorvalds ﬂáttr tasalda, ÍF IX 123 n.; Gull-Ásu-ﬁór›ar ﬂáttr, ÍF XI 348;
Biskupa sögur 1858–78, I 357, 811.

Notes71

6/27–29 This is a reference to a story found in Msk 80–82 and Fms VI
164–66 (cf. Hkr III 85–86). Kali’s account seems to be not quite accurate.
7/8 The demonstrative ‘ﬂá’ is to be taken with ‘náskylda’: ‘relatives,
those (who are) closely related to me’. It is unusual to anticipate thepronoun that introduces a relative clause with an identical form (‘ﬂá . . .
ﬂá sem’), even when the clause is separated from its antecedent (seeHeusler 489 n. 2, pp. 161–62); but cf. 53/8 below.
8/8 Eindri›i appears in several places in Heimskringla; he was killed
along with his father in about 1049–50 (Hkr III 125–29; NION II, VII B).
8/18 Magnús gó›i was king of Norway from 1035 to 1047. In Hkr II 415
he is said to have been brought back to Norway from Russia by Einarr
and Kálfr Árnason, and to have become ‘foster-son’ of the latter (cf. Hkr
III 24); but both Einarr and Kálfr are said to have fostered him in Flb III
262–63 (Msk 18–20; cf. Fms VI 21 and 24).
9/6–7 Compare the remarks about Halldórr’s character at 29/10–12.
9/23–24 The defence of Ormr inn langi at the battle of Svöl›r in whichÓláfr Tryggvason lost his throne was famous in Norse stories; see Hkr
I 355–66.
9/25 Flb (column 265) begins a new chapter here, with the heading ‘Saga
Einars’.
Kolbeinn stallari (sometimes called Kolbjörn) is said in Hkr I 366 tohave been captured and given ‘gri›’ after the battle of Svöl›r, though his
subsequent fate is not mentioned there (cf. Flb I 492–94, ÓTM II 286–89).
In Oddr ÓT 230, 232–33 two men are mentioned, Kolbjörn hinn upplenzki
and Kolbjörn stallari; it is uncertain whether these two were in fact thesame person, but later in Halldórs ﬂáttr (12/28 below) Kolbeinn stallariis said to live in Upplönd.
9/26 Flesmu-Björn is not mentioned elsewhere, unless he is the same as
Björn a› (or af) Stu›lu(m), who appears in Oddr ÓT 230, Flb I 494, andÓTM II 289 in the list of those who survived the battle of Svöl›r with
Einarr and Kolbjörn (or Kolbeinn). ‘Flesma’ perhaps means ‘wound’.

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9/28–29 The text here follows AM 54 fol.; Flb (column 265) omits ‘ﬂví
at . . . sextögr’. ‘Á honum’ means on Ormr inn langi. ‘Engi . . . ok eigi’:
anacoluthon (‘no one younger than . . . or older than . . .’; lit. ‘no one
younger than . . . and (he should) not (be) older than . . .’ ). Flb (column
837) has ‘engi . . . ok enginn’ which provides smoother grammar.
These age-limits for the crew of Ormr inn langi are repeated by Snorri
Sturluson in Hkr I 344. In Flóamannasaga (ed. Finnur Jónsson,
1932, p. 3) it is said to have been at one time ‘lög’ that the minimum
age to take part in an expedition was 20 (though Leifr was allowed to
go at 18). Compare the qualifications for joining the Jomsburg vikings(between the ages of 18 and 50, see The Saga of the Jomsvikings, ed.
N. F. Blake, 1962, p. 17) and the Hálfsrekkar (who had to be at least
18, though Hálfr himself began at the age of 12; see Hálfs saga ok
Hálfsrekkar, ed. A. Le Roy Andrews, 1909, p. 92).
10/1 ‘ﬂrimr’ is supplied from AM 62 fol. (it is lacking in Flb column 265).
10/3 The mysterious disappearance of the king in his last battle is related
among other places in Ágrip af Nóregskonungasƒgum, ed. M. J. Driscoll,
1995, pp. 32–35; Oddr ÓT, p. 230).
10/22–11/5 Three marks (i.e. 24 aurar) seems traditionally to have been
considered a standard maximum price for a slave, while an average slave(‘me›alﬂræll’) was reckoned to cost 12 aurar; see Egils saga, ÍF II 279,
Eyrbyggja saga, ÍF IV 86 and 118, Laxdœla saga, ÍF V 23–24, and Grágás
Ia, ed. V. Finsen, 1852, p. 192. Cf. A. Gjessing, ‘Trældom i Norse’, Annaler
for Nordisk Oldkyndighed og Historie 1862, pp. 123–25; C. Nevéus,
Trälarna i landskapslagarnas samhälle. Danmark och Sverige (Studia
historica Upsaliensia 58, 1974), pp. 37, 40, 55, 58, 73, 95, 120, 143.
11/14–15 Such use of present participles, which probably originated in
imitation of Latin usage, becomes particularly common in some kindsof Icelandic prose in the later thirteenth and fourteenth centuries,
especially in romance sagas and clerical writings. See H. Bekker-Nielsen
et al., Norrøn Fortællekunst, 1965, pp. 134–36; Jónas Kristjánsson,‘Learned style or saga style?’, Speculum Norroenum (1981), 260–92.
11/18–19 Anacoluthon; either the second ‘at’ in line 18 or ‘at hann’ inline 19 could have been omitted to make the syntax smoother.

Notes73

11/19 ‘ﬁessi’ is presumably ‘this other one’, i.e. the slave mentioned at
10/15–26 above (evidently Flesmu-Björn).
12/3 I.e. ‘this will not amount to less than your reckoning’.
12/16 ‘Then say I: there would have been a time when . . .’12/19 ‘lítt att’: i.e. ‘líttat’ (it is written as one word in Flb and AM 62fol.), = ‘lítt ﬂat’ (somewhat, a little). ‘Kippa’ takes a dative object without
a preposition.
13/6–7 Anacoluthon; ‘You alone (i.e. of all of you), I think, value notbeing a slave highest.’
13/19 The first ‘ok’ introduces the reason for or purpose of the action
denoted by the first verb. The sentence would have been less clumsy if
the first ‘er’ had been left out.
17/1 The ﬂáttr is not marked as a separate story in Hulda; the text here
printed begins with what is the third sentence of a chapter in the manuscript, which has no heading there, though the first word is written with
an elaborate initial H. Both chapter divisions and headings in the text
printed here are editorial.
17/3 Cf. note to 5/3 above. ‘Sem á›r er sagt’ refers to an earlier passage
in the text of Haralds saga of which this story forms part.
17/10–12 This war is described in Hkr III 108 ff. It continued throughout
most of King Haraldr’s reign.
17/16 I.e. many men would have become homesick sooner, Halldórr
had been away a long time before becoming homesick.
18/2 ‘Skipverjar’ here are not crew in the modern sense (i.e. employeesof the owner of the vessel) but participants in the voyage, men with theirown cargo of wares willing to buy a place on the ship (and help in sailingit) to transport themselves and their goods to a foreign market. This was
a common way for trading voyages to be organised.
18/28–29 ‘Miklu fleiri . . . en ek mega öllum veita’ is tautological: ‘many
more than that I can grant (it) to them all’, i.e. ‘far too many for me to beable to say yes to them all’.

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19/1 ‘They are practically breaking into the house where I am staying’,or ‘into the house to get to me’.
19/6 ‘At konungi’ is altered in Hulda to ‘atkoma konungs’.
19/23 ﬁórir is not known from other sources.
19/27 The third person form ‘er’ gradually replaces ‘em’ for the first
person singular of the present of ‘vera’ in the late Middle Ages, and has
become normal in modern Icelandic.
20/3 ‘Minni at drekka’ and ‘um a›ra hluti’ are both dependent on ‘færr’and parallel to ‘at fylgja hir›si›um’. On these customs see ÍF II 108,
125, and notes.
20/9 Bár›r seems not to be known from other sources, though the nameis common and is borne by other courtiers of King Haraldr; see forexample Sneglu-Halla ﬂáttr (ÍF IX 264).
20/15 I.e. he had easily drunk half of the cup-full he was sharing withﬁórir. When drinking in pairs, each man had to drink his full share or hewas considered to be shirking (see note to line 28 below). In line 16‘honum’ refers to ﬁórir.
20/17 Cf. ‘lengi skal manninn reyna’, which means nearly the same thing(Grettis saga, ÍF VII 72).
20/28 I.e. it was ﬁórir’s share of the drink in the horn, and Halldórr was
drinking some of it for him. On drinking ‘sleitiliga’ (or ‘sleituliga’) see
Orkneyinga saga ch. 66 (ÍF XXXIV 153 and note) and Egils saga (ÍFII 125).
20/29 From here the text begins to follow mainly the text of Msk. ‘Hann’is accusative and refers to ﬁórir; ‘til’: i.e. back to. For ‘skapker’ see ÍF II
17 and the illustration facing p. 225 in that volume.
21/8 ‘Um’ here is pleonastic, since ‘vert’ is an adjective in agreementwith ‘or›aframkast’. ‘Um vert’ becomes a fixed phrase from the occasions
when no noun follows (e.g. ‘svá ﬂótti honum mikils um vert’, ‘he took itNotes75

so much to heart’, ÍF XXXIV 173); cf. ÍF VII 122: ‘Öllum ﬂótti mikils
um vert um ﬂetta verk.’
21/12 On the imposing of ‘víti’ for offending the rules of conduct at
court cf. 7/21 ff. above and Hallfre›ar saga (ÍF VIII 162 and note); andcf. SnE 55.
21/13 Kertisveinar were men in the king’s service, of lower rank thanboth hir›menn and gestir, but still with an honourable position; see
Hir›skrá ch. 47 (Norges gamle Love indtil 1387 II, ed. R. Keyser and
P. A. Munch, 1848, p. 443).
21/13–14 The text here is from Hulda.
22/2 Sigur›r s‡r was King Haraldr’s father, and a local king in Norway;
he died about 1018. Though the nickname ‘s‡r’ may originally not havemeant ‘pig’, there are several references to it in Icelandic narratives thatshow it was understood to mean that (perhaps by a pun), and King
Haraldr’s sensitivity to mention of his father’s nickname appears inseveral places (see 35/14 ff. below and Hrei›ars ﬂáttr 412 ff. and note,
Two Icelandic Stories pp. 60 and 92–93). On Snorri go›i see note to 5/1
above; a ‘go›i’ was priest/chieftain in heathen Iceland and this was thehighest rank in Icelandic society (cf. 26/4–6 below), though it is notclear why just some of those who held the office were given the title asa surname. Halldórr is implying that his descent is as good as if notbetter than the king’s; in Hkr II 41 Sigur›r s‡r is depicted as a rather
unheroic figure.
22/7 Coins survive from Haraldsslátta, many of which are a good deal
less than half silver (mixed with copper and zinc); see ÍF 261 and K. Skaare,
Coins and Coinage in Viking-Age Norway, 1976, pp. 9–11 and 79–85.
22/14 Anacoluthon: ‘The king will think he has been treated dishonourably and (that) he has been subjected to unjustified criticism’.
23/1–2 ‘You may be sure that you will find it difficult to get anyone as
good in place of him for the prow of your ship.’ The viking longshipwas divided into up to seven ‘rúm’, i.e. spaces between benches or76

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bulkheads, each of which would be occupied by several fighters. The
foremost was the ‘stafn’, where the deck was probably usually built up
to form a sort of forecastle, and would have been considered the mostimportant position both for navigation (since a look-out man would bestationed there, cf. 23/10 ff.) and fighting, since the men in it would
often be the first to engage the enemy. These men were called ‘stafnbúar’,though at 59/18 the word may be used metaphorically. Cf. H. Falk,
Altnordisches Seewesen, 1912, pp. 82–85.
23/15 ‘at ﬂví var› ﬂeim’: ‘that is what happened to them’, ‘it happened
to them accordingly’, i.e. in accordance with Halldórr’s warning. Cf.
Grettis saga, ÍF VII 121: ‘ok at ﬂví mun mörgum ver›a’ (as many willfind out to their cost, and many will come up against it).
23/16 There is a similar incident with damage to a ship’s ‘undirhlutr’ in
Grettis saga, ÍF VII 55 (cf. footnote 3).
23/17 I.e. other ships came to the rescue and towed the crippled ship toland. ‘ﬁá’ appears to be the adverb ‘then’; the object of ‘flytja’ is theship (understood).
23/18 Since ‘skjóta’ is usually followed by the dative, the passive with anominative (or accusative?) is surprising; ‘tjaldi’ would be more normal.
23/22 This looks like a traditional set phrase, though it does not seem tobe recorded elsewhere. Hulda adds ‘ef sinn veg fara hvárir’ after ‘vára’.
24/17–19 ‘I cannot see that there has ever been such a treacherous failure
in my service as there is in the king’s payment’, i.e. nothing I’ve done
warrants such treatment.
25/20 Sveinn is not known from other sources, and Lyrgja is also not
identifiable, though it may be an error for or variant form of Lygra, anisland off Hordaland. There is also a nickname Lygra that alternateswith Lyrgja (see for example Hkr I 316).
26/3 The text here follows Hulda.
26/17 ‘Ok haldast ﬂat’ i.e. ‘ok hvárt ﬂat skyldi haldast’.

Notes77

26/19 Both Msk and Hulda have ‘til’ after ‘kvaddi’, in accordance withusual idiom; the omission is presumably a printer’s error.
26/19–27 Several words in this passage are illegible in Msk and havebeen supplied,where possible from Hulda, but otherwise by the editor.
27/13 Both Msk and Hulda have ‘skipver›sins’, not ‘kaupver›sins’.
27/16 Evidently Halldórr has now acquired another ship. It seems that it
was lying at anchor near Brattaeyrr, not moored to the shore; note thereference to the ship’s boat at 28/24. In Hulda/Hrokkinskinna it isspecifically stated on two occasions (at the points corresponding to 27/19
and 28/23) that they have to row to and from the ship.
27/26 It is Halldórr that speaks.
28/6 ‘Svá . . . at mitt sé vænna’: ‘in such a way that I shall have a better
opportunity’, i.e. than at this moment; or perhaps ‘in such a way that I
shall (again) have the advantage (over you)’. The implied comparison iseither ‘en nú’ or ‘en ﬂitt’.
28/14 The first sentence of the queen’s reply is taken from Hulda; it is
not in Msk.
28/24 ‘At báti’: i.e. engaged in pulling the ship’s boat aboard (cf. note to
27/16 above).
29/4–18 This passage is from Hulda; it is not in Msk. See introduction,
p. xiii above.
29/8–9 As punctuated, this sentence has a double construction: ‘he was
the one of all his men who least . . . whether he had to face . . . or . . . thenhe was . . .’ The difficulty is removed if a full stop is placed after ‘hluti’as in Hkr III 119.
29/10–12 There is an example of how Halldórr reacted to trouble at 9/6–7.
29/15 In this sentence ‘er’ perhaps means ‘since, it being the case that’,or simply ‘when’: ‘this was unseemly in relation to King Haraldr when

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he had plenty of other followers’ (i.e. after he became king). In Hkr III
120 ‘ﬂá’ is included after ‘illa’.
29/22 I.e. if he went, his honour would be as great as it had ever been.
The form ‘vildi farit hafa’ is evidently used because Halldórr did not infact go, but the second pluperfect does not fit happily into the reported
speech construction (the phrase is omitted in Hulda). It is perhaps athoughtless (scribal) repetition of the tense of ‘skyldi verit hafa’ (‘vildi
fara’ would be more logical).
29/23–30/5 Here the text of Hulda is followed; in Msk the passage ismuch abbreviated.
29/27 I.e. they will not come into conflict again, they will be quits, content
with their present lot.
30/15 The last line is from Hulda. Instead, Msk ends the story with ‘Ok
er nú Halldórs hér ekki vi› getit he›an í frá’.
31/1 The title in AM 557 4to is ‘Saga Stúfs’, in AM 533 4to ‘Frá Stúf
Kattarsyni’.
33/2 ﬁór›r’s father was called Glúmr (see 43/3 below), but it is usually
his mother’s name that is given, as here. Cf. ÍF V 86–87.
33/3 Gu›rún Ósvífrsdóttir is a chief character in Laxdœla saga (ÍF V).
33/7 In the northern part of Norway, though not necessarily in the area
now known as North Norway. At 38/23 Stúfr’s business seems to havetaken him at least as far north as Kaupangr, though in the other versionof the story he has to go to Vík to claim his inheritance (46/8, 47/11).
33/8 On ‘sundalei›’ see ÍF II, footnotes on pp. 46 and 199.
34/3 ‘Fara at veizlum’ is a phrase denoting the king’s ‘progress’ roundthe country receiving maintenance for himself and his retinue as a formof service or taxation from landowners (cf. ÍF XXVII 100). It formed asubstantial part of the royal revenue. The present visit is not part of theofficial progress, so the entertainment does not need to be so lavish.

Notes79

34/9 ‘Útar’ means further out from the chief seat for the most honoured
guest which Stúfr had been occupying, which would have been halfway along the table, opposite the master of the house (see 33/12 above).
Towards the ends of the tables were the lower-ranking seats.
34/11 ‘I should have thought it unnecessary (unjustified) for you to . . .’— i.e. the master of the house is now withdrawing his invitation to Stúfr
to sit opposite him in the highest guest seat.
34/13 ‘ﬁat horfir til gamans’: compare the similar expectation of theNorwegians in Hrei›ars ﬂáttr 300 ff. (Two Icelandic Stories p. 57) when
they find an Icelander to tease. The king presumably recognises Stúfr tobe an Icelander from his speech. He will naturally sit in the master of thehouse’s seat, and invites Stúfr to remain sitting opposite him in the highest
guest seat (cf. 34/23–24 below).
34/19 ‘Sem ﬂeir ver›a til búnir’, i.e. when the king’s men have prepared
their (own) meal (cf. 34/4 above).
34/29 See A. Holtsmark, ‘Kattar Sonr’, Saga-Book XVI, 1962–65, pp.
144–55.
35/15 Cf. note to 22/2 above. ‘En ek mynda’ means ‘but that I musthave’ (dependent on ‘ætla’). The text follows AM 557 and 589 4to; AM
533 4to has ‘en ﬂví leita ek ﬂessa dæma’, which would constitute Haraldr’s
admission of his intention, while the text printed refers to what Haraldr
imagines Stúfr thought his intention was, namely that the king was notasking to find out the answer, but to provoke Stúfr. ‘Leita dæma’ means‘seek instances’, i.e. bring up a subject, pursue a line of enquiry. One of
the meanings of ‘dæmi’ is ‘reason for or substantiation of something, afact substantiating (or giving rise to) something’; cf. SnE 36/10 and 16
and 97/15.
35/22 All three manuscripts have ‘talar’, not ‘tala›i’.
36/14 On the number of poems cf. 45/14 below and note; and see
introduction, p. 14.

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36/19–20 A flokkr was a series of stanzas without refrain, while a drápa
had a refrain, and sometimes more than one, in the form of a stanza orpart of a stanza repeated at intervals. This more complex form of poem
was considered more proper to offer a king than the simpler flokkr. Cf.
Gunnlaugs saga, ed. P. G. Foote and R. Quirk (1953), p. 43 and note to
33/13; and ed. P. G. Foote (1957), pp. 22 and 41.
36/25–26 ‘For this reason (it will be) then (i.e. the next time we meetrather than now), sire, in order that this aspect of me (my knowledge of
poetry) like every other may prove more impressive to you the more
you get to know (of) me (or of it).’ Stúfr wants to keep some of his talent
in reserve. Having both ‘ﬂetta’ and ‘um mik’ with ‘reyndist’ rather
overloads the sentence.
37/4 Though it was not mentioned before, the room the king slept in was
an upper room, access to which would normally be by a stair (‘ri›’) on
the outside of the building. Such rooms would often be the only privaterooms available.
37/14 ‘ﬁat’ is the request. The ‘er’ must mean ‘when’, unless it is an
ordinary relative, in which case the ‘hvers’ changes the construction:‘I am not accustomed to grant a request of such a nature that I do notknow what is being asked for.’37/20 Glúmr Geirason was a well known poet, many of whose verses arequoted in the first part of Heimskringla. There are accounts of him in Landnámabók (ÍF I 284) and Reykdœla saga (ÍF X 204–12). Other poets related to Stúfr were Einarr skálaglamm, Úlfr stallari and Steinn Herdísarson.
38/2 ‘You are aiming rather high in your first attempt’.
38/10 I.e. ‘ek ver› ﬂar vi› at hafa rá›’ (‘I must on that matter take theadvice’); cf. 47/9 below. This procedure is mentioned in Hir›skrá ch. 30(Norges Gamle Love indtil 1387 II, ed. R. Keyser and P. A. Munch,
1848, p. 422).
39/18 Fragments of a Stúfsdrápa (eight verses in whole or part) arepreserved as quotations in Heimskringla and other versions of kings’Notes81

sagas or in Snorra Edda (four lines only); see Skj A I 404–05 and CPB II
222–23 (where there is also a translation). These fragments are howeverpart of an elegy for the king, and it must be another poem that is referredto here; cf. 47/16–18 below. Nothing else survives of Stúfr’s poetry.
39/19 ‘Ævint‡r’ is a late loanword in Icelandic (Old French ‘aventure’)
and was probably not in the original text of the ﬂáttr.
43/1 His name was Stúfr inn blindi according to Msk and Flb (andSkáldatal, see Edda Snorra Sturlusonar, Hafniæ 1848–87, III 275).
Moreover according to the text of Flb at 43/5, he was blind all his life,
but it is perhaps more likely that he only became blind in old age.
43/2 On Snorri go›i see notes to 5/1 and 22/2 above. His fostering ofﬁór›r is mentioned in Laxdœla saga (ÍF V 100), and may be an addition
to the original text of the ﬂáttr derived from the saga; it is not referred toin the Flb text.
44/9 ‘Ónafnligt’ means ‘sounding unlike a (proper) name, an odd name’.
‘Stúfr’ means ‘stump’. Stúfr himself is mentioned in various places, andthere are examples of the use of the name in both Norway and Iceland
later, but no other person of this name is known from early sources.
44/19 See note to 22/2 above. ‘Hvárt’ means ‘which’ rather than ‘whether’here, cf. 44/12 and 34/28 above.
44/22 ‘Bekknum’ is presumably a misprint; all manuscripts have ‘bekkinn’.
45/1 ‘Sitja fyrir ádrykkju minni’: ‘face my drinking to him’. It seems tohave been a common custom for participants in an evening’s entertainment to drink (and thus presumably talk) together in pairs; a man wasthen obliged to keep pace with his drinking partner (cf. p. 20 above andnotes). Stúfr refers to the king’s drinking to him in one of his extant
verses (Hkr III 206, CPB II 223). Cf. also Egils saga, ÍF II 122, Msk
289–90, Fms VI 439, Kristni saga ch. 11 (ÍF XV 29); though in some ofthese cases the reference is to drinking ‘across the fire’, i.e. to a person on
the other side of the room, in which case conversation would be precluded.

