Hannah Burrows (ed.) 2017, ‘Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks 67 (Gestumblindi, Heiðreks gátur 20)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 432.
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2. hverr (pron.): who, whom, each, every
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2. vera (verb): be, is, was, were, are, am
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1. leika (noun f.; °-u): playmate
[1] leikur ‘playmates’: Leika f. can overlap in meaning with the n. form, usually ‘plaything’ (LP: 2. leika, Fritzner: leika n.; cf. leika ‘play’); for the f. form, which occurs here, Fritzner: leika, f. 1 suggests the additional meaning pige ‘girl’, which corresponds with other riddles with this opening formula.
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2. er (conj.): who, which, when
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land (noun n.; °-s; *-): land
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yfir (prep.): over
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3. at (prep.): at, to
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1. forvitni (noun f.): [curiosity]
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faðir (noun m.): father
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hvítr (adj.; °-an; -ari, -astr): white
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skjǫldr (noun m.; °skjaldar/skildar, dat. skildi; skildir, acc. skjǫldu): shield
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hann (pron.; °gen. hans, dat. honum; f. hon, gen. hennar, acc. hana): he, she, it, they, them...
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vetr (noun m.; °vetrar/vetrs(HómHauksb³ 173²³), dat. vetri; vetr): winter
[5] vetr: vetrum 281ˣ, 597bˣ, haust R715ˣ
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3. bera (verb; °berr; bar, báru; borinn): bear, carry
[5] bera: við síðu bera 281ˣ
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2. en (conj.): but, and
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svartr (adj.): black
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1. um (prep.): about, around
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sumar (noun n.; °-s; sumur/sumar): summer
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Heiðrekr (noun m.): Heiðrekr
[7-8] abbrev. as ‘heidr: k·’ 281ˣ, abbrev. as ‘h. k:’ corrected from ‘h.’ in the margin in another hand 597bˣ, abbrev. as ‘H: k: h: at g:’ R715ˣ
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konungr (noun m.; °dat. -i, -s; -ar): king
[7-8] abbrev. as ‘heidr: k·’ 281ˣ, abbrev. as ‘h. k:’ corrected from ‘h.’ in the margin in another hand 597bˣ, abbrev. as ‘H: k: h: at g:’ R715ˣ
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2. hyggja (verb): think, consider
[7-8] abbrev. as ‘heidr: k·’ 281ˣ, abbrev. as ‘h. k:’ corrected from ‘h.’ in the margin in another hand 597bˣ, abbrev. as ‘H: k: h: at g:’ R715ˣ
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3. at (prep.): at, to
[7-8] abbrev. as ‘heidr: k·’ 281ˣ, abbrev. as ‘h. k:’ corrected from ‘h.’ in the margin in another hand 597bˣ, abbrev. as ‘H: k: h: at g:’ R715ˣ
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gáta (noun f.)
[7-8] abbrev. as ‘heidr: k·’ 281ˣ, abbrev. as ‘h. k:’ corrected from ‘h.’ in the margin in another hand 597bˣ, abbrev. as ‘H: k: h: at g:’ R715ˣ
Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses
Heiðrekr’s response is (Heiðr 1960, 40): Þat eru rjúpur; þær eru hvítar um vetr, en svartar um sumar ‘Those are ptarmigans; they are white during winter, but black during summer’. The ptarmigan (Lagopus mutus) is seasonally camouflaged, with white plumage (except for a black tail) in winter and brown in summer. — [1-3]: This question, with slight variation in each case, is asked in each of the next three riddles. — [1-2]: Cf. Vafþr 48/4-5 (NK 54) hveriar ro þær meyiar, | er líða mar yfir ‘who are those maids, who move over the sea’. The referent here is obscure, but apparently refers to benevolent spirits, three in number (Vafþr 49/4, 1), whom Boer (1922, II, 58) suggested as counterparts of the three malevolent þursa meyiar ‘giants’ girls’ of Vsp 8/6 (NK 2), who herald the onset of Ragnarǫk. See Heiðr 69, Note to l. 1 and Heiðr 70, Note to [All]. — [2]: Hyndl 42/3 (NK 295) states that at Ragnarǫk the ocean liðr lǫnd yfir ‘will pass over lands’. — [3]: See Note to Heiðr 68/3. Who the faðir ‘father’ is in the present context is unclear; the expression may be formulaic; for discussion see Burrows (2013, 206-8). — [4-5]: These lines lack alliteration. Ms. R715ˣ’s haust ‘autumn’ restores it, but makes a less good contrast with sumar ‘summer’ in line 6. Bugge (Heiðr 1873, 250 n. 5) notes that AM 738 fol, an R-redaction ms. with no independent value, reads hávetr ‘high winter’; this is adopted in Skj B and Skald.
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