Note to HvítRagn Lv 1^VIII (Ragn 21)

[1-4]: There is a difference between 1824b and 147 on the one hand and, on the other, Hb, which is followed here, in the presentation of these lines. Whereas the Hb text has four regular dróttkvætt lines, the corresponding five lines in 1824b are as follows: [[ALT]] Prose order: Hyggjum at hinu, áðr farim heiman, at megi verða hefnt; látum ýmsa fagna bana Agnars illa. Translation: Let us consider this, before we leave home, that vengeance may be achieved; let us allow various people to give Agnarr’s slayer an evil welcome. While ll. 4 and 5 of the stanza in 1824b do in fact conform, apart from the lack of internal rhyme in l. 4, to the dróttkvætt pattern, the first three lines seem to constitute a ljóðaháttr half-stanza. It is true that the third line in such a half-stanza would normally be expected to have independent double (sometimes triple) alliteration, but, as Sievers (1893, 83-4; cf. Bliss 1971, 442-3) indicates, it may occasionally have only one alliterating word, which continues the alliteration of the preceding pair of lines. The word in question here is hefnt, p. p. of hefna ‘avenge’. These five lines thus constitute a half-stanza combining ljóðaháttr metre (in ll. 1-3) with a close approximation to dróttkvætt metre in ll. 4 and 5, a rare hybrid form. Apart from Rafn (FSN), who, like Olsen in his diplomatic text (Ragn 1906-8, 145) follows the text of 1824b, all previous eds (including Olsen (Ragn 1906-8, 209) and Finnur Jónsson in Skj B) have adopted Hb’s text.

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. FSN = Rafn, Carl Christian, ed. 1829-30. Fornaldar sögur nordrlanda. 3 vols. Copenhagen: Popp.
4. Sievers, Eduard. 1893. Altgermanische Metrik. Sammlung kurzer Grammatiken germanischer Dialekte. Ergänzungsreihe 2, ed. Wilhelm Braune. Halle: Niemeyer.
5. Ragn 1906-8 = Olsen 1906-8, 111-222.
6. Bliss, Alan. 1971. ‘Single Half-Lines in Old English Poetry’. Notes and Queries new ser. 18 (216), 442-9.