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Stories from Sagas of Kings

45/4 ‘Til stofa’ is a misprint for ‘at sofa’ (thus Hulda and Flateyjarbók;
Morkinskinna is illegible here).
45/12 ‘ﬁat’ anticipates the ‘at’ phrase (cf. 36/11 above).
45/14–15 See note to 36/19–20 above. The number of poems given hereis the number according to the Hulda/Hrokkinskinna version of the ﬂáttr.
In Flb and Msk it is given as ‘nökkverja tíu’ (‘ten or so’); cf. 36/14 above
and introduction. According to Flb all the poems Stufr recited here were
his own compositions (the corresponding text of Msk at this point isillegible).
46/4 The endings of the third person singular began to replace the original
first person endings in the subjunctive in the later Middle Ages (cf. note
to 19/27). The older form ‘segja’ is used at 46/15 and 47/4.
46/7 ‘Af’: so Msk, Flb, Hrokkinskinna; Hulda has ‘á’.
46/22 See note to 37/20 above.
47/12 ‘Sem’ perhaps means ‘when’ here (Flb has ‘ﬂegar’), or perhaps‘as’: ‘in accordance with the king’s instructions and authentication’.
47/17 Parts of this poem are preserved; see note to 39/18 above. Thereappears to be no connection between the poet and his poem ‘Stúfa’ andthe stúfar in Háttatal.
51/1 The text of this ﬂáttr corresponds to chs. 265–66 of Óláfs saga
helga in Flb, but the manuscript does not indicate that it is a separate
story, and the text printed here does not include the first sentence of ch.
265. The first chapter heading in this edition is editorial (as is the title ofthe ﬂáttr). Ch. 265 in Flb has the heading: ‘Konungr kristna›i mennnor›r ókunniga’.
51/2 The poem is only known from this text and there is no certainty that
it was old; it may even have been composed by the author of the story. It
is unlikely that there was ever any more of it than is quoted in the extant
text of the ﬂáttr.
51/11 Flb lacks the ‘á’.

Notes83

51/12 Flb has ‘einhverju’.
51/14 Kennings for ‘woman’ consisting of the name of one of the heathen
goddesses with a dependent genitive denoting one of the attributes of ahuman woman (here the gold thread used in jewellery) are common in
Norse poetry; cf. PE 239.
52/9 The eating of horseflesh was one of the heathen practices permitted
as part of the compromise at the introduction of Christianity into Icelandaccording to Íslendingabók ch. 7 (ÍF I 17). There is quite a lot of evidence
both for worship of horses and other kinds of ritual in which they figured
in Scandinavian heathendom; see MRN 167–68, 249, 256.
52/4 It seems, however, that there are no examples extant of the use of‘vingull’ in Norse poetry except those in the verses quoted in this ﬂáttr.
53/11 ‘Hjá’ is an absolute preposition or adverb (‘next to it’). ‘Svá at ﬂar
fyrir mætti hann eigi’: ‘so as to prevent it . . .’ (‘so that because of this it
would not be able to’). In the lower margin of Flb at this point has been
written ‘Svei ﬂér húsfreyja’ (‘Fie on you housewife’).
54/1 This chapter heading is from Flb.
54/3 See Hkr II 327–28. This took place in AD 1023.
54/8 ‘Af víkja lei›inni ok til’: ‘change course and (make) for’.
54/13 Finnr Árnason was a historical character who figures prominently
in the saga of St Óláfr. He was Norwegian, one of the king’s most loyal
followers, and seems to have been on close terms with him.
54/14 ﬁormó›r (an Icelander) is one of the main characters in Fóstbrœ›rasaga, as well as appearing in the saga of St Óláfr. He was one of theking’s chief poets. His nickname refers to his entanglement with an
Icelandic girl called ﬁorbjörg kolbrún (‘coal-brow’); see ÍF VI 170 ff.
54/20 ‘Innar’ means ‘into the living-room (‘stofa’)’ , as opposed to ‘fram’(53/9, 54/25), which means ‘out into the kitchen’.
54/22–23 I.e. they all said they were called Grímr. This is a common

84

Stories from Sagas of Kingsenough personal name, but it is also one traditionally adopted as a
pseudonym for a disguised person in the sagas; see Bár›ar saga ch. 8(ÍF XIII 126), where it is adopted by ﬁórr; Hálfdanar saga Eysteinssonarchs 7–9, 15–16 (ed. F. R. Schröder, 1917, pp. 101–05, 116–18; here thename is adopted by two people together, a man and a woman); NornaGests ﬂáttr and Helga ﬂáttr ﬁórissonar (Flb I 347 and 360; here again
there are two people who adopt the name together). It also appears as
one of Ó›inn’s names in Grímnismál 46 and 47 (PE 66–67, SnE 27). Cf.
gríma ‘hood, mask, covering for face’.
55/4 The line as printed must mean ‘I would rather admit I want thesethings than tell a lie’, but this does not make good sense, and themanuscript in fact has not ‘ﬂing’ but either ‘bing’ or ‘biug’, i.e. ‘bjúg’.
E. A. Kock, NN 2359, 2993 D, suggests that this is the feminine form of
the adjective ‘bjúgr’ (‘crooked, bent’) and that the line means ‘I would
rather (be) crippled (or shrivelled) than tell a lie’. The omission of ‘vera’(or ‘ver›a’) in this context seems however unidiomatic.
55/7 ‘Hann’ is in apposition to ‘tilkvámuma›r’; the sentence might bebetter punctuated: ‘ﬁá svarar hann, tilkvámuma›r sá er yztr sat’. But it ispossible that the scribe, who used an abbreviation for ‘hann’, intended‘henni’.
55/11 From the details given here and the order of the speeches that
follow it seems that the household and guests sat in this order: Bóndi,sonr, dóttir, ﬂræll, ambátt, Finnr, ﬁormó›r, Óláfr. It is not clear whether
they are sitting round the table or all along one side of it (in which casethe farmer must have been sitting at one end rather than in the middle),
but since Óláfr is said to sit ‘yztr’ (54/19) it is perhaps the latter; though
it is possible for the three guests to have been sitting opposite the membersof the household. The latter must at any rate have been all on the sameside of the farmer.
55/13 ‘Kyrt’ is presumably an alternative form of ‘kyr(r)›’ (silence),
but the phrase seems odd in the context (‘because of that silence’ or‘because of that solitude (in which they lived)’?). Or the word ‘kurt’Notes85

might have been intended (‘because of that courtly, i.e. strange, behaviour’).
In either case ‘ﬂeira’ would make rather better sense than ‘ﬂeiri’: theword is abbreviated in the manuscript, and is not quite clear, though infact it looks rather more like ‘ﬂeim’.
55/22 In this and the following verses (58/8, 60/8) ‘of’ has been printed
where the manuscript has ‘um’. ‘Um’ tended to replace ‘of’ both as adverb
and preposition from the thirteenth century onwards, but it is not certainthat these verses are so old that they would originally have had theform ‘of’.
56/3 Mörn is found in some manuscripts of Snorra Edda in a list ofnames of female trolls (SnE 196/5, see footnote), and is apparently usedhere in the plural as a common noun. In Haustlöng verse 6 ‘fa›ir mörna’is used as a kenning for ‘giant’ (though in verse 12 the singular form isused, ‘fa›ir Mörnar’; SnE 112/4, 113/8). But it is also possible that theauthor of the verses in Völsa ﬂáttr took Mörnir as a masculine singularproper name. Cf. MRN 257–58; Bo Almqvist, Norrön Niddiktning I(1965), pp. 167–78 and 233.
57/8 For ‘sverk’ the manuscript has ‘sver ek’; other verbal forms in theverses have been altered by the editor too: at 58/7 Flb has ‘mætta ek’,and at 58/17, 59/8 and 59/18 it has ‘hefig’.
Gefjun is characterised in SnE 38 as the patroness of virgins, though
in the account outside the framework of the stories in Gylfaginning(SnE 8) and in Hkr I 14–15 she has a very different nature (cf. Lokasennaverse 20, PE 100). It is uncertain whether there was ever a cult connectedwith her, and if so of what kind it was. In Breta sögur (Hauksbók, ed.
Eiríkur Jónsson and Finnur Jónsson, 1892–96, p. 241) and Gy›inga saga(ed. Gu›mundur ﬁorláksson, 1881, p. 24) she is identified with Diana/
Artemis, in Trójumanna saga (ed. J. Louis-Jensen, 1963, p. 10), where
there is a rather confused account of the judgement of Paris, apparently
with Minerva/Pallas Athene, and in Stjórn (ed. C. R. Unger, 1862, p. 90)
with Venus. See MRN 187–88; J. de Vries, Altgermanische Religionsgeschichte, 2nd edn. 1956–57, II 329–31; A. Holtsmark, Studier i Snorres
mytologi, 1964, pp. 69–71.

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Stories from Sagas of Kings

57/19 Cf. Rígsﬂula 4 (PE 280):ﬁá tók Eddaökkvinn hleif
ﬂungan ok ﬂykkan
ﬂrunginn sá›um.
Both Rígsﬂula and Völsa ﬂáttr give rather stylised pictures of servants.
58/17–20, 59/17–20 These lines are similar to parts of verses 5–11 inOrms ﬂáttr (Two Icelandic Stories, pp. 75–77). 58/17–18 lack alliteration;
one could perhaps substitute ‘úti’ for ‘ví›a’ (cf. E. A. Kock, NN 3175).
59/6 Flb has ‘var’, not ‘er’.
59/8 ‘Sákat’ is another editorial archaisation; Flb has ‘sá ek ei’ (‘ei’ isanother form of the negative adverb, equivalent to ‘eigi’).
59/10 Cf. ‘flenna allt le›r Haralds re›ri’ in Sneglu-Halla ﬂáttr (ÍF IX294) and the discussion by P. Foote in ‘Málsögulegt klám?’, Bjarnígull
sendur Bjarna Einarssyni sextugum (Reykjavík, 1977), pp. 48–52.
60/4–5 These two lines also occur in Baldrs Draumar verse 5 (PE 277).
60/8–11 ‘Lift me up to see if I can save’. It is not quite clear what thewife is doing here; she is maybe trying to cast spells, or perhaps justwants to be up higher to see more clearly what the dog is doing and to beable to speak to it without anyone being in the way.
60/13 The implied object of ‘sjá’ is presumably ‘such a thing’.
61/8 ‘Nú’ probably means the time of the author (‘by now’, i.e. sincethen): Óláfr’s canonisation and the miracles performed after his death
have by then shown clearly that God was pleased with him.
65/2 Vermundr (inn mjóvi) is mentioned in many sources and appears as
a prominent character in Eyrbyggja saga (ÍF IV), where in one place (p.
153) he is said to have lived in Vatnsfjör›r in the north-west of Iceland(see note ad loc.).

Notes87

65/6 ﬁjó›ólfr Arnórsson is well known as one of King Haraldr’s chief
poets, and a lot of his verse has been preserved (Skj A I 361–83). He also
is said to have come from the north of Iceland (in Sneglu-Halla ﬂáttr, ÍF
IX 263, 279) and to have died in 1066 (according to Hemings ﬂáttr, ed.
G. F. Jensen, 1962, pp. cxlv and 54; cf. ÍF IX cxii). See the account of
him in G. Turville-Petre, ‘Haraldr the Hard-ruler and his Poets’, Dorothea
Coke memorial lecture, 1968, pp. 10 ff.
65/7 ‘-ma›r’ is lacking in Msk.
65/10 Cf. Msk 251, where King Haraldr declares that Gizurr Ísleifsson
had qualities that would fit him to be either a viking leader, a king or abishop (he in fact became the last); and Bandamanna saga, ÍF VII 348–49.
Flateyjarbók III 379 has the episode about Gizurr and King Haraldr insimilar form to that in Morkinskinna. In Hungrvaka ch. 4 (ÍF XVI 14)
it is slightly different, and the king only says in general terms that Gizurr
would be very well suited to whatever title of honour he might obtain.
65/19 I.e. the tie of the cloak was up round his forehead to lift the cloak
off his shoulders and give him greater freedom of movement for his arms.
66/8, 14 Deictic use of demonstrative and repeated article, see glossary
under ‘inn’ and cf. SnE 50/8 (Heusler 410–11, pp. 126–27; NION I
85–86).
66/15 The implied object of ‘gefi’ is ‘it’ (the axe).
67/7 ‘ﬁá’: ‘that one (hand)’ (acc. sg. f., in apposition to ‘eina höndina’,
object of ‘eiga’). The ‘at’-phrase indicates the purpose of the one hand.

Stories from Sagas of Kings

88

GLOSSARY
All words in the texts are glossed except common pronouns, but only
select references are given. The following abbreviations are used:a.
abs(ol).
acc.
adv.
art.
aux.
comp.
conj.
dat.
def.
e-m
e-n
e-s
e-t
e-u
f.
gen.
imp.
impers.
indecl.
inf.
interrog.
irreg.
m.
md.

adjective
absolute(ly)accusative
adverb(ial)articleauxiliarycomparative
conjunction
dativedefinite
einhverjum
einhvern
einhvers
eitthvert
einhverju
feminine
genitive
imperativeimpersonal
indeclinableinfinitive
interrogative
irregular
masculine
middle voice
wv.

n.
neg.
nom.
num.
ord.
o-self
p.
pers.
pl.
poss.
pp.
prep.
pres.
pres. p.
pret. pres.
pron.
rel.
sg.
s-one
s-thing
subj.
subst.
sup.
sv.
vb.
weak verb

neuternegativenominative
numeralordinaloneself
past
personpluralpossessive
past participle
preposition(al)present
present participle
preterite-present
pronounrelativesingularsomeonesomethingsubjunctive
substantive
superlativestrong verb
verb

Glossary89á (1) pres. sg. of eiga.
á (2) f. river 27/16.
á (3) prep. (1) with acc., to 5/15, 12/28; into 9/11; onto 28/23, 52/16; on
10/6, 35/23; at 54/24; against 6/21; in, with, as regards 6/8, 45/19; oftime when, 27/29. (2) with dat., in 11/9, 53/25; on 9/23, 55/1; for 61/7;
towards 9/18, 14/17; at 9/21, 13/4; of time during which, 43/7, 52/7,
57/21. (3) as adv., 11/18, 26/25, 27/27, 35/24, 39/6, 61/4, 67/4; see
under verbs.
á›r adv. before 8/21; already 8/29; on an (the) earlier occasion 23/25,
39/5; previously (just?) 9/11 (ﬂar sem . . . á›r: after); first 14/13; inadvance 37/12; above (in a book) 17/3. As conj., before 14/7, 38/23;
á›r en 46/4, 54/2.
ádrykkja f. drinking (to s-one); sitja fyrir á. e-s: be s-one’s drinking
partner 45/2 (see note).
af prep. with dat., from 5/1, 11, 6/26, 18/17; off 52/10, 23; of, out of,from among 10/18, 18/18 (partitive, see slíkr); out of (material) 30/8;
by (agent) 5/5, 60/20; about 54/5; because of 55/13. As adv., with (it)8/5; about (it) 25/19; off 22/4, 52/15, 66/29; away 61/4; see he›an,lí›a, standast, víkja.
afarkostir m. pl. harsh treatment 10/8.
afgamall a. ancient, decrepit 10/16.
afklæddr a. (pp.) undressed 36/1.
aftann m. evening 19/21; í aftan: this evening 56/12, 22; sí› um aftan:
late at night 27/20.
aftr adv. back 11/15, 13/20.
agi m. turbulence, hostility, warfare 17/11.
áhyggjusvipr m. appearance of worry, a look (expression) of anxiety 18/11.
áhöfn f. cargo 17/21.
ákals n. clamouring, importunate (insistent) demand 19/2.
akkeri n. anchor 28/24.
álag n. imposition, burdensome requirement 18/21.
albúinn a. (pp.) quite ready 27/18.
aldr m. age 6/4.
aldra›r a. (pp.) advanced in years, elderly 51/6, 10.
aldri, aldrigi adv. never 13/21, 67/7.

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Stories from Sagas of Kings

aleng›ar adv. for the future, in the long run, permanently (except for ashort time) 9/5.
alhuga›r a. (pp.) in earnest, meant seriously 23/4 (spelled ‘alogat’ inMsk; perhaps adverbial).
áli›inn a. (pp.) far spent; á einu áli›nu hausti: late one autumn 52/7.
alld‡rr a. pretty dear 11/7.
allglöggliga adv. very closely (attentively, precisely) 59/6.
allglöggr a. very attentive; n. as adv., with great discernment 39/5.
alllangt a. n. as noun, a very long time 26/5.
allódaufligr a. not at all dull, the opposite of dull (lethargic, weak) 53/3.
allr a. all 10/19, 11/21; every 59/20; alla y›r: all of you 12/10; the whole
26/27, 27/3; as intensive, entire(ly) 60/2, absolute(ly) 61/3; n. allt:
everything 14/1, 36/25, 45/25; as adv., allt ﬂar til: right on until 36/7.
alls conj. since 35/17.
allvel adv. truly, very much, pretty 11/4; very well 39/10.
ambátt f. maidservant, female slave 51/17, 52/18, 53/1.
andkæta f. mutual pleasure (enjoyment) 58/11.
andlit n. face 10/13; frá andliti sér: from his face 13/16.
andnes n. promontory 51/3, 11, 54/5, 58/18.
andnesma›r m. person who lives on a promontory (in isolation) 51/1,
54/1.
andstygg› f. disgusting thing, abomination 53/6.
andsvar n. reply 45/4.
annarr pron. a. (1) other 5/12, 6/18; another 7/17, 24/5; a›rir: otherpeople 8/16; sá einn annarr: the only other one (to be) 8/9; different(en: from, than) 24/25; annat: s-thing else, a different life 20/4, anothercourse of action 8/20, anything else 53/8; eigi annat: nothing else
14/4; allt annat: everything else 36/25, 45/26; margt annat (withpartitive gen.): many other 38/26; ö›ru sinni: next time 36/23, a second
time 23/13; annan dag eftir: next day 18/8. (2) one (of two) 22/11,
54/17, 66/29; annarr . . . annarr: the one . . . the other 7/21–22.
arfr m. inheritance 47/11.
árgali m. early riser, cockerel 30/11.
árrisull a. early rising 20/24.
ásjá f. help, protection 5/17.

Glossary91ásjóna f. face, appearance 13/25.
áskynja a. indecl. aware; ver›a á.: find out, realise 60/21.
-at neg. suffix used with verbs 28/1, 59/8.
at (1) conj. that 10/2, 14/16; so that 19/1, 27/1; in order that 38/16; ﬂat. . . at, introducing a noun clause 5/6, 11/11; pleonastic in at . . . at
7/10, 11/19; as rel. 7/15 (such that, such as), 8/9 (so that?), 12/22 (sothat? by which?), 13/23 (when?), 22/8. See ﬂó, ﬂví.
at (2) prep. with dat., at 10/12, 35/3; to 6/16, 26/22; in 6/4, 6/23; up to,towards 7/2, 10/14; as to 12/7; at ﬂví: according to that, if that is so
45/18; at ﬂví sem: according to what 51/7; with pp., at svá tölu›u:
this having been said 13/16; of time, in, at, to 19/13, 21/10; vera at: beengaged with, work at 28/24; see setja; with inf., to 6/13, 7/27, 54/25, inorder to 20/25, 45/6. As adv., see bera, ganga, hafa, hyggja, ﬂykkja.
With comp. in neg. sentences, the (for that reason) 21/18, 29/9; followedby ﬂó-clause, 21/24; followed by at-clause, to this extent 37/28.
át see eta.
atgangr m. agression, belligerence; veita e-m atgang: attack s-one (withdemands) 18/29.
athafnarlauss a. inactive, without doing anything 6/28.
átján num. eighteen 9/27.
atkoma f. arrival (til: at) 19/6 (see note).
átrúna›r m. faith, religion 53/16.
átti ord. num. eighth 22/6.
atyr›i n. pl. (verbal) abuse 7/1.
au›sénn a. (pp.) obvious 67/5.
au›s‡nn a. evident, obvious 61/8.
auka (jók) sv. increase; pp. aukinn: swollen, enlarged (strengthened,
made powerful?) 55/21; md. aukast: multiply, breed, reproduce 52/13.
aurar pl. of eyrir.
austan adv. from the east, towards the west 17/4.
austr adv. east, in the east, towards the east; in Norway, in or towards
Vík (Oslofjord), from whatever part of the country and even if theroute taken is round the coast, 18/13, 26/8, 33/8, 46/8, 47/11.
ávallt adv. always 67/7.
ávíta (a›) wv. criticise, find fault with, rebuke, reprove 20/25.

92

Stories from Sagas of Kingsbá›ir pron. dual both 27/4, 28/18.
bákn n. monstrosity 59/24.
banahögg n. death-blow 7/2.
band n. tie, cord (of cloak) 65/19.
bann n. prohibition (fyrir e-t at: on s-thing against (its doing s-thing);
the at-clause indicates what is prohibited) 18/16.
banna (a›) wv. forbid (e-m e-t: s-one s-thing) 27/15.
barn n. child 51/7, 53/17.
bátr m. boat, ship’s boat 28/24.
battu 2nd pers. sg. p. of bi›ja (= batt ﬂú).
bei›a (dd) wv. ask for (with gen.) 5/13, 18/28, 25/15; abs., ask 28/15;
with at-clause 5/16.
beinleiki m. hospitality, service 43/18.
beinn a. straight, direct; n. as adv. 23/15.
bekkr m. bench, seat 44/5, 54/17, 59/11.
belgr m. pelt 30/12 (pl.).
bera (bar) sv. carry, take 20/29 (i.e. back), 53/6; bring out, carry round56/12; put 53/11; see vitni; b. e-t á um e-t: lay s-thing on about s-thing,heap up s-thing about s-thing, speak with s-thing of s-thing 39/5; b.
fram: repeat, retail 6/18 (‘they were just then repeating’). Impers.,
e-n berr: one is carried (on a ship); berr ﬂá undan: they get (areblown, carried) away, the wind takes them away 28/28, 29/2; e-mberr illa: one is spoken (thought) badly of 23/25 (‘and that it shouldbe even more to my discredit’); b. at: happen 5/6; berr e-t at höndum
29/8 (see hönd); b. til: happen, turn out 9/25, 52/7; ﬂá berr vel til:that’s good 35/27; at 8/2 the phrase may mean ‘be the cause’ (‘thishas caused it, that’ or ‘it has came about in such a way that’); berr
e-m nau›syn (acc.) til e-s: s-thing is forced on s-one by necessity,
one finds one has no alternative to s-thing 18/21.
bergst 3rd pers. sg. pres. md. of bjarga.
berja (bar›a) sv. hit; md. berjast: fight (vi› e-n: against s-one) 14/9.
bermæltr a. (pp.) outspoken 29/13.
betr adv. comp. better 8/29, 37/25; (e-m) ﬂykkir ekk b. er: one is not(better) pleased that 27/14.
betrast (a›) wv. md. improve 12/5.

Glossary93

betri a. comp. better; betra ﬂætti oss: we would prefer 18/21.
beytill m. horse’s penis 56/19.
beztr a. sup. best 20/4, 21/9, 22/8 (weak dat. sg. m.).
bí›a (bei›) sv. wait 23/26, 54/19; await, wait and see 18/7.
bi›ja (ba›) sv. ask; b. (e-n) e-s: ask (s-one) for s-thing 37/10, 38/5; b.
e-n bænar: make a request of s-one, ask s-one a favour 37/8; b. fyrir
e-m: ask (a favour), beg on behalf of s-one 14/5; with at-clause, ask,
beg 5/10, 7/5; with inf., order (s-thing to be done) 7/3; with acc. andinf., ask, tell, bid, command (s-one to do s-thing) 5/7, 6/20, 12/6, 14/4.
bi›leika (a›) wv. wait 24/20.
bil n. moment 20/13.
binda (batt) sv. tie up, pack up 23/19; md. bindask vi› at: stop o-self
from, hold back from 58/8 (‘I could not help’).
bjarga (barg, borgit) sv. with dat., save 60/10; md. save o-self, lookafter o-self, get along 25/25 (‘everyone worked as hard as they could
to save themselves’).
bjuggu p. pl. of búa.
blár a. black 10/13.
blása (blés) sv. blow (a trumpet); var blásit: a trumpet was blown
18/8, 19/5.
blau›r a. cowardly, effeminate; of animals, female 34/29, 35/8 (a playon the two meanings is probably intended).
blí›a f. pleasantness, what is enjoyable 29/12.
blí›liga adv. gladly 58/5.
blí›ligr a. cheerful-looking 19/8.
blí›r a. happy; sup., most conducive to happiness, pleasantest, mostagreeable 20/4.
blindr a. blind 43/5.
blæti n. sacrifice, abject of worship, religious symbol, object of cult or
ritual 56/4, 60/7, 11.
bo› n. invitation 29/24.
bóndadóttir f. farmer’s daughter, daughter of the house 52/3, 53/5.
bóndason(r) m. farmer’s son, son of the house 52/1, 16, 56/17.
bóndi m. farmer, householder 33/10, 51/6, 17, 52/4; head of household
56/5; in direct address 34/5, 35/27; husband 53/17.

