Þhorn Lv 1^I

Hildr of réð, þvís heldu
Hǫrngráts fyr mér *látri
(því emk lystr at lasta)
†lestundir† (fǫr þessa).
Ok †liðbjúgrar leigrar†
lét æva mik †sævar†;
eigi mun * við ekkju
austmanna fǫr sannask.

{Hildr {Hǫrngráts}} of réð, þvís †lestundir† heldu *látri fyr mér; því emk lystr at lasta þessa fǫr. Ok †liðbjúgrar leigrar† lét mik æva †sævar†; fǫr austmanna við ekkju mun eigi * sannask.

{The Hildr <valkyrie> {of Hǫrn’s <= Freyja’s> weeping}} [GOLD > WOMAN] arranged it in such a way that … withheld a bed from me; for that reason I am keen to criticize this journey. And … never made me …; the journey of the Easterners to the widow will not come to pass.

Mss: Hb(102r) (Hb); 67aˣ(3r) (l. 1), 67bˣ(4) (l. 1) (Skáld)

Readings: [1] þvís heldu (‘þvi er helldv’): ‘þvi […]lldv’ Hb, því er heldu 67aˣ, 67bˣ, HbFms n. p., HbSnE, HbFJ    [2] Hǫrngráts: ‘ho[…]’ Hb, ‘horn […]’ HbFms n. p., Horngráts HbSnE, HbFJ;    fyr mér *látri: fyr mér hlátri Hb, HbSnE, HbFJ, ‘finn hl[…]t[…]’ HbFms n. p.    [3] lystr at lasta: ‘lystr at la[…]’ Hb, lystr at lasta HbFms n. p., HbSnE, HbFJ    [4] †lestundir†: ‘[…]d[…]’ Hb, ‘lest[…]d’ HbFms n. p., lestundir HbSnE, HbFJ    [5] †leigrar†: ‘[…]’ Hb, leigrar HbFms n. p., HbSnE, HbFJ    [6] lét æva mik †sævar†: ‘let […]’ Hb, lét æva mik sævar HbFms n. p., HbSnE, HbFJ    [7] eigi mun * við ekkju: ‘[…]’ Hb, ‘ermuness vid ekkju’ HbFms n. p., eigi mun oss við ekkju HbSnE, eigi mun enn við ekkju HbFJ    [8] austmanna fǫr sannask: ‘[…]a for s[…]na[…]’ Hb, ‘aust […] f[…]anar’ HbFms n. p., austmanna fǫr sannask HbSnE, HbFJ

Editions: Skj AI, 29, Skj BI, 26, Skald I, 16, NN §§1025, 2210C, 2985F; Hb 1892-6, 447, Fms 3, n. p., Fms 3, 68 (Skáld); SnE 1848-87, III, 412.

Context: For the full context, see Introduction to Auðunn Lv 2. Þorbjǫrn and two other poets, Auðunn illskælda and Ǫlvir hnúfa, have been tricked out of a night’s sexual enjoyment with a handsome widow, and have been forced to spend the night outdoors in a yard surrounded by a paling fence, whose gate has been locked. Each man composes a stanza about his plight.

