Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Hjǫrtr, Lausavísur 2’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 346.
(not checked:)
hafr (noun m.; °hafrs/-s(SnEU 56¹⁹), dat. hafri; hafrar): goat
[1] hafr ‘billy-goat’: This alludes to the bag of goat-skin filled with gold that Hjǫrtr has brought back from Russia. The bag is also referred to at the beginning of Hem in Hr and Flat, and must have been part of the original þáttr, although the sts are only preserved in the Hb version (see Fellows Jensen 1962, cix-cx, 1).
(not checked:)
2. vera (verb): be, is, was, were, are, am
(not checked:)
úti (adv.): out, outdoors, out at sea, abroad
(not checked:)
hvítr (adj.; °-an; -ari, -astr): white
(not checked:)
í (prep.): in, into
(not checked:)
tún (noun n.; °-s; -): homefield, enclosure
(not checked:)
2. skúma (verb): [he grows dark]
[3] skúmir ‘grows dark’: The weak verb skúma ‘grow dark’ is otherwise unattested in ON, but it is related to skúmi ‘twilight’, skúmr ‘unfriendly person’ and ModNorw. skuma, ModSwed. skymma ‘grow dark’ (see AEW: skúma). See also the nickname skúma ‘Dusky’ (Þskúm) in the Introduction to Eskál Lv 1-3I. Finnur Jónsson suggests the conjectural translation ‘squint’ (Skj B; LP: skúma).
(not checked:)
auga (noun n.; °auga; augu/augun, gen. augna): eye
(not checked:)
hafa (verb): have
(not checked:)
skegg (noun n.; °-s; -): beard
(not checked:)
mikill (adj.; °mikinn): great, large
(not checked:)
1. bresta (verb; °brestr; brast, brustu; brostinn): burst, split
(not checked:)
klauf (noun f.; °; -ir): [his hoofs]
(not checked:)
vilja (verb): want, intend
(not checked:)
barn (noun n.; °-s; bǫrn/barn(JKr 345³), dat. bǫrnum/barnum): child
(not checked:)
2. taka (verb): take
(not checked:)
geit (noun f.): nanny-goat
[7] geitarson ‘a goat’s son’: For the loss of the final -r in the nom. sg. of such compounds, see ANG §395.1. See also sonr Sýrar ‘Sýr’s son’ in Lv 1/3 above, and the implied comparison between Haraldr’s (the sow’s son’s) passivity and parsimony (see Lv 1 above) and the virility of the ‘goat’s son’ filled with gold. For possible sexual innuendos, see Notes to Mgóð Lv 1/4 and SnH Lv 11/1. See also Note to Lv 3/3 below.
(not checked:)
sonr (noun m.; °-ar, dat. syni; synir, acc. sonu, syni): son
[7] geitarson ‘a goat’s son’: For the loss of the final -r in the nom. sg. of such compounds, see ANG §395.1. See also sonr Sýrar ‘Sýr’s son’ in Lv 1/3 above, and the implied comparison between Haraldr’s (the sow’s son’s) passivity and parsimony (see Lv 1 above) and the virility of the ‘goat’s son’ filled with gold. For possible sexual innuendos, see Notes to Mgóð Lv 1/4 and SnH Lv 11/1. See also Note to Lv 3/3 below.
(not checked:)
gerr (adv.): [ready]
(not checked:)
2. við (prep.): with, against
(not checked:)
erra (noun f.; °-u): quarrel
Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses
King Haraldr asks Hjǫrtr how the mission to Russian has gone, and Hjǫrtr replies with this st.
Heusler (1923, 99) identifies this st. as a nursery rhyme, and, indeed, it does resemble Skaufhalabálkur ‘Tassle-tail Bálkur’, a C14th nursery rhyme (barngælur) of forty-two sts by Svartur á Hofstöðum (Svart SkaufVIII). See also Anon (Ldn) 3IV. — [8]: The l. has internal rhyme (-err : -err-) as in tøglag.
Use the buttons at the top of the page to navigate between stanzas in a poem.
The text and translation are given here, with buttons to toggle whether the text is shown in the verse order or prose word order. Clicking on indiviudal words gives dictionary links, variant readings, kennings and notes, where relevant.
This is the text of the edition in a similar format to how the edition appears in the printed volumes.
This view is also used for chapters and other text segments. Not all the headings shown are relevant to such sections.