94

Stories from Sagas of Kingsbor› n. table, meal 7/23, 8/1; side of ship; fyrir b.: overboard 10/2.
bor›avíti n. table-penalty, meal-sconce 7/22.
borgit: see bjarga.
brá p. of breg›a.
brag› n. action, trick, cunning device 17/1; pl. trickery, traps; setja brög›
til: introduce trickery into 21/25.
braut adv. away 66/29.
brautbúna›r m. preparation (readiness) for departure 23/29 (‘on the
point of going’).
bréf n. letter; legal document, deed, charter 38/15, 46/9.
breg›a (brá) sv. with dat., leave off 66/27; b. til fix it, bring about by ingenuity 27/4; impers., e-m breg›r vi› (e-t): one reacts (to s-thing) (mjök:
violently), one is (much) taken aback, affected (by s-thing) 29/7, 60/3.
breka (a›) wv. ask for, demand, nag for (often used of children) 25/7.
brenna (nnd) wv. burn (transitive); pp., purified, pure (of silver) 25/6.
breyta (tt) wv. with dat., change; er breytt e-u: s-thing is changed 21/13;
b. málum vi› e-n: address s-one, adopt language of a certain kindtowards s-one (implying the use of an unusual style of speech, departingfrom the norm) 46/17.
brjóta (braut) sv. break; b. e-t til e-s: break s-thing down (or into s-thing)so as to reach s-one 19/1 (see note); md. brjótast at e-m: force one’s
way in to s-one, burst in on s-one 27/25.
bró›ir (pl. bræ›r) m. brother 55/15.
brosa (t) wv. smile 59/6.
brott adv. away 5/14, 9/9, 10/1; í b., á b.: away 9/15, 11/13.
brú›kona f. bridesmaid, woman 56/20.
bruna (a›) wv. advance with speed, bear down (at e-m: on s-one) 33/18.
bryg›i subj. of breg›a.
bú n. dwelling, farm 12/27; gera bú: set up house, settle down, go andlive (í: at) 29/18.
búa (bjó) sv. (1) live, farm 13/4, 30/15; búa í skapi: see skap. (2) prepare,make preparations for, get ready for 17/8, 18/20; make ready 22/19,
27/16; pp., búinn (a.): ready 22/21; dressed 10/12; adorned 43/12; tilbúinn: ready, prepared 34/19; búinn til hafs: ready to go to sea 27/16.
Md., prepare o-self, get ready (til: for) 22/21, 23/1, 33/12 (‘were sittingGlossary95

down to’, ‘were about to have’); búast brott: be setting out, be getting
ready to depart, be about to leave 45/29; búast at (with inf.): be about
to do s-thing 54/25.
búna›r m. preparations 18/25.
búningr m. attire, equipment, the way one is fitted out 66/3.
byggja (gg›) wv. dwell, farm 51/3; with acc., inhabit, live in 26/6.
byr›ingr m. cargo vessel 23/21.
byrja (a›) wv. impers., e-m byrjar vel: one has a good (fair) wind, one
has a good journey 28/28.
byrr m. (fair) wind 27/27; byrr var hægr: there was a favourable wind
54/10.
byrvænligr a. promising a fair wind, looking like a fair wind 27/18.
bæ›i adv. (conj.) both 6/10, 18/17.
bæjarma›r a. inhabitant of a town; pl., townsfolk 18/9.
bæn f. request 37/9.
bær m. farm 33/13, 43/12; town 18/8, 27/19.
bæta (tt) wv. pay compensation, atone (e-t: for s-thing, e-m: to s-one)
14/11; b. at e-u: repair s-thing 23/18 (impers., ‘repairs were made to’).
dagliga adv. daily, every day 52/1.
dagr m. day 6/15, 9/20; ﬂenna dag: today 12/14; haf gó›an dag: goodmorning 37/5: in pl., time; á dögum Haralds: during H.’s reign 43/7.
dánarfé n. inheritance 33/6, 38/16.
dau›adagr m. day of (one’s) death 13/5.
daufligr a. boring; eiga daufligt: be bored, find it boring 44/27.
deyja (dó) sv. die 52/8.
djarfmæltr a. (pp.) bold in speech, outspoken, not afraid to say anything
33/5.
djörfung f. boldness, audacity, impudence 35/17; ‘liberty’ 24/24.
dómr m. judgement, decision 27/4.
dóttir f. daughter 5/23, 13/3.
draga (dró) sv. draw, pull 57/4; metaphorically, 61/7; d. upp: hoist 58/20.
drápa f. poem consisting of a series of verses with refrain (as opposed
to flokkr) 36/17, 39/17.
drekka (drakk) sv. drink 20/3, 21/16; d. af: drain (a vessel), drink off(sc. horninu) 20/16, 22/4.

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drengr m. (valiant) man 51/15 (subject, same as karl 51/9); gó›r d.: adecent fellow 20/9.
drengskapr m. honourable character, decency 24/29.
drepa (drap) sv. kill 8/9, 9/17.
drjúgsk‡rligr a. very intelligent 51/16 (acc., with dóttur).
drjúgum adv. almost, practically 19/1.
dróttning f. queen 27/21; the queen 28/7, 14.
drykkja f. (the act of) drinking 20/18; vi› drykkju: over their drinking,at a feast 26/12.
drykkjustofa f. room where drinking is taking place, dining room 38/24.
drykkr m. drink 34/21.
dúkr m. cloth 55/20.
duga (›) wv. be sufficient, be any good, be powerful enough (with inf.,
to be able to do s-thing) 7/15; do one’s best, pull one’s weight 11/20.
dularklæ›i n. pl. disguise 60/16.
dura, durum gen. and dat. of dyrr.
dvelja (dval›a) wv. delay; md., linger, wait around 28/22.
d‡fliza f. dungeon 6/27.
d‡r n. animal 52/13.
d‡rkan f. worship; e-m til d‡rkanar: in glorification of s-one, in worshipof s-one 53/15.
dyrr f. pl. doorway, entrance 6/16, 7/3.
d‡rr a. dear 10/23, 11/3; high in rank, noble 38/26; n. as adv., d‡rt:dearly, at a high price 11/12.
d‡rshorn n. animal horn 20/14.
dælleikr m. freedom, familiarity (in dealing with s-one); usually in pl.,ger allt í dælleikum vi› oss: don’t stand on ceremony, do as you
please 44/3.
dæmi n. example; s-thing on which to base a judgement (dómr),explanation 35/16, see note.
e›a conj. or 34/29, 47/18; or even 34/10; linking two questions, and13/9, 17/17; linking a question to a statement, but 17/17, 34/26.
ef conj. if 21/21, 36/2; ﬂá . . . ef: under those circumstances . . . if 8/17,
33/22 (similarly, ef . . . ﬂá 7/27, 9/18); introducing a noun clause,
13/7, 66/11; whether 60/10.

Glossary97

efna (d) wv. perform, carry out, fulfil 30/2.
efni n. materials; pl., ability, promise; e. eru í: possibilities exist, arepresent 39/11.
eftir prep. (1) with dat., after; in pursuit of 26/21; see leggja; fara e.: goand fetch 67/8; leita e. seek for 7/16; along, over, down 37/4; according
to 8/17, 52/11; e. ﬂví sem: according to what 14/1, 51/2, 52/13. (2)with acc., for (a dead person) 8/13; of time, after 18/24, 22/19. (3) asadv., behind 19/21, 33/18; see hafa, standa; vera e.: remain behind,
stay put 18/4, be over, be outstanding, remain 27/13; of time, afterwards
54/20; following 19/5, see annarr, næstr; e. um sumarit: thefollowing summer 19/18.
eftirmál n. suit (prosecution for a killing) on account of a dead person
8/13.
eiga (átta) pret. pres. vb. have 7/8, 9/7 (see vera); own 12/23, 18/18;
have as wife 5/22; eiga hlut: involve o-self (see hlutr); with n. a.,find it (see daufligr) 44/27; beget 51/13; have a right to 38/16; with atand inf., have the right or intention 33/6; ætti with inf., ought, would
be proper 33/21; with at and inf., ought, must 12/13; e. mikit undir
sér um: be greatly gifted with, have great power as regards, haveaccess to a great deal of 39/12; e. um vi› e-n: have to do with s-one
29/14; e. vi› e-n um e-t: deal with s-one about s-thing, negotiate withs-one about s-thing 27/7.
eigi adv. not 5/13, 7/7; ﬂat er e.: that is not so 44/29.
eignast (a›) wv. md. become possessor of, have as one’s own 25/11.
einkum adv. particularly 25/25.
einn num., pron., a., one, a certain 5/6, 10/6; some 8/14; a single 12/17,
18/18; one, alone, only 8/9, 12/22, 13/5, 6, 33/17; just 36/15; ﬂú einn:
you on your own, for yourself 11/23; vit ein (pl.): we two alone together
58/10; fyrir einum manni: before one of the men 33/14; eina höndina:(only) the one hand (arm) 67/6; í einu: in one stroke, in one piece
52/11; ferr allt at einu: it all goes the same way, it’s just as before, it
doesn’t get any better 44/12; til ﬂess eins at: solely in order to 21/25.
ein(n)hverr (n. eitthvert) pron., a., some 7/6; one, a certain 6/15, 23/9,
26/11, 54/2; some kind of 53/14.
einskis gen. of ekki (2) and engi 21/7, 23/6.

98

Stories from Sagas of Kingseinsætt a. n. the obvious thing to do, the only thing to do 21/7.
ekki (1) adv. not 6/25, 11/1, 13/28.
ekki (2) pron. n. (of engi) nothing 6/29 (or adv.?), 9/7, 11/16, 66/18;
gen. sg. einskis 21/7; e. nema nothing but 17/18, 19/10.
eldast (ld) wv. grow old 30/11.
eldri a. comp. older 52/3.
elli f. old age 30/15.
elligar adv. otherwise, if not 25/14.
ellri a. comp. older 9/29.
ellstr a. sup. oldest 13/2.
elta (lt) wv. chase; md., lætr eltast: lets himself be chased, makes his
escape 26/22.
en conj. and, but 5/7, 7/22; after comp., than 6/23, 8/20, as 36/18, 57/21(see hálfr); than that 14/5; annarr en: different from what 24/25;
heldr en: rather than 36/24; see á›r, fyrr.
enda conj. but also, nevertheless 12/20; and moreover 27/9, 28/5, 12;
and so 66/13.
engi pron. no one 6/12, 7/3; as a., no 7/12, 9/5, 17/9, gen. sg. einskis
23/6; n. (see ekki (2)) nothing 11/14; gen. sg. n. engis 17/22; í engu:
in no way 12/20; hafa at engu: see hafa.
enn adv. yet (after neg.) 11/1, 26/5; even yet 24/7; still 44/12, 45/17;
again 11/16, 23/26, 24/20; more 36/5, 45/8; also, in addition (toeveryone else) 59/15; further, a longer time 18/7, 23/26; with comp.,
still 9/14, 38/5; enn meiri: the more (as a result) 9/19; see heldr.
er conj. when 12/6, 13/19; while 23/9; as 28/25; it being the case that(when, since) 13/27 (in that), 20/18, 29/15 (when? i.e. after he becameking), 36/20; introducing a noun clause, that (if, when) 5/13, 27/15(when?); sjá (vb.) er: see where (see s-one doing s-thing), or sjá (ﬂat)er (‘saw H. being carried’) 29/2. With adverbs, sí›an er: after 5/4,
sí›an . . . er: since 26/6; ﬂá er, ﬂá . . . er, er . . . ﬂá: when 8/20, 9/23,
22/20; ﬂar . . . er: where 8/13 (see sjá); ﬂar til er: to where 27/20; nú. . . er: now . . . when (that, since) 33/24. As rel., who, which 18/20,
66/22; during which, while 17/7; sá er, sá . . . er: who 5/6, 34/28, he
who 10/7, a . . . who 5/22; ﬂat er: which 6/18, what 5/13; hverr . . .
er: whichever 7/10; slíkt er: whatever 8/5.

Glossary99

erendi n. errand, business; pl., fara sinna erenda: go about one’s
business (affairs) 38/22, 43/22.
erendlaust adv. without achieving an errand, without fulfilling one’s
purpose 28/2.
erfidrápa f. memorial poem, a drápa in honour of a dead person 47/17.
ermr f. arm, sleeve 66/29, 67/1.
eta (át) wv. eat 9/6.
etjutík f. hunting dog (bitch) 52/4.
ey›a (dd) wv. destroy, get rid of 61/4.
eykhestr m. (male) cart-horse 52/7.
eyrir (pl. aurar) m. ounce (of silver) 10/22, 25/6.
fá (fekk) sv. (1) get, receive 5/10, 18/4; provide, get 25/24; fá sér: provide
o-self with, find o-self 24/5, 33/8; fá ríki: come to power 5/4; withgen., marry (a wife) 13/3. (2) give 9/7; fá e-m e-t: give s-one s-thing
8/21, 17/21. (3) with pp., be able to, manage to 11/14, 22/2, 60/10. (4)Md., fást í: set about, busy o-self in 6/13; fást upp á e-n: attack s-one
6/21 (provoke?).
fa›ir m. father 17/21, 34/28.
fagna (a›) wv. with dat., welcome 33/20, 43/17.
fagna›artí›endi n. pl. pleasant (welcome) news or events 29/9.
fala (a›) wv. ask to buy, ask the price of 11/14; offer to buy 11/17, 27/5
(at e-m: from s-one).
falla (fell) sv. fall 65/23; e-m fellr hugr til: one has a mind (desire) for,one fancies 55/3.
fallinn a. (pp.) fitted, suitable, worthy (til: to be) 65/10.
falslauss a.; n. as adv., without double dealing, without being cheated 24/11.
fámæltr a. (pp.) reserved, not saying much, not speaking often 29/12.
fang n. embrace, arms 55/18.
far n. passage, place on a ship 18/28.
fár a. few 7/14, 17/23; pl., fáir: few people 13/14; n., fátt: little; finnast
fátt um: respond coldly 56/7 (similarly 57/5; see gera, láta); er fáttum me›: there is coldness between 21/10.
fara (fór) sv. go 23/8, 54/13; imp., far›u: go 66/21; travel 33/6, 59/9;
move, be passed 59/11; take place, turn out 24/4; with cognate acc.,
go on (journeys) 34/2; with gen. 38/21, 22, 43/22; impers., fór: it went

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Stories from Sagas of Kings

on 36/6; see fjarri; ﬂannug er farit: so it is, the case is thus 25/22;
with at and inf., proceed to, go and 34/17; f. at e-u: go on s-thing, go
to s-thing 34/3, take notice of, bother about s-thing 22/16 (‘one can’t
do anything about that, that can’t be helped’); f. at e-u me›: behave
about s-thing with, go about s-thing with 24/13; f. eftir (with dat.): gofor, go and fetch 28/9, 67/8; f. eftir e-u: go according to s-thing; fór
allt eftir ﬂví sem: everything was fulfilled that 14/1; f. fram: happen,
be carried out, be put into effect 8/21 (i.e. s-thing else would havebeen more just than what was actually done), 26/7, be performed 54/5;
hvat fram ferr: how it will go (turn out) 11/28; ferr svá fram: so it
goes on 27/9; f. me› e-u me›: treat s-thing with, behave towards s-thingwith 24/26; f. me› e-u illa: treat s-thing badly, behave badly withs-thing 22/13; hversu færi me› ﬂeim: what passed between them
66/1, 19; f. saman 9/1, see saman; f. svá: meet the same fate, go thesame way 8/28, go on thus, behave thus 47/6; f. undan um e-t: draw
back from, be reluctant about, try to get out of 27/14.
fararefni n. pl. means for a journey, that which needs to be provided fora (trading) journey (i.e. goods, cargo) 17/17.
fararskjóti m. means of travelling, lift, transport 33/8.
fastr a. fast, firm; comp. n. as adv., fastara: more assiduously(constantly) 21/3.
fátala›r a. (pp.) reticent, laconic 5/10.
fé n. property, money 27/27, 46/10; payment 21/14.
feginn a. glad; ver›a f. e-u: be pleased with s-thing 19/16.
fégjöf f. gift of money or valuables 67/10.
feitr a. fat 52/8.
félagi m. companion, friend 34/7.
féna (a›) wv.; impers., fénar: it becomes (is becoming, has become)profitable 66/21.
fer› f. journey 18/20, 46/7; pl., travels 6/2.
festa (st) wv. fasten, tie, hang 30/4.
finna (fann, fundinn) wv. find 14/1; find out, discover 44/24 (‘it became
apparent to the king’); notice, see 17/12, 20/21; go and see, go to meet
18/1; md., finnast: become apparent 53/24; reciprocal, meet each other
21/5, 28/5; finnast um: respond to s-thing 56/7 (see láta).

Glossary101

fjandi m. devil 53/18.
fjárheimta f. claiming of money, payment 28/3.
fjárhlutr m. property 12/25.
fjarri prep. with dat., far from 51/5; ﬂví ferr fjarri: (it is) far from it
36/11.
fjöl›i m. a large number 21/15.
fjölmenni n. crowd, number of people 10/11; vi› f.: in a large community(as opposed to in isolation) 52/4.
fjölmennr a. attended by many people, large 9/20.
fjötra (a›) wv. fetter 10/7.
flá (fló, fleginn) sv. skin, strip the skin off 52/10 (er fleginn var: when
it was being skinned or when it had been skinned?).
fleiri a. comp. (pl.) more (people) 18/28; more than one, several (men)9/2; other (people) 8/28; any more, further 55/9; hálfu fleiri en: twice
as many as 36/17; fleirum with comp.: than (many, most) others 66/21;
n. sg., s-thing else 38/5.
flenna (t) wv. strip back, unsheathe; pp., with skin pulled back 59/10.
flestr a. sup. most 6/23, 13/2; sem flesta: as many (people) as possible
61/7.
flimta (a›) wv. lampoon, compose insulting verse about 6/13.
fljótr a. quick, eager, ready, easily persuaded; comp., 60/18.
flokkr m. a poem consisting of a series of stanzas without a refrain 36/14,
45/7 (cf. drápa).
flot n. floating; á floti: afloat, launched 28/27.
flug n. flight, swift movement; á flugi: in a flutter (turmoil) 60/3.
flytja (flutta) wv. carry, transport 10/5, 12/24; take, assist 23/17; support,
give support to, speak in favour of 38/11; plead (vi› e-n: to s-one) 5/8.
fólk n. people 54/6.
for›a (a›) wv. save (e-m fyrir: s-one from) 7/27.
for›um adv. before, previously 59/8.
fordæ›uskapr m. sin, wickedness, evil-doing (particularly sorcery or
witchcraft) 61/5.
formáli m. prayer, ritual speech, formula, rigmarole 53/14.
forn a. ancient 51/2.
fornskáld n. ancient poet 52/14.

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forverkslítill a. little fit (good) for labour or service 10/24.
fóstra (a›) wv. foster, bring up 43/2.
fóstri m. foster-father; -son, or -brother 8/18 (here foster-son, see note).
fótr m. foot, leg; á fótum: up (out of bed) 23/28.
frá prep. with dat., from 5/14, 9/10; away from 13/16, 23/21; about 9/22,
10/1; see hverr. As adv., he›an frá: from now on 28/5.
fram adv. forward, straight on 23/11; down, in front (of s-one) 60/1; out(into the open) 12/6, (into the kitchen) 53/9, 54/25; of time, on 21/10;
see bera, fara, fyrir, halda, selja, setja, um.
framarla, framarliga adv. boldly, arrogantly, forwardly, with lack ofmoderation, pretentiously 25/18, 38/2, 39/6.
framgjarn a. pushing, bold, demanding, asking too much, difficult tosatisfy 25/13.
frásögn f. relation, narration, story-telling 6/3.
frelsi n. freedom 12/12, 13/6.
frétta (tt) wv. learn, receive news (af: of) 54/4 (or this may be the noun
frétt f., news).
fri›ast (a›) wv. md. make one’s peace, seek for reconciliation (vi›:with) 7/25.
fri›r m. peace; security, indemnity, friendship 9/5.
frí›r a. handsome 29/4.
frumsmí› f. first work (attempt), beginner’s work 38/2.
fræ›ima›r m. scholar, man of learning; a man able to tell stories, orrecite poems, a man with a large repertoire, of extensive knowledge
35/25, 36/3, 45/18.
frækleikr m. valour 6/23.
frændi (pl. frændr) m. relation, kinsman 7/8, 8/3.
fullgerla adv. completely, perfectly 13/22.
fullreyna (d) wv.; pp., er ﬂetta fullreynt: it is fully tested, the situation
has been fully revealed, it has gone far enough 23/23.
fundr m. meeting; á fund e-s, til fundar vi› e-n: to see, meet, visit
s-one 18/25, 29/26, 66/16, 67/2.
fylg› f. attendance, following, service 24/18.
fylgja (lg›) wv. with dat., accompany, follow 12/6; be in s-one’s retinue
23/4; take (s-one somewhere), show (s-one to a place) 44/1; beGlossary103

attentive to, attend upon 20/20, 21/3; comply with, conform to, keep
up with 20/2, 57/5.
fyrir prep. (l) with acc., for 7/10, 13/24; before, in(to) the presence(hearing) of 6/18, 7/24; up to 26/16; because of, in connection with 8/1,
14/17; in return for, in exchange for 9/2, 13/6, 46/6; for, as (price)
10/22, 11/5, 12/2; as equal to 28/11; as 53/16; on behalf of, instead of
21/1; over, past 10/2; su›r f. land: southwards along the coast, to thesouth of the country 22/20; f. lög fram: contrary to (in spite of) thelaw, without regard to the law 9/27. (2) with dat., in front of 10/13,
33/14; before, to 36/21, 60/17; for 7/6; f. e-m: on s-one’s behalf 14/5;
in the face of, from 7/15, 27, 8/15 (to the detriment of); off(-shorefrom) 58/18; because of 19/2; f. ﬂví therefore, for that reason 18/15,
25/23; ago 9/22; see for›a, landflótta, láta, rá›a, sjá, ver›a. (3) Asadv., in advance 33/23; present 52/17, 65/17; see hugsa, segja; ﬂar f.:
as a result, because of that (these) 53/11; ﬂar f. er: past where, by
where 20/12.
fyrr adv. comp. earlier 21/14; before 12/10, 19/20, 46/17; fyrr en, fyrr
. . . en (as conj.): before, until 7/4, 18/17, 37/29.
fyrrgreindr a. (pp.) aforementioned 54/9.
fyrri (1) a. comp. earlier, former, first (of two) 3/3, 13/23; fyrra dag:
the day before yesterday (or yesterday?) 19/11.
fyrri (2) adv. before 37/27, 59/10.
fyrst adv. sup. first, first of all 8/21, 9/3; immediately, to begin with
8/19; nú f.: for (at) the moment, for the time being 37/2, 45/28.
fyrsta f. beginning; í fyrstu: to begin with, first of all 30/11, 52/10.
fyrstr a. sup. first 19/7 (see lag), 38/3 (i.e. ‘if you make me the firstsubject of your verse’); gera e-t f. manna: be the first person to dos-thing, do s-thing before everyone else 53/22.
f‡sa (t) wv. impers., e-n f‡sir: one is eager, has a desire (to go somewhere)
17/15.
fæ› f. coldness, unfriendliness 23/4.
fæ›a f. food; sér til fæ›u: as food for themselves 52/9.
færa (›) wv. bring, present (e-t e-m: s-thing to s-one) 10/5, 19/13, 66/1;
deliver 39/2; f. e-m e-t: put something at some-one’s disposal 7/25, 8/5.
færi (1) subj. of fara 66/1.