Notes: [All]: As with the other two stanzas on fol. 102r of Hb, it is very difficult to read much of the text today, although the first helmingr is better preserved than the second. It is clear from their transcriptions that the C19th eds could read somewhat more of the text, and hence their readings are cited above, but some readings were even then very tentative. Fms 3 only gives the first line. Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) did not attempt a close translation but offered the following paraphrase: Kvinden opfordrede til denne færd – derfor vil jeg dadle hende … ‘The woman invited [me] to this journey – therefore I shall blame her …’. — [1, 2] Hildr Hǫrngráts ‘the Hildr <valkyrie> of Hǫrn’s <= Freyja’s> weeping [GOLD > WOMAN]’: The name Hildr, forming the base-word of a woman-kenning, is certain in Hb, and the unnormalised ‘horn gratz’ is agreed on by two of the three witnesses, although only the first two letters of this proposed cpd are now legible in Hb. (a) If the cpd forms a gold-kenning, the uninflected proper name Hǫrn, rather than gen. sg. Hǫrnar, is unusual but not unparalleled (cf. HSt Rst 8/3 Þundregns ‘rain of Þundr <= Óðinn> [BATTLE]’), and this reading has been adopted by Skald (cf. NN §1025) and followed here. Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) keeps Hǫrn gráts as two words, but does not indicate how he construes them. (b) Another possible sense, reading horngráts ‘of the horn-weeping’, might be ‘drink’; cf. TorfE Lv 1/6 of kerstraumi ‘over the cup-stream’. Whichever sense is chosen, the cpd forms part of a woman-kenning. In (a) the reference is to the tears of gold Freyja is supposed to have wept as she searched the world for her husband Óðr (cf. SnE 2005, 29), in (b) to a woman’s conventional role as the pourer of ale or wine at feasts. — [2] *látri ‘a bed’: The word látr usually refers to the bed, lair or litter of an animal, but perhaps is used here ironically of the rough treatment Þorbjǫrn is complaining of. The ms. form is hlátri (dat. sg. of hlátr ‘laughter’), but Skj B, Skald and this edn emend to avoid double alliteration in an even line. — [4] †lestundir† ‘…’: The meaning of this cpd is uncertain, LP: lestundir declaring it incomprehensible. The second element is possibly stundir ‘times, hours’. Guðmundur Finnbogason (1928, 225) suggested the first element might have been læ ‘deception, harm, poison’, but this destroys the skothending between les- : þes-. Kock (Skald and NN §1025) emended to lestandar, which he suggested is the inflected pl. of the pres. part. of the verb lesta ‘to injure, damage’ in the sense ‘injurers, damagers’. — [5-6]: One can only guess at the meaning of these lines. Various emendations have been proposed to make them comprehensible. Sævar ‘of the sea’ (l. 7) has been emended to form an inf. verb, dependent on lét ‘made, caused’. SnE 1848-87, III proposes sævaz ‘to be killed, expire’, while Kock (Skald) has svæfa ‘to lull, calm’. Kock also emended liðbjúgrar leigrar to liðbjúgrar leygi, with the adj. liðbjúgr ‘limb-lithe’ used substantivally of the woman, and leygr ‘fire, flame’, giving the sense in ll. 5-6 ‘and I could never calm the fire [of desire] of the lithe-limbed woman’. — [7]: This line is hypermetrical if the enn ‘still, yet’ of HbFJ (Hb 1892-6) is included. — [8] fǫr austmanna ‘the journey of the Easterners’: The term austmaðr usually refers to a Norwegian in Icelandic and Orcadian texts (cf. Þfagr Sveinn 8/2^II and Note), and is so understood in Þhorn Harkv 9/3 in this volume, where the term occurs in a kenning for Haraldr hárfagri, allvaldr austmanna ‘sovereign of the Norwegians’. Here, however, Þorbjǫrn may be referring to himself and his two companions as Easterners, suggesting their regional affiliation, possibly in contrast to the people of Nordmøre, where the encounter with the widow takes place.

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. Fms = Sveinbjörn Egilsson et al., eds. 1825-37. Fornmanna sögur eptir gömlum handritum útgefnar að tilhlutun hins norræna fornfræða fèlags. 12 vols. Copenhagen: Popp.
4. SnE 1848-87 = Snorri Sturluson. 1848-87. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar: Edda Snorronis Sturlaei. Ed. Jón Sigurðsson et al. 3 vols. Copenhagen: Legatum Arnamagnaeanum. Rpt. Osnabrück: Zeller, 1966.
5. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
6. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
7. LP = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1931. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis: Ordbog over det norsk-islandske skjaldesprog oprindelig forfattet af Sveinbjörn Egilsson. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Møller.
8. Hb 1892-6 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1892-6. Hauksbók udgiven efter de Arnamagnæanske håndskrifter no. 371, 544 og 675, 4° samt forskellige papirshåndskrifter. Copenhagen: Det kongelige nordiske oldskrift-selskab.
9. SnE 2005 = Snorri Sturluson. 2005. Edda: Prologue and Gylfaginning. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
10. Guðmundur Finnbogason. 1928. ‘Smávegis 2. Vísurnar í Skáldasögu’. Skírnir 102, 223-5.
11. Internal references
12. Margaret Clunies Ross 2017, ‘(Biography of) Auðunn illskælda’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 18.
13. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Skálda saga Haralds konungs hárfagra’ 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. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=155> (accessed 18 April 2024)
14. Margaret Clunies Ross 2017, ‘(Biography of) Ǫlvir hnúfa’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 491.
15. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2012, ‘Auðunn illskælda, Lausavísa 2’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 122.
16. Rolf Stavnem (ed.) 2012, ‘Hallar-Steinn, Rekstefja 8’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 905.
17. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Þorleikr fagri, Flokkr about Sveinn Úlfsson 8’ 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. 320.
18. R. D. Fulk (ed.) 2012, ‘Þorbjǫrn hornklofi, Haraldskvæði (Hrafnsmál) 9’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 103.
19. Russell Poole (ed.) 2012, ‘Torf-Einarr Rǫgnvaldsson, Lausavísur 1’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 131.