Anon (Ragn) 4VIII (Ragn 34)
Rory McTurk (ed.) 2017, ‘Ragnars saga loðbrókar 34 (Anonymous Lausavísur, Lausavísur from Ragnars saga loðbrókar 4)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 690.
text and translation
Hafs létum vér hesta
hlýr stinn á brim renna,
meðan á bjartar brynjur
blóði dreif um síðir.
Ylgr gein aldri mönnum
eyragrán of svíra
— harð-meldri fám vér heiða
Hveðnu — blóði roðna.
Vér létum stinn hlýr {hesta hafs} renna á brim, meðan blóði dreif um síðir á bjartar brynjur. Eyragrán ylgr gein aldri of svíra mönnum, roðna blóði; vér fám {heiða harð-meldri Hveðnu}.
‘We made the sturdy prows of the horses of the sea [SHIPS] advance on the surf while blood at last sprayed onto bright corslets. The grey-eared she-wolf never gaped over necks of [our] men, reddened with blood; we obtain the gleaming hard flour of Hveðna <giantess> [GOLD]. ’
notes and context
Here the first of the two speakers states that, on the contrary, he has engaged in the bloodiest of naval warfare, and in the kind of slaughter that ensures the winning of treasure.
[5-8]: Ylgr gein of svíra mönnum roðna blóði ‘The she-wolf gaped over the necks of men, reddened with blood’ seems straightforward, but the remainder of the helmingr is problematic (and defeated eds up to and including Olsen), especially because aldri ‘never’ in l. 5 would seem to cancel out this conventional image of success in battle and because ms. ‘grat’ in l. 6 is difficult to account for, see the next two Notes.
readings
sources
Text is based on reconstruction from the base text and variant apparatus and may contain alternative spellings and other normalisations not visible in the manuscript text. Transcriptions may not have been checked and should not be cited.
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NKS 1824 b 4° (1824b) — 76r/17 - 76r/20
imagesHafs létum vér hesta
hlýr stinn á brim renna,
meðan á bjartar brynjur
blóði dreif um síðir.
Ylgr gein aldri mönnum
eyra†grat† of svíra
— harð-meldri fám vér heiða
Hveðnu — blóði roðna.hafs letum ver hesta. hlyr stínn a brím ʀenna. meðan ꜳ | biartar bryniur. bloðí dreíf vm siþirʀ. ylgr geín alldri monnum. eyra grat of ꜱuíra. harð meldri fam ver heiða. huednv blo | dí ʀoðna.
(RM)
editions and texts
Skj: Anonyme digte og vers [XIII], E. 2. Vers af Fornaldarsagaer: Af Ragnarssaga loðbrókar X 3: AII, 240, BII, 259-60, Skald II, 135, NN §§1466, 1467; FSN 1, 297 (Ragn ch. 20), Ragn 1891, 222 (ch. 20), Ragn 1906-8, 172, 218-19 (ch. 19), Ragn 1944, 126-7, 129 (ch. 21), FSGJ 1, 283 (Ragn ch. 19), Ragn 1985, 151 (ch. 19), Ragn 2003, 66 (ch. 19), CPB II, 352.
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