104

Stories from Sagas of Kingsfæri (2) a. comp. fewer 11/25, 45/16.
færr a. capable (um e-t: of s-thing), able (til at gera e-t: to do (of doing)s-thing) 20/2 (see note); f. til: suited, suitable, competent for 25/28.
fö›urfa›ir m. (paternal) grandfather 37/20, 46/23.
för f. journey, coming, undertaking; f. mín: my coming 28/3.
förunautr m. companion 27/21, 28/20.
föruneyti n. company 25/10.
gagn n. benefit, use; til gagns: of some use 53/9.
gagnvert n. a. as adv. (prep.) with dat., opposite 34/24.
gálgi m. gallows 30/4.
gamall a. old 9/27, 10/15.
gamalmenni n. an aged person 20/19.
gaman n. fun, entertainment, what is amusing 34/13; pleasure; gera til
gamans sér: make it one’s pleasure, be so good (gracious) as 39/13.
ganga (gekk) sv. go 6/3; göngum: let us go 33/15; imp., gakk 9/3; withacc., walk along 13/29; with inf., g. at sofa: go to bed 19/21, 35/28;
impers., e-m gengr: one gets on (in a certain way) 20/16; g. at (adv.):
approach 53/7; g. at e-u: go up to s-thing 55/18; g. me› e-n: takes-one, go taking s-one 27/19; g. til: go to be with, go into s-one’s
company 5/24; e-t gengr undan e-u: s-thing is broken off from unders-thing 23/16; g. undir bor›: sit down to a meal 34/18.
gefa (gaf) sv. give 13/13, 14/10; dispose of 12/25; impers., hversu e-m
er um gefit: what one’s attitude is (to s-thing) 53/26; g. upp: give up
18/15, surrender 26/27, hand over, let pass from one’s possession 20/13,
abandon, leave off, not act in accordance with 8/19.
gegn n. pl.; í gegn as prep. with dat., opposite 33/12; í gegnum (adv.)
through (it) 20/15.
gegna (d) wv. impers. with dat., lead to, result in, presage 9/19 (‘there
shall result, correspond’).
gegnt prep. with dat., opposite 5/21.
gera (›, pp. gerr) wv. do 9/6, 14/3; make 9/13, 34/2, 38/7; set up, establish
29/18 (see bú); g. bréf e-m: write (compose) a letter for s-one 38/15;
cause, bring about (e-m: for s-one) 21/26; g. e-m e-t: treat s-one withs-thing, act towards s-one so as to bring them s-thing 25/3; pp., ﬂat er
illa gert: it is a bad (wrong) thing to do 6/21; at svá gervu: when thisGlossary105

had happened (been done) 53/20; g. af (e-u): do with, dispose of(s-thing) 8/5; g. nökkut af: do s-thing about it, make it have someresult 25/19; g. í móti e-m: offend, displease, injure s-one 13/11, 14,provide to welcome s-one 34/3; g. til: prepare, dress (meat) 52/9 (pp.);g. til e-s sér: make into s-thing for o-self, treat as 39/12; g. til e-s:
behave towards s-one, treat s-one 24/1; g. sér fátt um: respond coldly,
with distaste (see fár) 57/5; g. upp: kindle 54/23; g. yfir e-t: make acovering for s-thing, cover s-thing (af: with) 30/8. Md., gerast: become
39/15, 47/7; happen, take place 6/2; be carried out 38/9; hvat gerist í:
what comes of it, how it turns out 19/4.
gerla adv. fully, clearly 20/14; vita g.: know precisely, absolutely, bequite sure 11/27, 30/1.
gerr (1) pp. of gera.
gerr (2) adv. comp. more accurately, more completely 36/27, 45/27;
better, with more discernment 39/8.
gersimi f. present, object of value 19/14, 25; valuable thing 23/24.
gestr m. guest, stranger 54/24, 55/1.
geta (gat) sv. (1) with gen., speak of, mention 24/12; ekki er ﬂess getit:
the story does not mention, say 55/19. (2) guess 35/9, 19, 44/21; g. í
hug e-m: guess at s-one’s thoughts 44/17; g. til: guess the answer
35/4, 44/14, 16. (3) be able, can 33/9.
getna›r m. generation, procreation 52/12.
geyma (d) wv. with gen., guard 7/3; look after, see to 43/23.
gjald n. payment 27/14, 28/18.
gjalda (galt) sv. pay, repay 13/9, 27/27; md., gjaldast (upp): be paid(out), handed over 27/8, 9, 13.
gjarna adv. willingly 11/9.
gjöf f. gift 17/23, 18/6.
gla›r a. cheerful, happy, pleased; comp., at gla›ari the more pleased(because of it) 29/9; sup., inn gla›asti: very merry, in very good spirits
44/1.
gle›ifullr a. cheerful, good-humoured 52/2.
glensugr a. fond of jokes 52/2.
glymr m. clashing, ringing 27/23.
gnótt f. sufficiency, plenty (with gen., of s-thing) 34/21.

106

Stories from Sagas of Kingsgo› n. (heathen) god 57/9.
go›i m. chieftain, (heathen) priest 5/1, 22/3 (see note).
gó›r (n. gott) a. good 7/6, 19/9; well-intentioned, kindly 21/6; high 67/10.
gólf n. floor, particularly the open part of the room (often bare earth)between the side benches or platforms 60/1, 65/17.
grákufl m. grey cloak with hood 54/15.
gras n. herb 53/11.
grei›a (dd) wv. pay, hand over 27/29; md., be paid, be handed over 47/11.
gri› n. truce; pl., pardon 7/26, 14/10.
gri›i m. servant; one who lives in the same house, comrade 59/3.
gríma f. mask, face-covering 10/13, 13/16.
grímuma›r m. man with mask, disguised person 10/18, 12/5.
grípa (greip) sv. seize, snatch 13/18, 53/7; g. vi› (e-u): snatch (s-thing)up, take hold (of s-thing) 52/17, 56/17.
gripr m. object of value, possession 11/14.
gu› m. god 53/16, 60/19, 61/9.
gu›vefr m. velvet 55/2.
gull n. gold 6/8, 27/8.
gullrekinn a. (pp.) inlaid or decorated with gold 65/19, 66/8.
gæ›a (dd) wv. equip, enrich, improve 56/1.
gæ›i n. pl. benefits, favours 19/14.
gærkveld n. yesterday evening, last night 20/26, 37/7.
gæta (tt) wv. look after; g. til me›: look after matters between, keep
things right between, prevent trouble between 24/2.
há› n. mocking, scorn; hafa í há›i vi› e-n: use mocking language about(towards) s-one, make mock of s-one 6/11.
há›samr a. mocking, scornful 6/6.
há›semi f. mockery 6/22.
haf n. sea 27/26; í haf (út): out to sea 28/28, 29/2.
hafa (›) wv. have 8/22, 10/13; keep 29/27; put 13/27; take 12/2; get
13/6; use, follow 8/18; hafir ﬂú: if you have 13/12; as aux. with pp.,
6/2, 7/6, 10/28, 61/1; hefk (= hef ek): I have 58/17; hafi be›it: was
begging 14/5; h. at engu: disregard, contradict, fail to keep to 34/11;
h. e-t eftir keep s-thing back, keep hold of 67/1; h. mann fyrir sik:take a man’s life in exchange for one’s own, not fall without taking

Glossary107

s-one with one 9/2; h. í há›i vi›: see há›; h. e-t til e-s: use s-thing fors-thing (sér: for o-self) 52/9; h. e-t til at gera e-t: have the s-thing(i.e. enough of s-thing) to (be able to) do s-thing 35/17; h. e-n vi› e-t;
use s-one for, in connection with s-thing (or have s-one present at
s-thing) 25/25, 27; h. e-t vi› e-t: employ, apply (act in accordancewith) s-thing on (in connection with) s-thing 38/10 (see note); md.,hafast e-t at: be occupied in s-thing 66/3.
hagr a. handy, skilful; vera h.: be a craftsman 6/8.
halda (helt) sv. with dat., keep 19/3; maintain 13/4; hold (take) a course,
direct (a ship) 19/13, 23/8, 11 (fram: straight on), 54/4; with acc.,
keep 7/13, 14/11; observe 60/21; h. á (e-u): hold on (to s-thing),
continue to hold 58/16; h. fram e-u: continue s-thing 65/22; h. e-nfyrir e-m: keep s-one (safe) from s-one 7/15; h. e-t fyrir e-t: hold(treat, consider) s-thing as s-thing 53/16; md., be valid, stand, holdgood 26/17, 18.
hálfkve›it pp.; ek hefi eigi h. flokkana: I have not recited half the
flokkar 36/17.
hálfr a. half 12/27, 27/8; til hálfs vi›: half shares with 20/15; dat. sg. n.
hálfu with comp., as intensive: doubly, twice as 36/17, 57/18.
hallkvæmr a. advantageous, useful, likely to have a good result; comp.,
37/11.
hálmr m. straw (strewn on the floor) 22/11, 24/14; setjast í hálm: sit on
the floor (as a penalty) 21/16.
hámælgi f. loud conversation, uproar of speech 6/17.
handarkriki m. crook of arm 65/20.
handgenginn a. (pp.); gerast h. e-m: enter s-one’s service, becomes-one’s hir›ma›r (sworn retainer) 47/15.
har›or›r a. sharp-spoken 5/9.
háseti m. member of crew of ship 18/7, 26, 19/3.
háski m. danger 17/20.
háttr m. manner; mikils háttar: of great account, of great note (worth)
66/6; meira háttar: of more account, more impressive 36/26.
haust n. autumn 19/13, 33/7.
háva›amikill a. rowdy 6/6.
he›an adv. from here; h. frá, h. af: from now on 28/4, 29/26.

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hefja (hóf) sv. lift 60/8 (imp., or subj. pl.: ‘let them lift’); impers., hefr
e-t: s-thing begins 51/8; md., begin, originate 51/1.
hefna (d) wv. avenge (with gen.) 8/17.
hei›inn a. heathen 52/8.
hei›ni f. heathen activity, practices 61/4.
heilagr a. holy 60/7; dat. sg. n. weak, helga 60/11; heilög trú: the true
faith 52/5.
heill a. whole; in exclamations and expressions of goodwill, sit h.: remain
in safety, ‘bless you (as you sit)’ 35/20; more emphatic with sup. andgen. pl. of class to which the person addressed belongs, 35/21 (‘remain
the most blessed of all kings’); these two remarks imply the end of theconversation, a valediction; bá›u hann tala konunga heilstan: badehim speak as the most blessed of kings, said he was the most blessedof kings in what he said, i.e. applauded his speech 19/16.
heilræ›i n. good advice 8/18.
heilsa (a›) wv. with dat., greet 54/21.
heim adv. home 12/27; in, up (to a house, even when it is not the person’shome) 54/13.
heimfúss a. eager for home, having a desire to go home; comp., 17/16.
heimta (mt) wv. claim 33/6, 46/8; demand 27/15; h. lítt: be not insistentin a claim, not claim frequently 27/9; h. e-t upp: haul s-thing up 28/24.
heita (hét) sv. (1) (pres. heiti) be called 5/7; ma›r hét: there was a mancalled 6/4, 33/1. (2) (pres. heit) h. e-u e-m: promise s-thing to s-one
9/5, 30/2; threaten s-one with s-thing 10/8.
heldr (1) adv. comp. rather 21/10, 52/21; (i.e. rather than not) 38/11;
quite (a lot) 66/21; h. en: rather than 45/24; enn h.: the better, therather (as a result of this) 8/16; at h.: the more, any more for thatreason, even so 21/24.
heldr (2) pres. sg. of halda.
helga see heilagr.
helmingr m. half; gen. sg. used adjectivally 22/8 (though here it may be
the first half of a compound, helmingssilfr n., silver alloy containing
half silver and half another metal).
helzt adv. sup. most, above all; preferably 27/2; ætla h.: think most
likely 44/18.

Glossary109

helzti (i.e. helzt til) adv. all too, quite . . . enough 18/27, 47/5.
henda (nt) wv. take hold of with the hand; e-t hendir e-n: s-thing
involves, befalls s-one; er ﬂik hefir hent: in which you have become
involved, which you have become guilty of 8/7.
hendr: see hönd.
hér adv. here 12/22, 13/17; hér er: this is 27/26; with prep. as equivalentof pron., hér til: up to now 25/28; hér um: in this affair 19/2, hér vi›:in (on) this matter 38/20.
hera› n. (country) district, area (especially an inhabited area as opposed
to waste-lands); í mi›jum heru›um: in the midst of the inhabitedareas 61/6.
herbergi n. room 35/28, 36/8; lodgings 33/11.
hérkváma f. arrival, coming to this place 43/20.
herra m. sir, my lord (in address to a king) 17/15, 20/26.
hestr m. horse 43/23; stallion 52/9.
hetti dat. sg. of höttr.
heyra (›) wv. hear, listen 39/8; ﬂat heyrum vér sagt: we have heard
18/12; h. til (1) listen, pay attention 39/5, (2) with dat., belong to,
relate to, concern 45/26, be involved, be associated 20/3.
hingat adv. to this place 11/17, 43/13.
hir› f. (royal) court, royal household 19/19, 20/7; king’s men (as agroup) 26/19.
hir›a (rt) wv. look after, see to; imp., hirtu (i.e. hir› ﬂú) 59/24.
hir›ma›r m. sworn retainer, member of the king’s hir› 14/16, 19/25;
in pl., king’s personal following 38/10, 47/15; gera e-n hir›mann
sinn: take s-one into one’s service 38/8; gerast h. e-s: enter a king’s
service 39/15, 47/7.
hir›prestr m. (king’s) household priest, chaplain to the court 60/20.
hir›si›r m. custom of the king’s court 20/2.
hir›vist f. being in the king’s court, being a hir›ma›r 39/14.
hitt pron. n. this (other thing), this on the contrary, this rather 24/28.
hitta (tt) wv. meet; go and see 21/5, 22/27, 23/6; h. til (adv.): hit on,find 36/28.
hjá prep. with dat., by, near, next to, beside 53/19, 55/12; (in company)
with 38/26; hjá sér: by one’s side 52/16; as adv., close by, next (to it) 53/11.

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hjálpvænligastr a. sup. most profitable-seeming (salutary), offering thegreatest promise of benefit, most likely to bring salvation 12/26.
hjarri m. pivot at top of door, hinge 60/8.
hjón n. pl. man and wife; household 57/14, 58/3.
hlátr (rar) m. laughter 35/10.
hlaupa (hljóp) sv. jump 10/2; run 28/21, 52/16 (til: up); h. at e-m: gorunning to (after) s-one 20/19; h. inn: burst in 7/1.
hleifr m. loaf 57/17.
hleypifer› f. sudden (unpremeditated) journey, informal trip 34/2.
hljó› n. silence, a hearing 39/2.
hlutr m. (1) thing, happening, action 13/28, 29/8, 61/9. (2) part 22/7;
eiga inn bezta hlut at me›: mediate between in a conciliatory way,
do good offices between 21/9. (3) lot, fate; hvern hann vildi gerahans hlut: what he had decided his fate should be, what he had decided
to do with him 9/13; share, due, what is due to s-one 28/12.
hl‡ n. warmth 30/9.
hl‡›a (dd) wv. impers. be satisfactory; vel h.: be more than adequate 25/17.
hlæja (hló) sv. laugh 35/1, 52/16; 2nd pers. sg. p. hlóttu (= hlótt ﬂú)
44/15; h. vi›: laugh at what is said 44/14.
hóf n. measure, due extent (degree, proportion), what is enough; ﬂvíhófi mikill: about the right size 28/7.
hól n. flattery, praise, boasting; bera h. á um: boast about 39/5.
horfa (›) wv. face; h. á: gaze at 54/24; impers., horfir e-m: the prospect
will be for s-one 39/7 (‘the outcome will be the better for me’); horfir
til: points to, promises, looks like 34/13.
horfinn pp. of hverfa.
horn n. drinking horn 20/13, 22/3; drinking-horn-full 20/28.
hornblástr (strs) m. blowing of trumpets, trumpet-blast 28/26 (acc.).
hrí› f. while; of h., um h.: for a while, for some time past 23/5, 66/21(with pres., ‘has been, has become’); nökkura h.: for some time 47/16.
hringing f. (the time of) ringing the bells (to rouse people) 21/13, 25.
hringja (ng›) wv. ring (bells) 21/14.
hringr m. (gold arm-) ring 28/7, 55/3.
hrista (st) wv. shake 52/18.
hróp n. insult 6/18.

Glossary111

hrópyr›i n. pl. insults, denigration 6/21.
hrossakjöt n. horsemeat 52/9.
hræddr a. (pp.) afraid (vi›: of) 6/25.
hú›fat m. skin bag (for sleeping in and to pack belongings in) 23/19.
hugr m. thought(s), mind 44/17, 61/4 (see leggja); desire 55/3 (see falla);e-m kemr í hug: it occurs to one 26/2 (‘I would never have thought’).
hugsa (a›) wv. think; h. fyrir: take into account, remember, note 7/12.
hugsan f. concern; hafa h. á: lay great weight on, be most anxious about,spend effort on 61/7.
húm n. dusk 54/17.
hundr m. dog 8/15, 59/23.
hur›áss m. door-beam (one of the beams above the door, i.e. at the endof the house, providing a ledge) 60/9.
hurfu p. of hverfa.
hús n. house, building 19/1.
húsfreyja f. lady of the house, housewife 6/18, 51/6; in direct address 7/5.
húskarl m. servant, man in s-one’s service 11/25.
hvar adv. where 5/20, 7/17; h. sem: wherever 12/29.
hvárki adv. (conj.) neither; hvárki . . . né 19/1, 29/9, 53/8.
hvárr pron. which (of two) 34/28, 44/19; each (of two), with partitive
gen., 29/27.
hvárt adv. whether 11/28, 18/26, 26/16; pleonastic, introducing a directquestion 38/13; h. sem (. . . ﬂá) as conj., whether 29/8, 11.
hvat pron. n. what 13/17, 19/4; ﬂess . . . hvat 12/14; expressing
indignation, why 8/23 (‘surely I do not need’); h. skal ﬂér: what goodto you is, what do you want with 10/16; h. manna: what person(people), who 60/4.
hvatr a. keen, active, bold, courageous; of animals, male 34/29, 35/7.
hvatvetna pron. anything whatever, no matter what; fyrir h.: for whatever
it may be 13/11.
hvé adv. how 65/7, 66/19; hvé nær: when 45/22.
hvégi adv.; h. sem as conj., however 28/4.
hverfa (hvarf, horfinn) sv. (1) turn (aftr: back) 29/1. (2) disappear 10/3,
13/20.
hverr pron. a. (1) who, which, what (in direct and indirect questions)112

Stories from Sagas of Kings

7/19, 10/28; hverjum: to whom, for whom 36/19; til hvers: for what
purpose 24/10; einn hverr: a certain 51/12; hverr sem: whoever,whatever 18/22, 29/14, 37/1; hverr er . . . at sá: whichever . . . that he(anacoluthon) 7/10. (2) each, every 18/16, 26/21, 53/14; each man
19/12, 28/25; h. frá ö›rum: one after the other 53/22.
hversu adv. how 11/3, 36/9; how much, in what way (well or ill) 28/3,
66/10; h. mjök: to what extent 18/1 (‘how far he had got in . . .’).
hví adv. why 36/24, 44/15.
hvíla (d) wv. rest, lie, sleep 35/29.
h‡b‡lahættir m. pl. organisation, conduct, affairs of household 52/1;
fashion, custom, ways of the house 57/6.
h‡b‡li n. pl. home; er snúit h‡b‡lum á lei›: the house was put to rights(got ready, i.e. so as to permit the meal to be served) 55/14.
hygginn a. discreet, intelligent 55/8.
hyggja (hug›a) wv. think, be of the opinion 12/25, 13/6, 24/5; h. at:
examine 59/5.
hyski n. household 53/18.
hæfa (›) wv. be proper, fitting 8/18.
hægr a. easy, without problem 7/27; e-m er hægt til e-s: s-thing is easy
for s-one to find 20/6; convenient, favourable 54/10.
hægsæti n. easy chair? principal seat? 55/11, 18.
hæri a. comp. higher; n. as adv., in a higher position 29/23.
hæsti a. sup. highest 30/4.
hætta (tt) wv. risk, stake, h. ﬂar á: venture on it, risk it, have a go 38/4;
h. til e-s: risk doing s-thing, venture on s-thing 46/6; impers., litluhættir til: little is at stake, it is of no importance 22/17.
hættulauss a. without danger or risk 7/18.
höfn f. harbour 54/9; langskipa h.: harbour suitable for long ships 51/4.
höfu› n. head 6/22, 65/19; i.e. life 7/25, 8/5.
höggva (hjó) sv. strike 7/2; h. víg nær e-m: commit a killing involving
s-one closely (i.e. of s-one closely related to that person) 8/8.
hönd f. (pl. hendr) hand, arm 28/7, 58/19; side (e-m: of s-one) 35/23; áhendi ﬂér: against you 7/21 (‘you are subject to, have incurred, two
penalties’); hafa hendr á e-m: set (lay) hands on s-one, take hold ofs-one (to prevent them escaping) 13/27; fá af hendi: hand over 9/7; af

Glossary113

e-s hendi: on s-one’s part (behalf) 25/15; e-t (acc.) berr at höndum:s-thing happens, one comes across (is faced with) s-thing 29/8; ór
hendi honum: from his very hand 66/11; verja hendr sínar, see verja.
höttr m. hood 12/19.
í prep. (1) with acc., in, into 6/27, 7/1, 55/11; of time, 37/7; í aptan: thisevening 56/12. (2) with dat., in, at 29/18, 33/7; (living) in, from 65/3;
dressed in 65/18; on (a seat) 5/21; í sta›, see sta›r. (3) as adv., 6/13,
19/4, see under verbs; in this matter 22/14; í at, with inf.: in this, to
24/25,
ígangsklæ›i n. pl. the clothes one is wearing (standing up in) 17/19.
illa adv. ill; badly, wrongly 6/20, 20/26; wickedly, evilly 61/1; see koma,
ﬂykkja.
illgjarn a. malevolent 6/5.
illr a. bad; weak form, as nickname: the bad 5/23.
illræ›isma›r m. evil-doer, criminal 7/13.
illvirki n. evil deed 8/17.
inn (1) pron. a. the 3/3; sá inn . . . -inn: that . . . there 10/15, 66/8, 14(see note to 66/8).
inn (2) adv. in, inside 7/1, 27/22, 43/24; to land 65/5.
innan prep. with gen., between 53/4; as adv., inside; innan í: between,
up in, within 53/10.
innar adv. comp. in, further in; from one room to another room that isfurther inside the house, i.e. from kitchen to living-room, 54/20, 55/17;
i. meir á bekknum: further up (towards the centre of) the bench 44/22.
inndæll a. very easy 13/14.
inni adv. inside 6/16, 17; ﬂar sem . . . inni: in which 38/25.
innsigli n. seal (on a letter) 38/16, 46/9.
innstr a. sup. furthest in (from the door) 54/18.
íslenzkr a. Icelandic 5/6, 26/3.
já adv. yes 10/20.
jafnan adv. always, for ever 14/12; frequently, continually 5/24; on manyoccasions 66/12; continually, repeatedly 54/24.
jafnfylginn a. as attentive, attached, constant in attendance (sem: as)
19/20 (e-m: to, on s-one).
jafnmjök adv. as much, to as great an extent (sem: as) 24/18.

