Note to Anon (Ragn) 1^VIII (Ragn 16)

[1-4]: Some emendation of the text of this helmingr is required to give good sense. The present edn keeps the ms. readings in ll. 1-2 and adopts Kock’s readings and emendations of ll. 3-4 (see (d) below). (a) Among previous eds, Valdimar Ásmundarson (Ragn 1891), Olsen (Ragn 1906-8, 206), Finnur Jónsson (Skj B), Eskeland (Ragn 1944), Guðni Jónsson (FSGJ), and Ebel (Ragn 2003) emend the þína of 1824b and 147 to þínum, m. dat. sg. of poss. adj. þinn ‘your’, following this with somewhat varying interpretations, but all seeing it as qualifying  (-)manni in l. 3. (b) Olsen takes dauða in l. 2 as m. acc. pl. of dauðr adj. ‘dead’, emends elli in l. 3 to ill eru (n. nom. pl. of illr ‘evil’) ‘evil are …’, takes the f. gen. sg. form einkar, also in l. 3, as adverbial, meaning ‘particularly’ and qualifying ill, and in l. 4 emends 1824b’s sonum to sonu acc. pl. ‘sons’. Thus: ‘We are telling you, woman – it is a sad task – that Þóra’s sons are dead (acc. with inf. construction); especially evil is the fate befalling your husband’. (c) Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) presents the text in much the same way as Olsen, taking einkar however (as in the present edn) with manni as forming the first element in a cpd word einkarmanni ‘husband’, thus dispensing with the idea of einkar as an adverbial intensive. (d) The difficulty with the emendation to þínum, m. dat. sg. in l. 1, is that it entails a syntactic link with einkarmanni in l. 3, thus complicating the syntax and interpretation of the passage. Kock (Skald; cf. NN §1458) retains the ms. reading þína (taking it as m. acc. pl.) in l. 1, but emends kona in l. 2 to koni, acc. pl. of konr m. ‘son, kinsman’, seeing ll. 1-2 as syntactically self-contained, with the meaning ‘We are telling you – it is a sad task – that your kinsmen (þína … koni) are dead’. He follows Olsen and Skj B in retaining the emendation ill eru in l. 3, and Skj B in seeing einkarmanni as a cpd word, but emends to sona gen. pl. in l. 4, thus producing for these lines the meaning: ‘The fate of the sons of Þóra will be painful to (your) husband.’ (e) Örnólfur Thorsson (Ragn 1985) also sees the two halves of the helmingr as syntactically independent, but emends þína in l. 1 to þinna, gen. pl., taking it as substantival and seeing dauða in l. 2 as acc. sg. of dauði m. ‘death’; thus: ‘we are reporting to you … the death of your (people, kinsmen).’ Cf. the Modern Icelandic expression þú og þínir ‘you and yours’. For ll. 3-4 he produces virtually the same text as Kock, but presents einkar and manni as separate words, acknowledging that they may be taken together as meaning ‘husband’. (f) The present ed. envisages no emendation in ll. 1-2, taking þína in l. 1 as m. acc. pl. and (cf. Örnólfur, under (e), above) substantival, i.e. ‘your (kinsmen)’, and the two lines as self-contained syntactically (cf. Kock, under (d), above). It is apparently appropriate for the messenger to treat Áslaug’s stepsons, Eiríkr and Agnarr, as her kinsmen, cf. the Notes to 18/8 and 20/7, below.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. FSGJ = Guðni Jónsson, ed. 1954. Fornaldar sögur norðurlanda. 4 vols. [Reykjavík]: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan.
6. Ragn 1906-8 = Olsen 1906-8, 111-222.
7. Ragn 1944 = Eskeland, Severin, ed. and trans. 1944. Soga om Ragnar Lodbrok med Kråka-kvædet. Norrøne bokverk 16. 2nd ed. Oslo: Det Norske Samlaget. [1st ed. 1914].
8. Ragn 1985 = Örnólfur Thorsson 1985, 101-53.
9. Ragn 1891 = 2nd edn (pp. 175-224) of Ragn as ed. in Valdimar Ásmundarson 1885-9, I.
10. Ragn 2003 = Ebel, Uwe, ed. 2003. Ragnars saga loðbrókar. Texte des skandinavischen Mittelalters 4. Vol. II of Ebel 1997-2003.