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jafntraustr a. as reliable (e-m: as s-one) 24/5; j. sem 25/16.
jarl m. earl, viceroy, ruler either independent or subject to a king; astitle after name 5/23, 13/4.
jartegn f. (usually in pl.) token, proof of authenticity, authentication
47/12.
játa (tt) wv. say yes, agree 37/12.
jól n. pl. Christmas 21/10; with art., Christmas season 22/19; einnmorgun jólanna: one morning during the Christmas period 21/13;
inn átti dagr jóla: i.e. 1st January 22/6.
-k pron. suffixed to verbs, I 28/1, 57/8, 58/17, 59/8, 9.
kaf n. dive; á k.: into the water 26/15.
kalla (a›) wv. call, send for 25/21; with two accusatives, give s-one aname (usually of nicknames or surnames); vera kalla›r: be known as
6/8, 22/7, 35/15, 39/18, 47/17, 65/3.
kallsyr›i n. pl. joking words, mocking remarks 52/19.
kappatala f. the number (roll) of champions or heroes (picked warriors)
9/27.
kappgjarn a. competitive, eager for distinction or success, contentious,
unyielding, insistent on one’s rights 29/13.
karl m. man, old man 51/9, 52/7.
kasta (a›) wv. with dat., throw 52/16, 60/1.
kátr a. merry, cheerful 34/22, 52/2; k. vi›: joking with, teasing 55/13.
kaupa (keypta) wv. make a bargain; k. ﬂví: settle for that 10/26; k.
engu: make no bargain(s) 11/15; buy 10/28, 27/2; with price in dat.
(for so much), 11/9.
kaupfer› f. trading voyage 17/9.
kaupligr a. suitable (available) to buy (e-m: for s-one) 11/16 (‘I did not
find any suitable bargains’).
kaupma›r m. merchant 18/9, 19/6.
kaupsveinn m. merchant seaman, young merchant, junior participant intrading voyages (cf. note to 18/2) 18/3.
kaupver› n. purchase price, payment for a purchase 27/13.
kenna (d) wv. recognise 13/21, 43/16, 55/5; k. e-m e-t: charge, accuse,blame s-one with (of, for) s-thing 20/27.

Glossary115

kerling f. old woman 51/18, 60/2.
kertisveinn m. ‘candle boy’, king’s attendant 21/13 (see note).
keyra (›) wv. drive, thrust 58/9.
kippa (›) wv. with dat., snatch, pull quickly 12/19 (see note).
kista f. chest, box 53/12.
kjósa (kaus) sv. choose, prefer, wish 21/3.
klappa (t) wv. with dat., pat, stroke 58/6.
klokkari m. bell-ringer 21/14.
klæ›a (dd) wv. dress 37/3.
klæ›i n. pl. clothes 54/16.
kné n. knee 55/20.
knörr m. merchant ship 18/18.
koma (kom) sv. come 5/15, 6/16; ﬂeim er komnir eru: the newcomers
34/7; sér vel koma: it would be agreeable (convenient) to him, hewould be pleased, find it welcome (at: if) 27/12; with dat., bring 14/14,
22/1; see or›; kominn á (of the wind): arisen, blowing 27/27 (vb. to
be understood); k. ni›r: get to, end up 7/17; k. e-u saman: makes-thing agree, harmonise s-thing 29/16 (see lyndi); k. til: indicate,give authority for? or arrive 47/13 (see note; ‘which the king’s message
related to’?); k. vi› (with acc.): touch, reach the coast of 33/7; e-tkemr illa vi› e-n: s-thing is unfitting, unseemly, inconvenient for s-one
29/15; k. e-u vi›: use s-thing (against s-one or s-thing) 28/12. Impers.,of time, come 21/11; ﬂar kemr at: it goes on until, it reaches the pointthat 53/15; hvar komit var: how matters stood 9/16. Md., komast:
get o-self (somewhere), manage to come 7/3, 10/1.
kona f. wife, woman 5/22, 14/8, 51/10, 55/8.
konungr m. king (as title after name) 5/2, 6/2; the king 5/11, 10/3, 43/17;
in direct address 44/14, 46/1.
konungsma›r m. king’s man 29/1.
konungsskip n. king’s ship, ship on which the king sails 25/10.
koparr m. copper; gen. sg., made of copper 22/8.
kostgæfi n. eager endeavour, zeal 60/19.
kostr m. choice, chance; skal ﬂér kostr e-s (at gera e-t): you shall begiven the opportunity of s-thing (of doing s-thing) 39/13; condition,

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situation, circumstances, affairs 8/26 (see ﬂröngva), 12/5; einskis
kostar: by no means, under no circumstances 23/7; quality; ﬂat bezta
kosti at væri: that (was) of the best quality that was 22/8.
kraftr m. power 53/18, 60/19.
krefja (kraf›a) wv. with gen., demand, ask for 66/11; k. e-s e-m: demands-thing for s-one 24/25.
kufl m. hooded cloak or habit 10/13.
kuflma›r m. hooded man 11/13, 24.
kuflshöttr (dat. sg. -hetti) m. hood of cloak 13/23.
kumpánn m. companion, fellow 10/1, 14.
kunna (kann) pret. pres. vb. be acquainted with 28/2; know (by heart)
36/14, 17, 45/14; with inf. or at and inf., know how to, be able to, can
12/9, 22/1, 39/5, 8, 46/27; kann vera at: perhaps, maybe 23/22.
kunnandi f. ability, skill; appropriate behaviour, elaborateness 33/22.
kunnigr a. known; e-m er kunnigt e-t: one is acquainted with, one
understands s-thing 30/1.
kváma f. coming 33/23.
kve›a (kva›) sv. (1) utter, recite (a poem) 36/4, 6, 52/19; imp., kveddu
36/5; compose 6/19, 37/16, 25 (‘my poems are better’), 38/2. (2) say(denoting direct speech) 20/25; with acc. and inf., 21/7, 26/18, 35/19.
Md., say that one 23/21, 25/14.
kve›ja (kvadda) wv. greet 37/4, 38/26, 55/19; with gen., summon, call,convene (a meeting) 10/11; with acc., summon, call on (people) 26/19(with at-clause: to do s-thing).
kve›skapr m. composition, (composing of) poetry 39/6.
kveld n. evening 20/12, 35/24, 53/14; í k.: this evening 45/2.
kvikendi n. creature 52/12.
kvæ›afró›r a. having a knowledge of poems, knowing many poems(by heart) 46/28.
kvæ›i n. poem 36/2, 51/2.
kyn n. kind, gender, sex; ﬂess kyns: this kind of (i.e. male? or referring
to species) 52/12; race, descent; er nökkut skálda kyn at ﬂér?: isthere any descent of poets in (to) you?, i.e. are there any poets in yourfamily (among your forbears)? 37/19.
kynja›r a. (pp.) descended (frá: from) 46/20.

Glossary117

kynligr a. strange, funny 34/26.
kynnast (d) wv. md. become acquainted, (get to) know, be in contact
with 45/27 (the implied object of the vb. is allt annat).
kyrr a. quiet 55/8 (see láta); sitja um kyrrt: remain without doing
anything; at um kyrrt væri at sitja: not to have to do anything 18/22.
kyrt f. silence 55/13 (for kurt f. courtliness?); see note.
kyrtilbla› n. skirt or lap of tunic 12/1.
kyrtill m. tunic 66/22, 27.
kærleikar m. pl. intimacy; vera í miklum kærleikum me› e-m: be on
close terms with s-one 20/11.
köttr m. cat 34/28, 44/13; as a nickname 33/2, 43/2.
lag n. position; í mörgu lagi: in many respects 13/3; í fyrsta lagi: among
the very first, straight away 19/7.
lág f. log 10/7.
land n. country 11/10, 18/16; land (as opposed to sea), coast 22/20,
23/8, 54/4; shore 23/17; á l. upp: ashore 26/22; um land: about thecountry 43/22; pl., territories 18/15, countries 19/24.
landflótta a. indecl. fugitive from the country; ver›a l.: be forced toleave the country (fyrir: by) 54/3.
landsvist f. freedom, permission to stay in the country, right of legal
residence 5/10.
landtjald n. a tent on land (as opposed to the more usual awning erected
on a ship) 23/18.
langr a. long 9/23, 14/15; fyrir löngu: long ago 9/22; comp. n. as adv.,
yfir lengra: further over 55/12 (i.e. on the other side of him?).
langskip n. long ship, warship 28/27, 51/4.
láta (lét) sv. (1) lose 23/7; l. e-t fyrir e-m: lose s-thing to s-one, be
deprived of s-thing because of s-one, have to give s-thing up for s-one
25/12. (2) with inf., let, allow 24/13, 26/3, 21, 60/13, 65/23; l. e-t
laust (vera): yield s-thing up, relinquish possession of s-thing 8/23; l.
sér svá ﬂykkja sem: behave as though, treat it as though (let it seemto o-self as though) 8/14; l. sér einskis ﬂykkja um vert: take no noticeof, disregard 21/7; lét sér fátt um finnast: was not very pleased, did
not respond with enthusiasm 56/7. (3) with inf., cause (s-thing to bedone), have (s-thing done) 9/17, 10/10, 23/10, 30/8; lét kalla: had

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sent for 25/21; vil ek láta taka bor›: I would like tables to be put up
34/17. (4) behave, react 28/4; l. kyrrt yfir: keep quiet, say nothing
about 55/7. (5) say, give as one’s opinion (with at-clause) 21/4, 23/6;
md. with inf., say that one will (do s-thing) 21/18.
laukr m. leek, garlic 53/11, 56/2.
laun (1) f. concealment; á laun: in secret 7/13.
laun (2) n. pl. reward, repayment 13/5.
launa (a›) wv. reward, repay, recompense 13/8, 17/20; l. e-m e-t: repay
s-one for s-thing 12/13; with dat. denoting what is given in recompense,
hverju l. skyldu: what repayment was to be made 13/9 (with what,
how it should be repaid); ﬂví skaltu l.: you shall repay in this way,
you shall make this repayment 13/10.
lauss a. free, loose 8/23 (see láta).
leggja (lag›a) wv. lay, place 53/12; put 60/12; metaphorically, 18/16,
26/27; l. hug á: take pains, be concerned, eager 61/3; with dat., l.
skipi: sail (in a certain direction), lay a course 65/5; l. eftir e-m: make(set) after, pursue s-one 28/27; l. út: launch, take (a ship) out into
deep water 27/16; impers. with acc., be blown, driven; leggi sundr
reyki vára: the smoke from our fires will blow in different directions(or we shall have separate fires?), our ways will part 23/22.
lei› f. path, way; course 54/8; fara lei›ar sinnar: go one’s way 38/21; ásömu lei›: in the same way as before 23/14; koma e-u á lei›: brings-thing about, make s-thing happen 22/1; snúa á l.: see h‡b‡li.
lei›a (dd) wv. lead 10/6, 53/17.
lei›ast (dd) wv. md. impers., e-m lei›ist e-t: s-one gets tired of s-thing,is discouraged from s-thing, does not want to do s-thing 8/16 (ﬂat is
the object, referring to at vinna).
lei›söguma›r m. pilot, steersman, the one in charge of navigation 54/7.
leita (a›) wv. search; with gen., seek for, ask, enquire about or for 35/16;
l. annars: look for a different life 20/4; l. eftir: search for, go in pursuitof 7/16; l. á: attack; l. á vi› e-n: pick a quarrel with s-one, find fault
with s-one, trespass on s-one’s rights or prerogative 22/14 (see note).
lendr a. landed, who holds land in fief from the king 7/9, 24/13, 25/20.
Lendir menn were next in rank to jarlar.
lengi adv. for a long time 5/3, 36/6.

Glossary119

lengr adv. comp. longer (of time) 45/27; with dat., longer than 12/27;
any longer 24/11, 25/10.
lengri a. comp.: see langr.
lengst adv. sup. for the longest time, longest, most of all 54/24.
léreft n. linen cloth 65/17.
léttlætiskona f. whore, loose woman 21/2.
leyfa (›) wv. permit (with dat. of person or thing and at and inf.) 19/11,
37/16, 46/28.
leyfi n. permission, authorisation; í mínu l.: with my permission, under
my dispensation 20/8.
leyna (d) wv. conceal; md., leynast frá: steal away from, hide from 9/10.
leysa (t) wv. free, untie 12/4.
li› n. troop, company 43/14, 16; men 18/18 (as opposed to things).
lí›a (lei›) sv. pass, go by (of time) 26/6, 38/23; l. af: pass away (of anemotion) 8/20; usually impers., lí›r fram at: time passed by towards(until) 21/10; lí›r á haustit: the autumn passes, it draws to the end of
autumn 53/13; similarly 17/8, 12, 26/25, 30/6, 35/24 (in these
expressions á is adverbial and the noun is acc.); hvat li›i um e-t:
how s-thing was getting on 18/25.
líf n. life 13/12.
lifa (›, pp. lifat) wv. live 10/25, 61/1; bi›r ﬂau vel l.: bids them farewell 28/19.
lífgjöf f. gift of life, granting of life 13/6.
liggja (lá) sv. lie 6/28, 58/10; sleep 54/12; be situated 12/22, 54/9; lie atanchor or moored 23/21, 58/17; l. vi›: be at stake; minnst vi› liggja:
be least importance 38/20.
líka (a›) wv. with dat., please; hversu ﬂér mun l.: what your reaction
will be to 28/3; slíkt er ﬂér líkar: whatever you please 8/6; láta e-t
sér líka: be satisfied with s-thing, (be pleased to) accept s-thing 24/12;
impers., e-m líkar: s-one pleases, is willing 7/4, 11/6, is pleased 61/9,
is satisfied 27/5.
líkr a. like; comp. n. líkara: more likely, probable 14/4.
limalát n. loss of limbs, mutilation 10/9.
limr m. limb, part of body 52/11.
lín n. linen 56/1.

120

Stories from Sagas of Kingslíndúkr m. (piece of) linen cloth 53/10.
líta (leit) sv. look; l. á: look at, examine 22/10, 67/4, look over, round at
44/5, regard, take notice of, consider 24/28; l. til: look in a certain
direction, look round 13/19. Md., appear, seem (e-m: to s-one), withnom. (and inf. to be understood) 24/24.
lítill a. little, small 17/10, 33/22; n., a small amount, not much 11/19,
22/16; litlu with comp., by a small amount, a little 18/24, 55/10.
lítilmannligr a. pusillanimous, unmanly, mean, ignoble 8/14.
lítt adv. a little 12/19 (see note); not much, inadequately, not very, badly
17/20, 25/28, 29/16; not often, not insistently 27/9; little, i.e. not at all
28/4.
ljó› n. stanza 54/26.
ljós n. light 10/3; a light, a lamp 54/21, 23 (pl.).
ljósta (laust) sv. strike 22/10.
ljúga (laug) sv. (tell a) lie 55/4; md. impers., hefr logizt í: there has beena betrayal or treacherous failure (in s-thing) 24/18 (see note).
lofa (a›) wv. permit; l. e-m at (with inf.) 37/24.
loft n. upstairs room, solar 66/26 (also called skemma at 65/16); sleeping
chamber 27/22.
lok n. end; at lokum: finally 53/23.
lúka (lauk, pp. lokinn) sv. with dat., bring to an end, finish 14/7; impers.
with dat., end 39/18; e-u er lokit: s-thing is over 26/24; at 36/4, 39/9,
45/8 a dat. noun is understood (kvæ›inu, flokkinum).
lyfta (ft) wv. with dat., lift, raise 13/16, 23, 24.
lygi f. lie 19/10, 21/2.
lyk› f. end; at lyk›um: in the end 60/19.
lyndi n. character, temper; koma l. saman: be compatible in temper, geton well together 29/16.
l‡sing f. description 29/3.
l‡str pres. of ljósta.
lægim p. subj. of liggja.
lær n. thigh; innan læra ﬂér: between your thighs 53/4.
lög n. pl. law, rules 9/27.
má (›) wv.; má af: rub out, blot out, remove all traces of 61/4.
ma›r m. man 5/6, 6/4; person; hverr m.: everyone 53/24; engi m.: noGlossary121

one 54/20; pl., people 6/3, 33/12; as indefinite subject (‘one’) 21/3;
retinue 34/4; manna sterkastr: a very strong man, among the strongestof men 33/5; hvat manna: who 60/4.
makligleikr m. what is proper, just; pl., 8/17.
mál n. (1) affair, matter 21/5; affairs, life 22/24; circumstances; um ﬂitt
mál: in you 39/11; case 27/3; suit, claim 26/27; flytja mál e-s: support
s-one’s suit 33/11; flytja mál e-s vi› e-n: intercede for s-one withs-one 5/8. (2) speech, what is said 37/1; talk, conversation, interview;at máli vi›, á mál vi›: into conversation with, to speak with 19/27,
25/21; breyta málum: see breyta
málagjöf f. giving (payment) of máli 22/15, 24/18.
málasilfr n. the silver in which the máli was paid 22/10.
máli m. pay, salary of king’s men 22/7, 24/11.
mána›r m. month 12/27.
mannháski m. danger of (to) life, deadly danger 29/8 (pl.?).
manntjón n. loss of a man, loss of life 8/11.
mansma›r m. bondman, slave 11/23.
margr a. many 6/1, 7/8; sg., many a 17/20; as pron., many a man 17/16;
n., margt: a lot 45/3, 65/6; with partitive gen., 38/25 (‘a large numberof other . . . men’).
matast (a›) wv. md. eat, take one’s meal 34/18.
matr m. food 29/10, 55/15; meal 33/12.
me› prep. (1) with acc., bringing 14/8; ganga me›: take 27/19. (2) withdat., with (in company with) 5/14, 26/20, 54/13; in s-one’s house 7/12,
43/9; vera me› e-m: stay with s-one 14/15, 19/17, 47/16, be in s-one’s
service, follow s-one 29/7; between 21/10, 27/1 (see ﬂeir), 66/2; me›sér: between themselves 21/5, 23/5; carrying 27/22, 54/21; fara me›:treat (s-thing) with 24/14, 26 (see fara); of appearance, (vera) me›:have (a look of) 18/10; of emotion, in a state of 24/3, 28/16; with theaccompaniment of 6/21 (using), 30/14, 52/19; along with (becauseof?) 10/3; at the same time as 7/23; by means of 23/17, 53/18; me›ﬂví: under these circumstances, as a result of this action, after that
7/26; ; me› ﬂví at: because 11/14, since, it being the case that 10/23,
52/8; along 59/11; nor›r me› landi: along the coast north, to thenorth of the country 26/24, 54/4, similarly 23/8; skilja me›: see skilja.

122

Stories from Sagas of Kings(3) as adv., with 8/28, 22/13 (see fara); ﬂar me› at the same time,also, as well 25/1, 33/19.
me›an conj. while 5/3; as long as 8/27.
mega (má) pret. pres. vb. be able, can 8/27, 9/9, 17/22, 35/8; má: may(denoting permission) 11/2 (‘he is for sale’), will be able to 11/19;
ekki má ﬂat: it cannot be done 27/28; sem má: as much (well) as hecan 28/25; vera má: it may be, maybe 12/20, 21/19; mætti: might
27/5; eigi mættak: I would not be able 58/7.
megandi a. (pres. p.) having power to do s-thing; ekki m.: helpless 6/29.
megin m. indecl. side; ö›rum m.: from the other side (i.e. from that on
which he was looking) 53/7.
meginbygg› f. major settlement, the main inhabited area 51/5.
meginland n. mainland, central area of country 61/6.
meir adv. comp. more 6/23; to a greater extent, more often 25/27;(strengthening another comparative) 44/22.
meiri a. comp. more 9/19, 36/26; longer 31/2; larger 22/7; greater 29/22,
34/16; n. as noun or adv. 8/10, 20/7, 24/29, 29/11.
meistari m. master 10/14, 20.
melrakkabelgr m. pelt of arctic fox 30/8 (pl.).
mennast (t) wv. become a (proper) man, develop qualities of a true man,develop well 11/20.
merki n. standard, ensign 33/14, 18.
merkiligr a. notable, distinguished 12/29.
merkr pl. of mörk.
mest adv. sup. most (highly) 13/7.
mestr a. sup. greatest; the greatest, very great 21/1, 61/7; a mostsuccessful, most influential, most assiduous 19/24; y›var mestr: thegreatest among you 13/1.
meta (mat) sv. put a price on, value 10/21, 11/12; m. fyrir: price at
10/22, 11/26.
metor› n. honour, commendation, esteem 6/26.
mettr a.; vera m.: to have finished eating 9/12.
mi›r a. middle, central, middle of 61/6.
mikill a. great, large 14/8, 18/18; big, tall 10/12, 11/18; much, great, agreat deal of 6/17, 26, 39/5; having a certain quality to a great extent

Glossary123

6/10, 45/18, 51/18, 65/7; n. as noun, much, a great deal 11/22, 39/12(see eiga); e-m er mikit um: one is greatly inclined, one wants verymuch 66/9; miklu with comp.: much, by a great deal 24/28, 33/23; far(better) 37/25; many (more) 18/28.
milli prep. with gen., between 17/11; vár í m.: between (among)ourselves, to one another 13/26; sín á m.: among themselves, witheach other 52/13.
minni (1) n. toast, obligatory round of drinking 20/3.
minni (2) a. comp. less 12/3, 33/24; n. as adv., 29/11.
minnstr a. sup. least 38/20 (n. as noun).
mislíka (a›) wv. displease; e-m mislíkar e-t: one is upset by s-thing 20/22.
mjök adv. very 5/9, 10/24; much 13/11; very much 6/11, 22/4; chiefly,
almost entirely 52/1; hversu m. how far 18/2; m. svá: more or less,very nearly 22/21.
mó›ir f. mother 43/4, 52/17.
morgunn m. morning 21/12, 37/3; á morgun: in the morning, tomorrow
27/29.
mót n. (1) manner; me› ﬂví móti at: on condition that, provided that
5/18; me› engu móti: by no means, certainly not 18/15; me› minnamóti: to a less degree, even less well 33/24. (2) meeting, assembly
10/10, 18/8. (3) í mót, í móti as prep. with dat., to meet, up to 37/4; toreceive, to welcome, for 21/22, 34/4; against 13/11; as adv., inexchange, in return 19/14.
munkat: see munu.
munkr m. monk 10/13.
munnr m. mouth 54/26.
munu (mun, munda, p. inf. mundu, myndu) pret. pres. vb. (1)indicating future time, shall, will 6/22, 8/12, 16; myndi, mundi: would
8/9, 11/8, 56/9 (vb. to be or ver›a understood); p. inf. for future in thepast 5/17. (2) indicating intention, 12/20, 25/24, 29/26; with suffixed
pron. and neg., munkat (= mun-ek-at) 28/1. (3) indicating willingness,
10/25, 21/18 (p. inf.). (4) indicating probability, 7/14, 27 (vb. to beunderstood), 8/26, 10/18 (vb. to be understood), 24/20, 33/16 (mustbe), 38/1, 44/27, 66/6.
myrginn m. morning 20/23, 45/29.

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myrkr a. dark 54/19.
mæ›ast (dd) wv. md. become weary, weak, less energetic 20/1.
mæla (t) wv. say, speak 5/20, 33/15; m. vi› e-n: say to s-one 34/6; m. til
e-s: speak to s-one 20/26, say to s-one 23/9; vel mælir ﬂú: well said!
37/6.
mæta (tt) wv. with dat., meet; be faced with, have to undergo 29/12.
mætisma›r m. man of worth, splendid man 65/7.
mörk (pl. merkr) f. mark (unit of weight, 8 aurar) 10/26, 11/5, 27/8.
mörlandi m. person from land of suet or lard; hann m. that suet-lander
6/25 (see note).
mörn f. (female) troll 56/3 (see note).
möttulsskaut n. lap or skirt of mantle or cloak 22/9 (where the lower
part of the cloak is spread over Halldórr’s knees).
ná (›) wv. with dat., get, obtain 38/16, 46/9.
nafn n. name 12/7, 34/26.
nálgast (a›) wv. md. draw near to 43/16.
náliga adv. nearly, almost 17/9.
náskyldr a. closely related 7/8.
náttúra f. nature 52/11.
náttúruvitr a. intelligent by nature, with natural intelligence, full of
mother wit 52/3.
nau›ga (a›) wv. compel (e-m or e-n til e-s: s-one to do s-thing) 22/2.
nau›igr a. under compulsion, against one’s will 57/10.
nau›syn f. necessity 18/21.
nau›synligr a. necessary, urgent; sup. n., 38/18.
nau›ungarma›r m. a person subject to s-one else’s will; vera n. e-s: bepushed around by s-one 12/21 (nau›ung f. compulsion).
né conj. nor 19/2, 29/9, 11, 53/8.
ne›an adv. from below 22/11.
nefna (d) wv. name; md., say one’s name is, give one’s name as 54/22.
neinn a. pron. no; after neg., any 24/17.
neita (tt) wv. with dat., refuse 5/11.
nema conj. unless, if . . . not 9/2, 66/15; except 33/17; except that 18/18,
27/8; ekki n.: nothing but 17/19, 19/10.
nenningarlauss a. lazy, lacking initiative, listless 10/17.

Glossary125

neyta (tt) wv. with gen., make use of, indulge in, take 29/10; takeadvantage of (an opportunity or situation); impers., skal nú n. ﬂess:
the opportunity shall now be grasped 28/6; avail o-self (of an offer
or situation); impers. passive 44/4 (‘your offer shall be taken advantage of’).
ní› n. insult, imputation of dishonour, libel (especially one in verse) 6/12.
ní›ast (dd) wv. md. act contemptibly; n. á e-m: treat s-one dishonourably,
behave like a blackguard towards s-one 9/18; n. á drykkju vi›: fail to
do one’s part towards s-one in drinking 20/18.
ni›r adv. down 22/12, 52/15; away 53/12; koma n.: see koma.
níu num. nine 9/29.
nógr a. enough, plenty of 29/15.
nor›arliga adv. to the north 51/3.
nor›r adv. north(wards) 26/24, 47/13; in the north 38/24, 47/10; n. í: inthe north of 33/7, 38/16.
norrænn a. Norwegian 26/6.
nosi m. used of horse’s penis 57/11; the literal meaning may be someother object suggestive of Völsi’s shape (the word may be cognatewith English ‘nose’).
nótt (pl. nætr) f. night 10/10, 19/1; um nætr: by night (generic pl.) 27/25.
nú adv. now 7/6, 9/21; just now (a little while ago) 11/15; just then44/15; referring to time of author 61/8; after that, then, next 22/19,
26/7, 28/20, 53/13; nú ﬂegar: immediately 28/1; nú at sinni: on thisoccasion 28/12; nú svá skjótt: on the spot 27/28; nú . . . er: now . . .
that 33/23; nú er . . . ﬂá . . . nú: when . . . then after that 27/2.
n‡ta (tt) wv. make use of, use as food, consume 52/10.
næ›a p. subj. of ná.
næmr a. quick(-witted), intelligent, quick to learn 52/3.
nær (1) adv. interrog. when 36/22; hvé n. 45/22.
nær (2) adv. and prep. with dat., close, affecting s-one closely 8/8.
næst adv. sup. next 45/23; ﬂví n.: next moment 23/16.
næstr a. sup. next (eftir: following) 19/5; last 24/14; dat. pl. as adv.,
næstum: last time 24/27.
nætr pl. of nótt.
nökkurr pron. a. some 46/8; any 13/10, 37/19; a certain 33/10; any

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kind of, i.e. in any way 35/24; nökkur svá: somewhat like, a sort of,pretty much like 24/24; n., nökkut: something 10/2, 25/19; dat. sg. n.
nökkuru, with comp.: a little, somewhat 60/18; pl., a few, some 27/19,
29/19.
nökkut adv. somewhat, rather 6/5, 18/20; at all 46/20; to any extent
8/26; in some way, distantly 6/4.
oddviti n. leader, one in the front 59/19.
ód‡rstr a. sup. least expensive, cheapest 10/18, 20.
of (1) archaic prep. (later replaced by um and yfir) with acc. (or dat.?),over, above 60/8; with acc., of time, for, during 66/21.
of (2) expletive adv. with verbs in verse 55/22, 58/8; see note to 55/22.
of (3) adv. too 25/13.
ofan adv. down 37/4.
ófri›r m. hostility, state of war 17/10; i.e. an invading army, invasion
18/12, 19/11.
ófró›1iga adv. foolishly 35/6.
oft adv. often 6/3, 28/5; comp., oftar: any more times, again 23/23, 25/9,
66/10.
ófúss a. not eager (at gera e-t: to do s-thing) 28/21.
ógla›r a. unhappy; comp., less pleased, less cheerful 29/10.
ógle›jast (-gladd-) wv. become sad, unhappy 17/13.
óheimskr a. not foolish, not stupid 44/25 (litotes).
óhlutdeilinn a. who keeps to himself, who does not meddle with others
51/18.
óhægri a. comp. more difficult, less easy (i.e. impossible) 13/8.
ok (1) conj. and 5/3; and so 34/12 (facetious); especially when there
were 12/17.
ok (2) adv. also 5/18, 6/13; as well 45/14; in turn, in exchange 39/13.
ókunnr a. unknown 6/21, 60/5.
ókve›inn a. (pp.) not (yet) recited 45/17.
ólíkligr a. unlikely, improbable 46/27.
ólíkr a. unlike, dissimilar; not comparable (i.e. much greater) 8/11; n.,unlikely 10/25; n. as adv. with dat., in a different way from, unlike
61/1; sup., e-t er eigi ﬂví ólíkast at: s-thing looks very much as though
43/14.

Glossary127ómakliga adv. wrongly, unjustly; in an unjustified way 20/26; in an
unfitting way 24/4 (‘it will be wrong for you to part like that’).
ómannliga adv. wrongly, unnaturally 61/1.
ómjúkr a. not compliant, not easy-going, uncompromising, hard to get
on with 29/13.
ónafnligr a. sounding unlike a name, unsuitable as a name; ﬂó var›ónafnligt: nevertheless (even though you say it is your name) it doesn’tsound like a name, but it has turned out to be a strange-sounding
name 44/9.
ón‡ta (tt) wv. spoil, destroy; waste 24/15; fail to make use of 53/8.
ór prep. with dat., out of 6/22; from 17/4, 18/16; indicating place of aperson’s origin 25/20; from, in, which is in 66/11; as adv., ór rá›ast:
see rá›a.
or› n. word 6/10, 21/6; speech 30/11; pl., message 29/25; hafa (engi) o.
um: make any (no) remark (comment), say anything (nothing) about
it 66/2, 7; koma or›i á: speak of, refer to 11/17; senda o. til at: senda request that 30/7.
or›aframkast n. passing remark(s), chat 21/8.
or›inn pp. of ver›a.
or›sending f. message, communication 30/10, 47/12.
ormshali m. snake’s tail 6/28.
órrá› n. solution; ﬂar er okkr hægt til órrá›a: it is easy for us to finda solution to that 20/6.
ort pp. of yrkja.
orti p. of yrkja.
ósi›r m. evil practice 61/4.
ós‡nn a. not certain 28/5.
ótiginn a. not of noble rank, of the status of commoner 29/23.
ótrú f. irreligion, pagandom, unchristian activity 54/5.
óvandr a. unparticular, unfastidious, undemanding, uncritical (at: about)
39/4; ﬂat mun ﬂér óvant gert: we shall not make great (excessive)
demands on you 43/21.
óvarr a. unaware; á óvart: unexpectedly, without one’s (prior) knowledge
33/24.
óvingjarnliga adv. in an unfriendly (unkindly) way 24/1.

128

Stories from Sagas of Kingsóvitrliga adv. foolishly 13/26.
penningr m. coin; pl., money 11/28.
prettr m. trick 28/12.
rá› n. counsel, advice, recommendation 38/10, 47/9; plan, (possible)
course of action 7/17; a good thing to do, what is advisable 11/21; er
nú r.: it is now best, high time, you had better 27/27; sjá rá› fyrir
e-m: tell s-one what to do, help s-one out 7/6; pl., deliberations,decisions, planning, council 25/26.
rá›a (ré›) sv. rule; have one’s way, be the one to decide 30/5, 56/10 (or,r. um: be in charge (of it, of things?); see um); r. sér: book, arrange(for o-self) 18/3; r. (sér) e-n: hire, engage, procure s-one 18/2, 27; r.
fyrir e-u: make the decisions about, have one’s own way in, be theone to determine 51/18; r. fyrir her: lead an army 18/14; r. vi›:manage, handle, get one’s own way with, deal with 12/17. Md., rá›ast
ór: be decided, be the outcome 23/7; hvat ór rá›ist: how it turns out,
what solution will be reached 18/7; rá›ast til: go and join (take servicewith) 29/20; rá›ast til skips: go and find (take) a place for o-self on aship, settle o-self on a ship 24/3.
rá›ager› f. making of plans, council 25/28.
ragr a. cowardly, perverse, perverted, wretched, evil 60/15.
rau›r a. red 57/11.
raun f. test, trial (vi› e-n: of s-one); til raunar vi› hann: as a test ofhim, to test him 67/11; reality, proof; hverr sem r. ver›r á ﬂínu máli:whatever truth there turns out to be in what you say, whether or not
experience confirms what you say 37/1.
re›r n. penis 59/10.
rei›ast (dd) wv. md. become angry 22/4.
rei›i f. anger, displeasure 5/7, 24/4; hafa r. á e-m: hold s-one in displeasure 14/17.
rei›ingr m. gear (for riding) 43/23.
reka (rak) sv. drive, strike; thrust, throw 26/15; strip 52/10.
rekja (rakta) wv. unwind, unfold; r. af: wind off, undo 55/19.
rekkja f. bed 30/9.
rétta (tt) wv. pass, hand (frá sér: from o-self, i.e. over) 66/17.
réttr a. right, correct, true 54/7, 61/7; n. as adv., correctly 35/9, 44/21.

Glossary129

reykr m. smoke 23/22 (acc. pl., see leggja).
reyna (d) wv. prove, try, test (so as to reveal worth; at: as to) 6/23 (‘ofproven valour’); test, put to the test 65/13; find out about: seint ermenn at r.: it takes a long time to find out men’s true nature 20/17; r.
til: make an attempt 38/2 (‘you are aiming rather high’). Md. impers.,
reynast: prove (intransitive), turn out (to be) 34/20, 36/26.
ri› n. steps, stairs (usually outside the house) 37/4.
rí›a (rei›) sv. ride 13/17, 33/13, 43/12.
ríkdómr m. power 13/15.
ríki n. power, rule (of a king) 5/4; kingdom 18/13.
rjó›r n. clearing 12/7.
ró f. peace (fyrir: from, or because of?) 19/2.
rotna (a›) wv. rot, putrefy 53/12 (‘so as to prevent it rotting’).
rúm n. place 21/17, 34/13.
ræ›a f. speech; eiga ræ›ur vi›: converse with 44/25.
rægja (g›) wv. slander, accuse, run down, speak ill of (vi›: to) 6/9.
röskligr a. vigorous, virile-looking 52/21.
saga f. story 14/7.
saka (a›) wv. blame; md. pl. complain, blame ourselves or one another13/28.
sakar, sakir prep. with gen. (acc. pl. of sök), because of 7/21, 13/15;
fyrir s. 17/10, 65/10; fyrir mínar s.: for my sake 7/11.
sákat see sjá.
sála f. soul 12/26.
sám p. pl. of sjá.
sama (›) wv. be fitting, be right 25/12, 66/23.
saman adv. together 35/1; in agreement, see koma; s. fara: happen as aresult, in accordance with s-thing else (the one thing will result in theother, sc. what is indicated by the ef-clause and what is indicated by
the at-clause), the two things will go together 9/1.
samfastr a. connected together; of words, bound, i.e. in verse 6/11.
samr a. same 9/20, 23/14, 53/17; n. as adv., samt: together 55/16.
samﬂykki n. consent, agreement 38/10, 47/15.
sannnefni n. true description, name that fits, appropriate (good) name(e-m: for s-one) 65/4.

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sannr a. (n. satt) true 21/20, 24/20, 39/10; correctly accused, guilty 8/4;
comp., more just, more proper, a better course of action 8/20.
sártík f. ‘wound-bitch’, murderous or scabby bitch? 60/15 (with def.
art., ‘you . . . !’).
sé› subj. pl. of vera.
segja (sag›a) wv. say, tell (e-m: s-one) 6/1, 22/16; report 8/3; announce
19/5; referring to what is said in a book or a story, 17/3; er frá ﬂvísagt, er svá sagt: the story goes 19/19, 22/19, 65/1; e-m var sagt:
s-one was told 33/13; eru at s.: are to be told 19/10; s. fyrir (adv.):
dictate, give instructions (directions) as to the course 54/7, predict,prophesy 14/2; s. e-m til: report (s-thing) to s-one, tell s-one (abouts-thing) 21/19; s. upp: announce, pronounce 9/4, 21/12. Md. with inf.,
say that one (will do s-thing) 5/17.
segl n. sail 28/24, 58/20.
seilast (d) wv. reach out (til e-s: for s-thing) 22/3.
seimr m. gold, gold thread; seima Bil: kenning for woman 51/14.
sein f. lateness, delay; var eigi s. at e-m: s-one was not late in arriving,
not slow to arrive 19/6.
seinn a. late, slow; n. as adv., slowly, late 18/10; e-m gengr seint: it
takes one a long time, one does not get on very well 20/16; seint er: ittakes a long time 20/17; comp. n. as adv., seinna later 55/10.
selja (ld) wv. give, sell 10/8, 15, 11/1; s. fram: hand over 28/13. Md., besold 11/2.
sem (1) adv. and conj. when 34/19; like 5/12, 36/25; as 25/22, 26/7,
28/14, 33/21, 55/17; as if 9/7, 67/6; as well as 54/6; svá sem, svá . . .
sem: as if 8/14, as . . . as 34/2, the same way as 8/29, like 10/13, as
34/20, in the way that 12/25, cf. svá; jafn- . . . sem: as . . . as 19/20;
with adverbs, ﬂar sem, hvar sem, ﬂangat sem: where, wherever (seeﬂar, hvar, ﬂangat); hvégi sem: however 28/4; hvárt sem: whether
29/8; with sup., as . . . as possible 28/21, 53/10, 61/7; sem má: asmuch (well) as he can 28/25; ﬂví with comp. . . . sem with comp.: themore . . . the more . . . 36/26, 39/7 (see ﬂví) .
sem (2) rel. particle, who, which 19/3; where, in which 45/5; sá sem:
who, which 7/9 (see note), 17/11; sá . . . sem: the . . . which 13/29,
52/11; í ﬂví . . . sem in the same . . . as 35/29; sem hann gerir: whichGlossary131

he does, and does so (relating to whole of preceding clause) 22/3; ﬂatsem: what 29/27, 51/2; which (separated from antecedent, annat)
53/8; hverr sem: whoever, whatever 29/14, 37/1.
semja (sam›a) wv. settle, come to an agreement about, put right, mend
21/4.
senda (nd) wv. send 7/10, 14/12.
sér (1) pres. of sjá.
sér (2) pres. subj. of vera.
sér (3) reflexive pron. 3rd pers. dat. (refers to subject of sentence) 45/6.
sess m. seat, place 54/18.
sessunautr m. neighbour at table, table companion 5/22, 20/11.
setja (tt) wv. set, put 6/27, 10/6 (cause to sit); place, put in a certain
position (metaphorically) 29/23; s. mat fram: serve food 55/15; s. e-t
til e-s: introduce, bring s-thing into s-thing, use s-thing in s-thing 21/25;
impers., e-t (acc.) setr at e-m: s-one is overcome by s-thing 35/9 (‘heburst out laughing’); md. setjast: sit down 21/16, 54/17, 55/11.
sex num. six 26/19, 36/14.
sextögr a. sixty years old 9/29.
sí› adv. late 27/19; s. dags: late in the day 54/10.
sí›an adv. then, afterwards 14/12, 21/21; after that 14/15; again 13/20;
as conj., after 10/3, 12/27, 29/16; s. er: after 5/3, 30/13; sí›an . . . er:
since 26/5.
sí›ar adv. comp. later 9/14; with dat., fám dögum s.: a few days later
17/23, similarly 18/24, 29/19.
sí›ari a. comp. later, latter, second (of two) 15/3.
sí›ast adv. sup. last of all 38/17; ﬂat sá ﬂeir s. at: the last they saw wasthat 28/26.
sí›asta f. end; at sí›ustu: in the end 9/3.
sí›ir f. pl.; um sí›ir: eventually, at last 45/10.
sí›kveld n. late evening; um sí›kveldum: late at night(s) 20/19.
si›r m. practice, custom 53/20.
sí›r adv. comp. less; eigi s. en: no less than 21/28; eigi at s.: nevertheless,nonetheless 21/18; at sí›r . . . at: the less . . . in that 37/28 (‘so far fromhaving’); sup., sízt; hann hef›i verit me› honum allra manna svá atsízt: he had been the one among all his followers who had least 29/7.

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sigla (d) wv. sail 23/9, 28/25.
sigling f. sailing, travels by sea; í siglingum: engaged in travelling abroad(as a merchant) 19/24.
silfr n. silver 6/8, 10/22.
sinn (1) (n. sitt) pron. a. reflexive (referring to subject of clause) 5/8, (tosubject of phrase) 65/15.
sinn (2), sinni n. time, occasion 13/23, 24/14; eitt sinn: once, on a certain
occasion 5/6; ö›ru sinni: next time, the (a) second time 23/13, 36/23;
nú . . . at sinni: (at) this time 28/13; ﬂá . . . ﬂví sinni: on that occasion
30/14.
sitja (sat) sv. sit (í: on) 5/21, 10/12, 38/25; stay 10/9, 17/7, 18/22; sathann: he had a seat 33/12; s. eftir: remain behind 19/21 (sit up), 33/17;
s. fyrir: face 45/1; s. vi› drykkju: sit (over one’s) drinking 26/11; s.
yfir bor›um: sit at table (at a meal) 7/23.
sízt see sí›r.
sjá (sá, pp. sét) sv. see 13/19, 52/20; sá-k-at: I have not seen 59/8; sjám:
let us see 19/4; impers., sá: one could see 20/14; perceive 11/18; realise
22/24, 60/22; know 8/26; s. ﬂykkjumst ek: I feel sure, it seems likely
to me 11/8; with acc. (and inf.), see s-one to be s-thing, can see thats-one is 10/24, see s-one do s-thing 43/12; s. e-n sitja: see s-one sitting
44/5; s. fyrir e-u: look after, see to s-thing 43/23; s. e-t fyrir e-m:
provide, find s-thing for s-one 7/6; s. til e-s: look at, glance at s-one
54/23 (‘kept looking at’); s. ﬂar til e-s er ek em: look to me for (toobtain) s-thing, expect s-thing from me 8/12; s. vi› e-u: beware ofs-thing 56/16 (or look to, at? watch out for, take care of?).
sjálfr a. himself 7/15, 33/19; yourself 45/21; bóndi s. the very master ofthe house 56/5; sjálfir: themselves in person 30/13; by themselves
34/4, for themselves 43/22.
sjónfrí›r a. handsome in appearance 33/4.
sjór m. sea 13/29.
ska›i m. damage, destruction; vinna e-m ska›a: cause s-one harm orloss, injure, despoil, cause mischief to s-one 18/14.
skálir f. pl. scales 28/9.
skáld n. poet 33/5, 65/6 (epithet of ﬁjó›ólfr).
skammlauss a. without dishonour 34/9.

Glossary133

skammr a. short 10/25; n. as adv., skammt: a short distance 23/21.
skap n. attitude, state of mind; character, nature, temper 25/2, 28/2; búa
í skapi e-m: be on one’s mind 17/14.
skapa (a›) wv. shape, make, form 59/6.
skapan f. ordinance, arrangement, decree 52/11.
skapari m. creator 60/22.
skapker n. vat, container from which drinks were served 20/29.
skaplyndi n. character, the way one’s mind works 30/1.
skapstórr a. proud, grand, superior; ma›r s.: a man of character
66/5.
skark n. noise 27/23.
skarlatskyrtill m. tunic of scarlet (a kind of rich cloth) 65/18.
skarlatsskikkja f. cloak of scarlet 65/18.
skella (d) wv. cause (s-thing to make) a loud noise; s. höndunum
saman: clap one’s hands together 35/1; s. upp: burst out (intolaughter), roar out 53/5.
skemma f. private room 6/15, 65/16.
skemmri a. comp. shorter 41/2.
skemmta (mmt) wv. with dat., entertain 9/22, 45/6; intransitive, provide
entertainment, perform 37/7, 45/7.
skemmtan f. (providing of) entertainment 45/25, 46/6.
sker n. skerry, low-lying rock, almost submerged rock 23/15.
skera (skar) sv. cut 52/15, 22 (af: off).
skikkja f. cloak 55/2, 65/14.
skilja (l›) wv. (1) part 28/19, 38/21; impers., skilr me› ﬂeim: they (were)parted, went (were obliged to go) their different ways, their paths
divided 28/28; md., part from one another, separate 30/13. (2)understand, see 39/11.
skilna›r m. parting 24/4, 26/10.
skína (skein) sv. shine 10/4.
skip n. ship 12/23, 27/2, 54/4, 65/5.
skipa (a›) wv. assign a place (e-m: to s-one) 9/25; s. sessum: arrange
the seating 54/18; intransitive, arrange matters, settle (a dispute) 27/1.
skipagangr m. movement of ships, sea traffic 17/10.
skipan f. place (on a ship) 18/4.

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skipstjórn f. command of a ship 26/3; ﬂar til skipstjórnar: to commandthat ship 25/24.
skipta (pt) wv. with dat., divide up, apportion 12/25; md., skiptast e-uvi›: exchange s-thing 55/9.
skipun f. manning, crew (cf. skipan); ﬂrenna s.: three times the normal
complement 26/20.
skipverjar m. pl. crew 18/2.
skíra (›) wv. baptise 60/20.
skírr a. pure (of silver) 22/10; unalloyed, in pure silver 24/23.
skjóta (skaut) sv. shoot; pitch (a tent) 23/18; s. e-u undir: submit s-thing
to 27/3; s. ﬂví or›i vi›: make this reply, let out in reply, retort 30/11.
skjótr a. quick; n. as adv., skjótt ætla ek: it won’t take me long 17/18;
svá skjótt: in such a hurry, on the spot 27/28, 38/9.
skógr m. wood, forest 10/9, 12/5, 13/18.
skorinn pp. of skera.
skorta (rt) wv. impers. with acc., lack; skorti eigi: there was no lack of
28/25.
skósveinn m. personal servant 6/6.
skrautliga adv. ornately, splendidly, richly 43/12.
skulu (skal, skylda) pret. pres. vb. (1) indicating necessity or obligation,
skaltu: you shall, must 8/21, 36/2; skyldi, skyldu: ought 43/19, 60/22,
in indirect commands, should 29/20; skyldu, skulu: have the duty of,
be required to 26/13 (were supposed to), 34/3; skalt ﬂú vita: I would
have you know 11/24. (2) indicating intention, shall 65/13; impers.,
9/19, 28/6; in indirect speech, skyldi: would 29/21; was to 45/5; hvat
skal: see hvat; with verb to be understood, 39/13, 47/5. (3) indicating
permission, skal: may 18/19; skyldi: might 5/10, 9/28, 26/17 (was to).
skygg›r a. polished so as to be translucent 20/14.
skyldr a. under an obligation; s. e-m: related to s-one 6/5; s. til at: boundto, under an obligation to, having a duty to 14/3.
skynjar f. pl. understanding, knowledge (á: of) 52/5.
slá (sló) sv. strike; s. e-u ni›r: fling s-thing down 24/14.
sleitiliga adv. unfairly, in a deceitful fashion; drekka s.: cheat at drinking
20/28.
slíkr a. such 18/21; in pl., such as this (one) 8/17, 34/2; n., such a thingGlossary135

as that 22/16; í slíku: in such an event 61/3; slíkt er: whatever 8/5,
25/7; slíkt . . . sem: whatever 25/8, such . . . as (i.e. as good . . . as)37/23, (i.e. considering how much) 24/26; slíkt sem ek vil . . . af li›i:
whatever troops I wish 18/17.
slíta (sleit) sv. impers. with dat., be broken off; mótinu slítr: the meetingcomes to an end, is broken up 18/24.
snemma adv. early 17/9, 23/27.
snúa (snera) sv. with dat., turn; convert 54/7; impers. passive with dat.,s-thing is changed (see h‡b‡li) 55/14; intransitive, go in a certain
direction; s. eftir: make after 26/21.
snævigr a. doughty, agile, skilful 58/19.
sofa (svaf) sv. sleep 27/21, 29/10, 37/1; lie 35/29; ganga at s.: go to bed
19/21, 35/28.
sofna (a›) wv. fall asleep 36/7.
sómi m. honour, action showing esteem for s-one 25/3.
son, sonr m. (gen. sonar, pl. synir) son 3/2, 5/1.
sótti, sóttr p. and pp. of sækja.
spakr a. sensible, well-bred 51/17.
spilla (t) wv. with dat., spoil, damage 23/23.
spretta (tt) wv. with dat., tear; s. e-u af: rip s-thing off 66/28, 67/6.
spyrja (spur›a) wv. hear, learn 6/27; ask 9/13, 10/28; s. e-s: ask s-thing
44/20; s. e-n at nafni: ask s-one his name 12/7, 54/22.
staddr a. (pp.) positioned, placed, present; vera s.: (happen) to be in acertain place 43/11.
sta›r m. place; annars sta›ar: elsewhere 54/6; í sta› e-s: in s-one’s
place, as a replacement for s-one 23/2; fyrst í sta›: immediately, forthe moment, to begin with 8/19.
stafn m. prow, stem; the place (position, station) at the prow 23/2 (seenote).
stafnbúi m. one of the fighters at the prow, forecastle-man 59/18(metaphorical?). See note to 23/1–2.
stallari m. marshal 9/26.
standa (stó›) sv. stand 28/15, 65/17; stand up, hold o-self erect 53/19; s.
upp: stand up, get up 9/21, 19/9, 53/6; s. í: be dressed in, be wearing
66/22; s. eftir: be outstanding, remain unpaid 27/8; md. impers., ﬂannig

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stenzt af um: these are the circumstances as regards, this is the situation
as regards, this is the nature of 46/7.
starfa (a›) wv. work; s. fyrir: look after, provide for 34/4.
stefna (d) wv. summon, call, appoint, arrange 9/20; make for, aim at, bepointed at 23/15.
sterkr a. strong 11/19; sup., manna sterkastr: a very strong man, oneof the strongest of men 33/5.
steypa (t) wv. with dat., pour 12/1; s. e-u af sér: throw off s-thing 66/28;
s. yfir: throw over (the top of) 54/15.
stígr m. path, way 13/29.
stika (a›) wv. measure (with a yardstick) 65/17.
strí›læti n. inflexibility, obstinacy 25/2.
stjórn f. steering, command (of a ship); hafa skip til stjórnar: havecommand of a ship 25/11.
stofa f. room, living room, parlour 7/20, 44/2, 52/17; private room 26/12.
stórlyndr a. munificent, magnanimous 67/5.
stórmennska f. munificence 65/11; greatness and generosity of character
25/1.
stórr a. large 52/5; proud, high-sounding 36/28.
stórætta›r a. (pp.) of great descent, of noble birth 25/23.
strangr a. hard, harsh, severe 18/20.
strí›a f. harshness, unpleasantness, adversity 29/12.
strí›mæltr a. harsh of speech, argumentative, abusive 5/9.
stund f. time, period of time 10/25, 14/15; langar stundir: very long
38/23.
stuttor›r a. abrupt, brief, concise of speech, laconic 29/13.
sty›ja (studda) wv. support, build up, help to stand 56/2.
stygglyndr a. prickly, inclined to take offence, pettish 29/13.
st‡ra (›) wv. steer 23/10; with dat., have command of, be captain of
25/20.
st‡rima›r m. steersman, helmsman 23/11; captain 25/16.
st‡rir m. helmsman; perhaps metaphorically, ruler or guide 59/17.
styrkna (a›) wv. become strong 53/19.
styrkr a. strong; sup., 29/5 (cf. sterkr).
stytti f. unfriendliness, curtness 30/14.

Glossary137

su›r adv. south 22/20, 23/8.
sumar n. summer 19/17, 65/1; pl., years 29/19 (i.e. ‘one summer a few
years later’).
sumr a. some 28/23 (‘some men’), 38/1.
sundalei› f. the route between the islands and the Norwegian mainland
33/8.
sundr adv. apart, separately, in different directions 23/22.
sundrger›arma›r m. eccentric person, one who uses or likes extravagant
behaviour or display, affected 6/10.
sundrlauss a. (of words) unbound, i.e. not in verse 6/10.
svá adv. so 11/19, 38/9; such 46/28; also 14/14, 51/5, 66/3; thus, then
54/16; so on 53/22; thus, without further development 27/10; in thesame way, without changing 23/11; as follows 6/20, 9/21; referring
back, so, thus 5/9, 7/25, 13/16, 24/21, for that 23/29; svá er: that isright, that is so 35/26, 39/1; eigi er svá: that is not so 36/16; mjök
svá: very nearly 22/21; nökkur svá: somewhat like, rather a 24/24;
svá at as conj., so that 7/3, 19/1; thus, that 9/6; svá . . . at: in such a
way that 54/18, 61/9 (with the result that), so much that 53/18, thus
. . . that 36/6, 52/7, it being the case that, in such a way that (accompanying action or circumstances) 28/5, 53/13, 54/20, this, that 7/12,
23/1, it . . . that 19/19, 34/20; similarly at 8/2 (or: in such a way that,or: ‘it was brought about by the fact that’); svá . . . er: in such a waythat 27/4; svá sem: in such a way as 12/25, (of time) just as 52/14,
54/25; svá . . . sem: like 10/12, as 34/20, as . . . as 11/12, 34/1, such . . .
as 11/18, as if 8/14, just as 8/28.
sváfu p. pl. of sofa.
svara (a›) wv. reply, answer 7/8, 13/8, 18/3; s. engu: make no reply
35/2, 65/22; s. e-m ﬂví (ﬂessu): make this reply to s-one 35/14, 17.
svarkr m. proud, haughty, bossy woman 51/18.
sveinn m. boy, lad, servant, man in service 26/13 (of members of crew).
sveit f. company, following, troop 14/8.
svelgja (svalg) sv. swallow 60/14.
sver› n. sword 8/22, 9/8.
sverja (svar›a) wv. swear; s. e-s vi› e-n: swear s-thing by s-one; with
suffixed pron., sverk: I swear 57/8.

138

Stories from Sagas of Kingssvín n. pig 35/15, 44/19.
svívir›a (r›) wv. dishonour, insult 22/14 (í: by this action).
svívir›ing f. dishonour, contempt, insulting behaviour 24/26; mér til
svívir›ingar: in a way that is insulting to me 23/24.
svívir›liga adv. dishonourably, insultingly (til e-s: towards s-one) 24/16(‘that this action was intended as an insult towards him’).
s‡n f. sight; frí›r s‡num: handsome in appearance 29/5.
s‡na (d) wv. show 13/25, 67/2. Md., appear; be seen, be apparent, berevealed 61/3; s‡nist: can be seen to be 22/10; s‡nast me›: look as
though one has, appear to have 18/10; e-m s‡nist: it seems to one (tobe) 11/21, 14/4.
s‡nn a. visible, apparent; n., s‡nt: clear, certain 65/9.
s‡r f. sow (as a nickname) 22/2, 35/15.
s‡sla f. work 66/27.
s‡slulauss a. idle, without s-thing to do 8/2.
systir f. sister 56/18.
sækja (sótta) wv. seek; go and fetch, bring away 14/10; take a certain
direction or route, make one’s way, go (to a place) 47/13; attack 9/1.
sæm› f. honour 17/5, 34/16; in pl., honourable settlement, amends,
redress 8/12.
sæmiliga adv. fittingly, properly, decently 43/18.
sæmiligr a. proper, fair 27/6.
sæmri a. comp. more suitable 57/18.
sæng f. bed 45/7.
sæti n. seat, place 5/20, 44/2.
sætt f. reconciliation; koma sér í s. vi› e-n: obtain reconciliation withs-one for o-self, become reconciled with s-one 14/14.
sætta (tt) wv. reconcile; s. e-n vi›: bring s-one back into favour with,obtain forgiveness for s-one from 14/13. Md. (reciprocal), bereconciled, make it up 24/7.
sök f. sake (see sakar); offence, charge 8/4, 14/16.
taka (tók) sv. take 9/27, 10/5, 21/21; receive 22/9, 26/8; accept 60/20;
take up, begin to observe 53/20; take on 19/4; get out, get ready 34/17,
55/14; take possession of 26/15; taka sér: find o-self, take for o-self
54/15, i.e. rent? 33/11, 43/8; with inf., begin to 17/8, 27/11; t. á e-u:Glossary139

take hold of, touch, put one’s hand on s-thing 57/6; t. af e-m: takefrom s-one, deprive s-one of 26/3; t. upp: pick up 53/13, 65/23, 67/1;
upp of tekinn: stuck up, sticking out 55/22; t. vi› e-m: receive s-one
into one’s care or protection 5/16, 7/10, take into one’s company 12/23;
t. vel vi›: welcome, receive with pleasure or hospitality 5/21, 47/14;
er, ver›r (vel) vi› e-m tekit: s-one is received (with hospitality) 33/11,
21; taka vi› (e-u): accept, take (s-thing) 21/21, 56/7, 57/10, 16, 58/5;
take over, take charge of 9/8, 22/18, 26/8. Md. impers., e-m til tekst:
it turns out for one; oss hef›i mjök óvitrliga til tekizt: we had acted
very foolishly, had ended up great fools 13/27.
takmikill a. able to achieve a great deal, able to work well 11/20.
tal n. speech, conversation; eiga t. vi› e-n: converse with s-one 39/13.
tala (1) f. account, reckoning 12/2.
tala (2) (a›) wv. speak 9/21, 13/26, 19/16; t. margt: talk of many things
45/3; at svá tölu›u: see at (2); t. um: talk about (it) 39/6; t. vi›: talk(speak) to or with 18/9, 35/22. Md., tölumst vi›: let us talk together
44/23.
telja (tal›a) wv. count 36/12; give an account of, speak of, preach 60/17;
t. eftir: keep an account 45/12.
tí›ast see títt.
tí›endi n. pl. tidings, news 19/9; happenings, events 9/19; tí›endin:
what has happened 7/25.
tiginn a. noble, high-ranking 37/27.
tigr m. a group of ten; in numerals for multiples of ten (with gen.), sex
tigu: sixty 36/14; ﬂrír tigir: thirty 45/14.
til prep. with gen. (1) direction, to 6/15, 10/14, 26/23; in the direction of
54/24; to the house of 5/15, 33/10; to the presence of 5/24, 67/9; búinntil: ready to go to 27/26; see setja. (2) time, until 13/5, 30/15; til ﬂesser (as conj.): until 54/19. (3) purpose, for 11/29, 33/12, 52/9; in orderto obtain, so as to get 8/12, 17/22 (‘to be rewarded with nothing’); so
as to cause 23/24; for the purpose of 25/11, 52/12; til ﬂess eins at:
solely in order to 21/25; as, to be 39/13, 65/10, 67/11; so as to get to19/1; to hear 6/3; til hvers: for what purpose, to earn what 24/10; til
ﬂess: to do this 6/13, 25/28; to announce 18/8; see færr, vinna. (4)attitude, towards 55/3; to accept 60/18. (5) as adv., of direction, up

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52/16; ﬂangat til: to(wards) it 53/15; ﬂar til er: to where 27/20; oftime, hér til: up to now 25/28; ﬂar til er, ﬂar til sem: until 36/7,
53/23; of purpose, til at: for, requesting that 30/7; gefa e-m fé til atgera e-t: give s-one money to do s-thing 21/14; vera til: be available(exist, be possible) 7/17, 17/19; see bera, breg›a, búa, gera, geta,
gæta, hafa, heyra, hitta, líta, skyldr, van›i, vísa (2).
tilganga f. approach; fyrir bor›s tilgöngu: because of my (late) goingto table, in connection with my going to table 8/1.
tilkvámuma›r m. newly-arrived person 55/7.
títt adv. (n. of tí›r a.) quickly, immediately 28/13; sup., sem tí›ast: as
quickly as possible 28/21.
tízka f. custom (til e-s: for s-thing to be done) 21/12.
tjá (›) wv. impers. with dat., profit, avail; tjá›i oss ekki at: it did us nogood to, it did no good for us to (do s-thing) 13/28.
tjalda (a›) wv. spread awnings (to sleep under) 54/11.
toga (a›) wv. pull 6/22.
tólf num. twelve 10/22, 25/6.
torg n. market-place 11/13, 16.
tregr a. reluctant, unwilling (til: for) 60/18.
trú f. faith, religion (always referring to Christianity) 52/6, 54/7, 61/8;
the true faith 60/17.
trúa (›) wv. with dat., trust, rely on 28/4 (‘I shall not be able to trustyou’); t. á e-n: believe, have faith in s-one 60/22.
tröll n. troll 6/22.
tunga f. tongue; toga y›r tungu: pull your tongue(s) 6/22 (sg. for pl.).
tveir num. (f. tvær, n. tvau) two 7/21, 11/26, 12/18; á tvær hendr
honum: on each side of him 35/23.
tvítögr a. twenty years old 9/28.
tæpt adv. scarcely, hesitantly, almost without touching 57/6.
um prep. with acc. (1) of space, through 13/18; around 11/13; um fram:ahead of, beyond, superior to 13/2. (2) of time, at, in 19/17, 20/19 (herewith dat.), 27/25, 33/7; for, during 21/16, 27/10, 54/12; see hrí›, sí›ir.
(3) of subject, about 6/12, 36/26, 37/16; concerning, in relation to 8/13;
with, as regards 11/22, 28, 24/18, 27/14, 39/12; at vera um e-t: seevera; um kyrrt: see kyrr. (4) as adv., about it 39/6, 66/2; hér um: aboutGlossary141

this, for this 19/2; see eiga, fár, gefa, mikill, ver›r. (5) expletive withverbs in verse (cf. of (2)) 56/10 (or, about it, as 4 above, see rá›a).
ummæli n. expression, statement, utterance, what s-one says abouts-thing 53/25.
umræ›a f. remarks, comments 20/22; discussion (um: about) 66/12.
una (›) wv. be pleased, content (ﬂá vi›: with things if that happens) 9/1.
undan prep. with dat., from under, off the bottom of 23/16; as adv.,
away 28/28, 29/2; fara undan um: see fara.
undarligr a. strange, amazing 46/16.
undir prep. (1) with acc., under (see ganga); subject to (see skjóta). (2)with dat., below 27/22, 54/9; undir sér: at one’s disposal 39/12 (seeeiga). (3) as adv., beneath 22/11; ﬂar sem . . . undir: under which,below which 51/4.
undirhlutr m. bottom part of the stem (at prow of ship) 23/16.
ungr a. young 6/4.
unnit pp. of vinna.
upp adv. up 9/21, 12/19; ashore 10/6, 27/19; see fá, gera, gjalda, segja.
upphaf n. beginning 51/7.
uppi adv. up 28/16, 65/19.
uppivö›slumikill a. rowdy 52/2.
upplenzkr a. from Upplönd 20/9 (see index).
upplost n. (false) rumour 19/10.
út adv. out 7/4, 28/20; outside 33/15, 53/6; out to sea 28/25; see leggja;
abroad 6/27, 17/2, (to Iceland from Norway) 17/15, 24/3.
útan (1) adv. on top (of clothes); ú. yfir: over the top of 54/15; fromabroad (from Iceland to Norway) 19/18, 33/6, 43/7, 65/2.
útan (2) conj. except 7/15; other than 36/14.
útanlands adv. abroad 5/3, 6/1.
útar adv. comp. further out (towards the doors of a room), in a seat oflower rank; lower down (the table or room) 34/9; ú. á bekkinn: lower
down the bench 44/6.
útfer› f. travel abroad (to Iceland from Norway) 27/15.
úti adv. outside 27/22, 43/11.
útskagi m. outlying (remote) ness or headland 61/5.
vaka (›) wv. remain awake 45/9.

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vakna (a›) wv. wake up; v. vi›: be awakened by it, wake at, because of
it 27/24; v. vi› ﬂat, er: wake up to find, be wakened by 23/19.
vald n. power 13/12, 14/6; ganga á v. e-s: give o-self up to s-one, submit
to s-one’s authority 9/11; leggja á konungs v.: submit (it) to the king’s
authority or judgement, leave it to the king to decide 26/27.
ván f. hope, expectation; meiri v. at (followed by subj.): it would seem
more than likely that, it looks as though, there seems a greater
likelihood (i.e. now that this has happened) that 66/20; vita vánir e-s:
be expecting s-one (s-thing), have reason to expect s-one (s-thing)
43/13, 19.
van›i m. custom (til e-s: to do or have s-thing); en van›i hans var til:than it was his custom to do 29/11.
vandliga adv. carefully; sup., 53/10.
vandr a. (n. vant) difficult, demanding 34/1; hard 24/2, 44/17.
vandskipa›r a. (pp.) manned with difficulty, difficult to man (e-m: bys-one, for s-one) 23/1 (i.e. ‘it will be hard for you to find anyone forthe prow as good’).
vanr a. accustomed (e-u: to s-thing) 37/13, 46/5; n. vant: customary,usual 21/14.
vant: see vanr and vandr.
vápn n. weapon 8/23, 66/11; vera me› vápnum: be armed 27/20.
vápndjarfr a. brave, valiant in battle; sup., 29/5.
vár n. spring 17/12, 27/16.
vára (a›) wv. become spring 17/8, 27/11.
var›a (a›) wv. concern, be of importance to (s-one); ekki var›ar ﬂik: it
is no business of yours 12/8.
var›veita (tt) wv. keep, guard, look after 10/7, 26/13.
varla adv. scarcely, hardly; varla fáir ﬂú: it is unlikely that you will get
24/5.
varr a. aware; ver›a e-s v.: get to hear of s-thing 6/14.
vátr a. wet 26/14.
váveifligr a. sudden, surprising, unexpected 29/8.
vaxa (óx) sv. grow 52/4, 53/18.
vefja (vaf›a) wv. wrap, fold 53/10; v. at sér: wrap one’s arms round, or
wrap round one’s body? 58/5.

Glossary143

vega (vá) sv. (1) fight 8/28. (2) weigh 28/10.
vegr m. (1) road 12/22; einn veg . . . sem: in the same way . . . as, just as
much . . . as, both . . . and 61/5. (2) honour; ﬂinn vegr: conducive to
your honour, to your credit 25/3.
veita (tt) wv. give (e-t e-m: s-thing to s-one) 5/17, 45/3, 67/7; provide
43/18; grant (a request) 18/23, 37/9, 46/1; inflict, show (s-thing towards
s-one) 18/29.
veizla f. feast, official reception for a king or jarl; pl., the king’s ‘progress’
26/24; fara at veizlum 34/3, taka veizlur 26/9, see note to 34/3.
veiztu 2nd pers. sg. pres. of vita (= veizt ﬂú).
vekja (vak›a) wv. awaken (transitive); broach (a subject); v. umræ›uum: bring up the subject of 66/12.
vel adv. well, properly 25/17, 33/11, 60/21; highly 5/4; easily, at least
20/15; quite 34/21; very 6/8; easily, without hesitation, without fearof dishonour 24/12; fortunately 35/27; favourably 29/1; var vel: it
was a good thing 47/8; vel koma: see koma; vel at sér: having finequalities 65/8; vera vel til e-s: treat s-one well, be friendly, welldisposed towards s-one, behave kindly towards s-one 43/10.
venda (nd) wv. turn, (re)direct (with dat.) 53/15.
vera (var) sv. be 5/3, 14/16; pres. subj., sér 25/23; stay 5/18, 19/17,
39/14; with gen., be made of 22/7; er um hrí›: has been for a while
23/5; as aux. of passive, with pp., 6/8, 23, 8/1; p. subj., ok væri: andthat there was (being) 33/14; forming the perfect of intransitive verbs,
with pp., 9/16, 10/3; impers. with inf., er at gera e-t: one ought to dos-thing, one should do s-thing 24/28; hverjum at gjalda var: who
was to be repaid 13/9; at væri at gera e-t: that one had to, that one
needed to do s-thing 18/22; vera at e-u: be busy with s-thing 28/24;
vera í: be present, available 39/11; eiga e-t um at vera: have s-thing
to worry about 9/7 (‘as if he had no care in the world, as if there wasnothing to worry about’).
ver› n. price 11/9, 29, 27/6, 7.
ver›a (var›, pp. or›inn) sv. become 13/1, 29/17; be, turn out to be 37/1
(see raun), 44/9, 53/9; happen, turn out 60/19; comes, is caused, canbe heard 27/23; or›inn hlutr: something that has happened (and is
irretrievable); sakast um or›inn hlut: cry over spilt milk 13/28; ver›a

144

Stories from Sagas of Kingsvíss: see víss; with inf. or at and inf.: to have to do s-thing, be obliged,
must, need to 18/5, 20/4, 28/9, 34/7, 37/15, 38/10, 57/5; with pp. toform passive 21/15, 33/21; e-t ver›r e-m á munni: s-thing springs tos-one’s lips, one lets out s-thing 54/25 (‘she could not help uttering’);v. fyrir: become the object of, become subject to 5/7; v. til e-s: comply
to s-thing, volunteer to do s-thing, be forthcoming for s-thing 6/12.
Impers., e-m ver›r at e-u: one comes up against s-thing 23/15 (seenote); yr›i nökkut me› stytti: there was some coldness, they behaved
rather coldly 30/14.
ver›r a. worth, having a certain value; ﬂykkja mest vert: value mosthighly, think it the most important thing 13/7; with value in gen., meiravert: more important, of greater significance 24/29; einskis ver›r: of
no value; láta ﬂykkja sér einskis um vert: let seem of no significanceto one, take no notice of 21/8 (see note); with at and inf., worthy (tohave s-thing), deserving of 24/23.
verja (var›a) wv. (1) defend; v. hendr sínar: defend o-self (one’s life)
8/27. (2) with dat., invest 17/18 (‘it won’t take me long to invest it’).
Md., hversu verst fénu: how is your capital being invested, i.e. what
cargo have you provided yourself with 17/17.
verk n. work, job 65/22.
verkdagr m. working day 57/22.
verr adv. comp. worse 23/25, 46/25.
verri a. comp. worse, less noble 26/4.
verstr a. sup. worst; it versta: of the worst kind 8/8.
vetr m. winter 17/7; year 9/27.
vetrgestr m. winter guest, lodger for the winter 44/29.
vexti dat. sg. of vöxtr.
vi› prep. (1) with acc., with (i.e. in opposition to), against 14/9; in contact
with, in proximity to 52/4; (in speech) to 6/9, 46/17; mál vi›: speech(interview) with 25/21; (behaviour, attitude) towards 6/11, 14/12,
55/13; hræddr vi›: afraid of 6/25; in connection with, present at 25/26;
at, engaged in (activity) 26/11 (perhaps dat.); off, near, by 27/17; see
under verbs. (2) with dat., towards, to meet; see grípa, sjá, taka, ﬂrífa.
(3) as adv., in reply 30/11; ﬂar vi›, hér vi›: on (in) that (this) matter
38/10, 20, 47/9; see under verbs.

Glossary145

ví›a adv. widely, to many places 11/13, 59/9; in many places 58/17.
ví›r a. wide, broad 57/20.
víg n. killing 8/3, 7, 14/11.
vigg n. horse (poetical); viggs fa›ir: stallion 52/23.
víghugr m. murderous frame of mind, killing mood 28/16.
vígsbætr f. pl. compensation for a killing 8/13.
vígsvíti n. penalty for killing s-one 7/21.
víkja (veik) sv. with dat., turn; af v. lei›inni: turn aside, change course
54/8; intransitive, v. af: turn aside (i.e. from the passage of the house),make one’s way 54/17.
vilgis adv. very, all that 28/5.
vilja (ld) wv. wish, desire 7/5, 22/25; be willing 5/18, 7/13; will (bepleased to?) 66/10; intend 9/21, 10/7; intend to go, wish to go 27/12;
decide to 7/16, 9/13; move to (do s-thing), make as if to 22/3; try to 9/18,
13/19; desire (to have) 55/4 (cf. note); vilda, vildim: would like 12/12,
45/25; v. eigi: refuse 10/9, 14/10; sem hann vill: as he pleases 27/1.
villa f. error, heresy 53/17.
vinátta f. friendship; v. ykkur: the friendship between you 24/29; halda
vináttu vi›: remain friends with 14/12.
vinda (vatt) sv. twist, swing round 56/17 (object (it) understood); v.
upp: hoist 28/23.
vingan f. friendship 19/15.
vingjarnligr a. friendly, conciliatory 24/9.
vingull m. horse’s penis 52/14, 19, 22, 56/21.
vinna (vann, pp. unnit) sv. do, work 11/19; commit 8/16; cause 18/14;
defeat; haf›i hann (acc.) unnit (impers.): he had been beaten, it had
been too much for him 20/29; v. til e-s: deserve s-thing, do s-thing todeserve s-thing 7/7; v. yfir e-n: overcome s-one 9/3. Md., vinnast til:be sufficient for 11/29.
vinr m. friend 9/8, 38/27.
vinsæld f. popularity; pl., 13/15.
vinsæll a. popular, having many friends 39/17.
vinveittr a. (pp.) bringing benefit, fulfilling a friendly intention 18/6.
vir›a (r›) wv. value, honour; (var) vel vir›r: was highly honoured 5/5;
regard; hversu hann vill ﬂat v.: what he will think of that, how pleased

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Stories from Sagas of Kings

he will be 66/10. Md. impers., vir›ist e-m: it appears to s-one, it isconsidered (rated) by s-one, s-one is pleased 45/26.
vir›ing f. honour, honourable treatment or high regard 17/6, 29/21, 67/10;
reputation, position of honour (in the community); halda vir›ingu:
continue to be highly thought of 13/4.
vísa (1) f. verse 52/19, 53/22, 55/20.
vísa (2) (a›) wv. show, direct (e-m til e-s: s-one to s-thing) 12/22, 13/29;
hvar vísar ﬂú mér til sætis: where do you assign me a place, whereshall I sit 5/20; v. til: indicate, show, witness 52/14; impers., vísar til:is indicated, evidenced 51/2.
vísliga adv. for certain 7/9.
víss a. certain; ver›a v.: find out, get to know (with gen. or noun clause)
7/17, 12/14; fyrir víst: for certain 13/24; at vísu: definitely, indeed
66/25, certainly 22/25 (‘at any rate’), 26/18; n. as adv., víst: certainly
10/20; truly 35/26, 58/7, 66/5; for sure 24/15.
vist f. lodging 43/8; pl., provisions, supplies 18/18.
vita (veit, vissa) pret. pres. vb. know 20/1, 30/1; be acquainted with
25/2; get to know, find out 36/26, 45/27; veiztu: do you know 36/9; v.
ef: (in order) to see (find out) whether 60/10; eigi má ek ﬂat v.: I
cannot see, I do not accept 24/17, cf. máttu v. at: you can be certainof this that, you must (be able to) see that 24/15; v. e-t fyrir: know
about s-thing in advance 33/23; v. vánir: see ván.
víta (tt) wv. penalise 19/22; pp., víttr: awarded a penalty 8/1, 21/15,
having incurred a penalty 21/24.
víti n. penalty 7/21; punishment 9/4; drink drunk as a penalty, sconce
21/16, 18; gera e-m v.: cause s-one to incur a penalty 21/26; at 21/12
the word refers both to the offences for which penalties will be due
and the nature of the penalties themselves.
vítishorn n. a large drinking horn which anyone found guilty of a breachof the rules of the house was required to drain as a forfeit; sconcehorn 21/21.
vitni n. witness, testimony; bera e-m v.: bear witness about s-one, testify
about s-one, give s-one credit for 29/6.
vitr a. wise, clever, intelligent 39/16, 43/5, 67/5.
vitrligr a. intelligent, showing intelligence 45/3.

Glossary147

vitsmunir m. pl. wisdom, cleverness, intelligence 39/12.
vizkr a. wise, intelligent, clever 25/25.
væg› f. forbearance, charity, toleration 24/14.
vændiskona f. whore 20/19.
vænn a. promising; comp., at mitt sé vænna: that my (position) will bebetter (have a better prospect) 28/6, see note; comp. n. as adv., ﬂvívænna: the better (in prospect), the more pleasing 39/7.
vænta (nt) wv. expect, believe 9/17; hope or believe 12/2.
væta (tt) wv. wet, make wet 56/22.
völlr m. ground 52/16.
vöxtr m. growth, size, build; mikill vexti: large in build 29/4.
yfir prep. with acc. and dat., over 10/4, 13/12, 28/15, 54/15; y. sér: on(one’s person), over one’s shoulders 65/18; see gera, láta, sitja, vinna;as adv., 55/12 (see langr).
yfirbrag› n. appearance, bearing 19/8.
‡kva sv. (alternative form of víkja) turn; lát ‡.: change course 23/10, 13.
‡miss a. various 11/14, 19/24.
yngri a. comp. younger 9/28.
yppa (t) wv. with dat., lift up, push up, cock up 56/17.
yr›i p. subj. of ver›a.
yrkja (orta) wv. compose (poetry) 6/12, 37/26, 39/17, 47/16.
yztr a. sup. furthest out, closest to the door (cf. útar) 54/19, 25, 55/7;
outermost, most distant 61/5.
ﬂá (1) p. of ﬂiggja 67/9.
ﬂá (2) adv. then 6/18 (at that moment), 36/24, 25; next 54/18; at thattime 6/6, 19/26; now 9/13, 18/25; under these circumstances 8/28,
24/4; if that is so 10/21, 17/20, 28/9, 35/27, 36/22; therefore 10/18,
35/27 (2); ﬂá er, ﬂá . . . er, er . . . ﬂá as conj., (then) when 8/20, 9/22,
21/11, 22/21, 33/18; ef . . . ﬂá: if . . . then (under those circumstances)
7/26, 12/12; similarly, ﬂá . . . ef 8/16, 33/21, ﬂá ef 29/22, ﬂótt . . . ﬂá(even so) 18/21, hvárt sem . . . ﬂá 29/9; ﬂá . . . ﬂví sinni: then on thatoccasion 30/14.
ﬂá (3) demonstrative pron. acc. sg. f. 67/7 and acc. pl. m. 28/28.
ﬂagna (a›) wv. become silent, stop speaking 36/7.
ﬂágu› p. pl. of ﬂiggja.

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ﬂakka (a›) wv. thank (e-m e-t: s-one for s-thing) 17/23, 28/18.
ﬂambarskelfir m. (bow-)string shaker 5/15 (nickname, cf. note).
ﬂangat adv. to that place, to it 10/11; ﬂ. til: towards it 53/15; ﬂangat
sem: wherever, to whatever place 19/12, 44/2.
ﬂannig, ﬂannug adv., thus (often followed by at-clause) 25/22, 46/7, 17.
ﬂar adv. there 19/15, 43/16; here, to this place 38/27; in that matter
20/6; thus, with that 28/28. With adv. preps. ﬂar is equivalent to a n.
pron.; ﬂar á: on it 38/4; ﬂar fyrir: because of that, as a result 53/11;
ﬂar me›: at the same time, in addition 25/1, 33/19; ﬂar vi›: on thatmatter 38/10, 47/9. With er or sem, as conj., ﬂar er: where 65/16; ﬂar
sem: wherever 33/3, when, it being the case that 9/11; ﬂar sem Kali
var: in the case of Kali, when it was Kali 8/15; ﬂar . . . er ek em: tome (to do s-thing), in my direction, to where I am 8/12. With adv.
prepositions (or adverbs) and er or sem, ﬂar fyrir er: past where
20/12; ﬂar sem . . . inni: in which 38/25; ﬂar til er (sem): to where
27/20, until 36/7, 53/23; ﬂar sem . . . undir: under which 51/4.
ﬂarfleysa f. what is unnecessary, not justified 34/11.
ﬂatki at conj. when not even 24/11.
ﬂáttr (pl. ﬂættir) m. episode, anecdote, short story 3/1, 15/1, 31/1, 41/1,
49/1, 63/1.
ﬂegar adv. immediately 26/22, 28/23; straight away 20/22; already 13/23;
nú ﬂ.: right at this moment 7/20, 28/1; as conj., as soon as 36/6.
ﬂegja (ﬂag›a) wv. be silent 6/20.
ﬂeir pron. pl. they; ﬂeir konungr: the king and his men 23/8, 26/11;
ﬂeir Sveinn: S. and his friends 26/14; ﬂeir Halldórr: H. and his
companions 26/23, he and H. 21/5; ﬂeira Haralds: of him and H. 6/2;
me› ﬂeim Halldóri: between him and H. 27/1; ﬂau konungr: theking and queen 27/24 (cf. 27/21).
ﬂekkja (kkt) wv. recognise, learn to know 60/22. Md., be recognised
60/16; gladly accept, comply with 29/24, 34/15.
ﬂiggja (ﬂá) wv. receive, be given 38/18, 65/21; subj. 3rd pers. pl. (orsg.) for imp., ﬂiggi: may (they or he) receive 56/3; ﬂ. at or af e-m:
receive from s-one 66/8, 67/9; accept, listen to; ﬂér ﬂágu› vel: you
received it kindly, were very receptive, a good audience, or it wasgood of you to accept it 37/8.

Glossary

149

ﬂing n. meeting, assembly 9/20, 14/8; pl., articles (of value) 55/4 (seenote).
ﬂjá (›) wv. enslave, make a slave 12/20. Md., submit to slavery 10/9.
ﬂjó› f. nation (or troop?) 59/20.
ﬂjó›lei› f. main road, high road 51/5.
ﬂjóna (a›) wv. serve (with dat.) 17/22, 24/10 (til e-s: for s-thing, inorder to obtain s-thing, so as to get (earn) s-thing).
ﬂjónusta f. service, being a follower 17/20, 23/7.
ﬂjónustuma›r m. man in s-one’s service, follower 29/16.
ﬂó adv. though, yet, however 7/14, 8/18; nevertheless 25/19, 57/5; indeed(in spite of what one might expect, in spite of the way things areotherwise) 11/22, 20/17, 24; even (that one) 67/7; nevertheless, evenso (in contrast to what has just been said) 11/24, 17/16, 44/9; ok ﬂó
ví›r: and still large (in spite of being doughy and unrisen, or eventaking that into account, even then; cf. NN 1451) 57/20; ﬂó at or ﬂó asconj., although, even though 6/26, 59/9; introducing the equivalent of
a noun clause, ﬂat . . . ﬂó at (even though) 34/9.
ﬂoka (a›) wv. move aside; ﬂ. fyrir e-m: give place to s-one 34/7.
ﬂokka (a›) wv. be well disposed (sympathetic) towards, have a good
opinion of, look on with favour 22/24.
ﬂola (›) wv. suffer, put up with 7/1.
ﬂora (›) wv. dare (with at and inf.) 44/20.
ﬂótt conj. though 20/4; ﬂótt . . . ﬂá: though . . . yet 18/19, 25/18.
ﬂrennr a. three (sets or groups of s-thing), triple 26/20.
ﬂrífa (ﬂreif) sv. grasp; ﬂ. vi› e-u: take hold of s-thing (that is being
offered) 57/15.
ﬂrír num. (f. ﬂrjár, n. ﬂrjú) three 10/1, 11/5, 23, 28/27.
ﬂr‡sta (st) wv. thrust; imp. ﬂr‡stu (= ﬂr‡st ﬂú) 58/4.
ﬂrældómr m. slavery 10/8.
ﬂræll m. slave 10/15, 11/23, 13/7; servant 51/17, 55/11.
ﬂröngva (ng›) wv. with dat., squeeze, put under duress; impers., er
ﬂröngt kosti e-s: things go badly for s-one, one finds one is being
hard done by, gets into a tight corner 8/26.
ﬂurfa (ﬂarf) pret. pres. vb. with gen. or at and inf., need 8/23; ﬂ. mikils
vi› um: be in great need as regards, be very short of 11/22; ekki ﬂarf

150

Stories from Sagas of Kingsﬂess: that is not necessary 28/11; e-m ﬂykkir ﬂ. at: one feels (finds) it
necessary to 66/7; ﬂykkjast ﬂ.: feel one needs, feel the need of, want
25/8.
ﬂurrka (a›) wv. dry (transitive) 53/9.
ﬂverliga adv. flatly, absolutely 5/11.
ﬂví adv. for that reason, therefore 6/8, 8/4; ﬂví at, ﬂví . . . at, as conj.,
because 6/26, 13/14; for this reason that 8/25, 11/16, 35/15, 45/25; forthis reason, in order that 36/25; ﬂví . . . er: for this reason . . . that44/19; ﬂví meira . . . sem gerr: the more . . . the better 36/26, similarly
39/7, 45/26.
ﬂvílíkr a. such 11/9.
ﬂ‡ f. female slave 58/3.
ﬂykkja (ﬂótti) wv. seem 8/20, 10/23; be thought, be considered 12/29,
39/16; e-m ﬂykkir: one thinks (with nom. and inf.) 12/4, 34/11, 35/5,
38/20, 66/14; (dat. omitted) 24/1; (inf. omitted) 13/7, 24/16; (dat. andinf. omitted) 27/14; (e-m) ﬂykkir illa: one is displeased 5/12; e-m
ﬂykkir sem: it seems to one as if 67/6; láta sér ﬂ. (sem): see láta;
e-m ﬂykkir (mikit) at (e-u): one is (greatly) displeased, angry, upset,or offended (by s-thing) 8/10, 24/8. Md., ﬂykkjast with inf. or vb. to
be understood: think that one 11/8 (see sjá), 25/8, consider o-self (tobe) 21/24, 22/14, feel o-self (to be) 20/2, 30/9.
ﬂykkjumikill a. taking things to heart, inclined to respond violently 5/12.
ﬂykkr a. thick 57/19.
ﬂörf f. need 23/29.
ætla (a›) wv. think 18/4, 35/16, 44/18; with acc. (and inf. vera
understood) consider 34/9; æ. ﬂat: think so 12/18; máttu svá æ.: you
can be sure of this 23/1; expect, be certain 39/3; intend 14/9, 23/3;
hverjum er skipit ætlat: for whom is the ship intended, to whom doyou propose to give the ship 25/29; æ. e-m e-t: intend a job for s-one,
assign a job to s-one 36/11 (ﬂat is the object of ætla), 45/12 (‘I was
hoping you would do that’); intend to go (to a certain place or in acertain direction) 22/20, 23/21; with inf., æ. í brott ok rá›ast: intend(to go) away and join 24/2; with at and inf., intend, be going to 13/18,
36/19; be about to 35/14, 52/15; expect to 17/18. Md., ætlast fyrir: beplanning, plan (to do) 23/20.

Glossary151ætt f. family (from which one is descended) 37/22, 46/ 22; descent 26/4.
ævi f. life 14/2; er á 1í›r ævi e-s: when one gets old 30/6.
ævint‡r n. adventure, happening 6/1; story, tale 39/19.
öfundsjúkr a. envious, subject to jealousy 6/5.
ökkvinn a. lumpy, solid, doughy 57/19.
öndvegi n. place of honour 5/21.
örleikr m. generosity; pl., 65/10, 12 (acts of generosity?).
örr a. generous, liberal, open-handed 66/15; weak form, as nickname,örvi 63/1, 65/4; comp., örvari 66/21.
örvænn a. unlikely 8/28.
öx f. (acc. öxi) axe 65/19, 66/8.

152

Stories from Sagas of KingsINDEX OF NAMES
A›al-Grímr m. chief Grímr, prin- Gimsar m. pl. Gimsan, near Ni›arcipal Grímr (pseudonym of Kingóss (modern Trondheim), NorwayÓláfr) 59.
5, 13.
Árni m. 54.
Glúmr Geirason m. 37, 43, 46.
Bár›r m. 20–25.
Grikkland n. Greece 6.
Bergljót f. 5–7, 9, 13, 14.
Grímr m. (a traditional name for one
Bil f. name of a goddess (SnE 18,
travelling incognito) 58 (Finnr),39) 51; see ‘seimr’ in glossary
59 (ﬁormó›r); pl. 54, 55 (Finnr,
and note to 51/14.
ﬁormó›r and Óláfr).
Björn m. 12 (see Flesmu-Björn). Gu›rún Ósvífrsdóttir f. 33, 43.
Brandr m. 63, 65–7.
Gyllingar-Kali m. 6 (see Kali;
Brattaeyrr f. (‘steep gravel bank’) agylling f. ‘gilding’).
promontory near the mouth of the Hákon jarl Sigur›arson m. 5, 13.
Ni› in the Trondheim district of Halldórr Snorrason m. 3, 5–9, 14,
Norway; acc. Bröttueyri 27.
15, 17–30.
Danaherr m. army of Danes 18.
Haraldr Sigur›arson m., king ofDanakonungr m. king of the Danes
Norway 1046–66 5–7, 14, 17,18.
19, 20, 29, 30, 33, 34, 38, 39, 43,
Danir m. pl. Danes 10, 12.
47, 65.
Danmörk (gen. Danmerkr) f. Den- Haraldsslátta f. Haraldr’s coinage
mark 17.
22 (slátta f. ‘mintage of money’).
Eilífr m. 5, 14.
Hjar›arholt n. a farm in western
Einarr ﬂambarskelfir m. 5–10,
Iceland 29, 30.
13–14.
Hla›ajarl m. earl of Hla›ir 5.
Eindri›i m. 8.
Ingunn f. 33.
Englandsfari m. traveller to Eng- Ísland n. Iceland 5, 14, 17–19, 24,
land, merchant trading with Eng26, 27, 29, 43, 65.
land 19.
Íslendingr m. Icelander 5, 34, 35, 37.
Finnr Árnason m. 54, 58.
Jótland n. Jutland (mainland DenFlesmu-Björn m. 9 (cf. Björn).
mark) 10.
Gar›aríki n. Russia 17.
Kali m. 6, 8, 14.
Gefjun f. a heathen goddess 57 (see Kaupangr m. town in Norway (alsonote).
called Ni›aróss), modern TrondGeiri m. 37, 43, 46.
heim) 17, 38, 47.

Index153

Knútr Sveinsson (the great) m. king Sigur›r Hla›ajarl m. 5.
of Denmark 1018–35 54.
Snorri go›i m. 3, 5, 15, 17, 22, 26,
Kolbeinn m. King Óláfr Tryggva29, 43.
son’s marshal 9, 11, 12.
Stúfa f. a poem 47 (cf. Stúfsdrápa).
Kolbrúnarskáld n. Kolbrún’s poet Stúfr m. (‘stump’) 31, 33–39, 41,(Kolbrún f. is a nickname used as
43–47.
a proper name, see note) 54.
Stúfsdrápa f. a poem 39, 47.
Köttr m. ‘cat’, nickname used as a Sveinn ór Lyrgju m. 25–27.
proper name (see köttr in glos- Sveinn m. (Haraldsson tjúguskegg,sary) 34, 44 (cf. ﬁór›r ﬁór›arson).
Forkbeard), king of Denmark c.
Lyrgja f. a place in Norway 25, 26
986–1014 10.
(see note to 25/20).
Sveinn Úlfsson (Estridsson) m.,Lærir m. name of a (female) dog 52,
king of Denmark 1047–74 18.
60 (perhaps for Hlerir, ‘listener’?). Tryggvi Óláfsson m., local king in
Magnús Óláfsson, king of Norway
Norway, died c. 970 9, 13.
1035–47 8.
Upplönd n. pl. Opland, inland disMiklagar›r m. Constantinople 17.
tricts in eastern Norway 12, 43.
Ni› f. river in Norway 27.
Vatnsfjör›r m. district in north-westNi›aróss m. (‘mouth of Ni›’) town
Iceland 65.
in Norway (see Kaupangr) 47, 65. Vermundr m. 65.
Nor›ma›r m. Norwegian 12, 14. Vík f. Oslofjord 18, 46, 47.
Nóregr m. Norway 5–7, 12, 13, 17, Völsad‡rkun f. worship of Völsi 51.
26, 29, 30, 33, 43, 51, 65.
Völsi m. name given to horse’s penis
Nóregsveldi n. domain, kingdom ofas an object of worship 49, 51,
Norway 61.
53, 55–59 (perhaps related toÓláfr m. (the saint), king of Norway
völr m. ‘staff’, see MRN 317).
1015–30 8, 54, 55, 60, 61.
ﬁjó›ólfr m. 65–67.
Óláfr Tryggvason m., king of Nor- ﬁór›r köttr ﬁór›arson m. 33, 43 (seeway 995–999 or 1000 9, 13, 14.
Köttr).
Ormrinn langi m. (‘the long serpent’) ﬁór›r Ingunnarson or Glúmsson 33,
Óláfr Tryggvason’s ship 9, 10.
43.
Ósló f. Oslo, Norway 26.
ﬁórir Englandsfari m. 19, 20.
Ósvífr m. 33, 43.
ﬁormó›r Kolbrúnarskáld 54, 59.
Sigur›r s‡r Hálfdanarson m., local ﬁrándheimr m. Trøndelag, district inking in Norway 5, 22, 43.
Norway 26, 30.