Hávh Lv 1^III

Nús jódraugum ægis
arnar flaug (ok bauga
hygg, at heimboð þiggi
hangagoðs) of vangi.

Nús flaug arnar of vangi {{ægis jó}draugum}; hygg, at þiggi heimboð {hangagoðs} ok bauga.

Now there is an eagle’s flight above the field {for the logs {of the steed of the ocean}} [(lit. ‘ocean’s steed-logs’) SHIP > SEAFARERS]; I believe that they may receive an invitation from {the god of the hanged} [= Óðinn] and rings.

Mss: R(20v), Tˣ(21r), W(45), U(26r), B(3v-4r) (SnE); 2368ˣ(81), 743ˣ(64r) (LaufE)

Readings: [1] jódraugum: ‘iodre᷎gum’ B, ‘jöds augum’ 2368ˣ, 743ˣ    [2] ok: um U, B;    bauga: hauga U    [3] at: á U    [4] ‑goðs: goð B;    of: af all others

Editions: Skj AI, 191, Skj BI, 182, Skald I, 96, NN §2256; SnE 1848-87, I, 232-3, II, 302, 518, SnE 1931, 88, SnE 1998, I, 7; LaufE 1979, 330.

Context: The helmingr is cited in Skm (SnE) and LaufE to illustrate that Hangagoð is one of many names for the god Óðinn.

Notes: [All]: (a) The present edn follows that of Faulkes (SnE 1998). (b) Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) emends jódraugum dat. pl. ‘steed-logs’ (l. 1) to jódraugar nom. pl. and takes jódraugar ægis ‘logs of the steed of the ocean [SHIP > SEAFARERS]’ as the subject of the second clause. (c) Kock (NN §2256) rightly objects to the syntactic break after metrical position 1 in l. 1. He adopts the U, B variant of (um) ‘above’ in l. 2 and af ‘from’ (so all other mss; l. 4) and construes the helmingr as follows: Nú ’s jódraugum ægis | arnar flaug of bauga. | Hygg, at heimboð þiggi | hangagoðs af vangi, translated as Över skölderna det flyger | örnar nu för fartygsfolket. | Jag förmenar, att Odin | de från fältet hembud få! ‘Above the shields eagles are now flying for the seafarers. I believe that Odin will invite them home from the battlefield!’. The problem with this interpretation is that the variant um ‘above’ (l. 2) is only attested in B and U, and the latter has um hauga ‘above the hills’, which is clearly a lectio facilior. All other mss have ok bauga ‘and rings’, which must be the second acc. object of þiggi ‘may receive’ (l. 3) in the second clause. — [1, 2, 4] nús flaug arnar of vangi ‘now there is an eagle’s flight above the field’: The sense here is that eagles are soaring above the field in anticipation of battle. — [2] ok bauga ‘and rings’: It is not mentioned anywhere that Óðinn’s warriors (einherjar) received rings as gifts in Valhǫll, and it appears that the poet imagined the feasting there as a stereotyped banquet scene involving the consumption of alcoholic beverages and the distribution of precious objects. — [3] hygg ‘I believe’: Lit. ‘believe’. All mss have hygg ek, but the pronoun ek ‘I’ has been deleted as routine normalisation. Cliticisation of the pron. would have resulted in loss of skothending (hykk : þiggi). — [3, 4] heimboð hangagoðs ‘an invitation from the god of the hanged [= Óðinn]’: Lit. ‘invitation of the god of the hanged’, i.e. the sea-warriors who will fall in the impending battle will be invited by Óðinn to visit him in his home, Valhǫll (‘Hall of the Slain’), where they will be entertained. — [4] hangagoðs ‘from the god of the hanged [= Óðinn]’: This is not an Óðinn-name given in Þul Óðins, and it is treated here as a kenning for Óðinn. It refers to Óðinn’s habit of sitting beneath gallows using runes to make hanged ones communicate with him (see Hávm 157). See also Hangatýr ‘god of hanged ones’, mentioned in the same section of Skm and exemplified by VGl Lv 10/1-4^V (Glúm 12). — [4] of vangi ‘above the field’: This reading, which has been adopted in the present edn, is only attested in ms. R – all other mss have af vangi ‘from the field’. It is definitely possible to take this prepositional phrase with the second clause, as Kock does (see his interpretation given in Note to [All] above), but that leaves a somewhat awkward first clause: Nús flaug arnar ægis jódraugum ‘Now there is an eagle’s flight for the logs of the steed of the ocean [(lit. ‘ocean’s steed-logs’) SHIP > SEAFARERS]’. The reading of the majority of the mss, af vangi ‘from the field’, is likely to have been caused by the close proximity to heimboð ‘invitation’ (l. 3) and by scribes who were unfamiliar with the more archaic form of the prep. of (later um).

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. 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.
4. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
6. LaufE 1979 = Faulkes, Anthony, ed. 1979. Edda Magnúsar Ólafssonar (Laufás Edda). RSÁM 13. Vol. I of Two Versions of Snorra Edda from the 17th Century. Reykjavík: Stofnun Árna Magnússonar, 1977-9.
7. SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
8. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
9. Internal references
10. Edith Marold 2017, ‘Snorra Edda (Prologue, Gylfaginning, Skáldskaparmál)’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols [check printed volume for citation].
11. (forthcoming), ‘ Snorri Sturluson, Skáldskaparmál’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=112> (accessed 29 May 2024)
12. Not published: do not cite ()
13. Elena Gurevich 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Óðins nǫfn’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 731. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=3228> (accessed 29 May 2024)
14. John McKinnell (ed.) 2022, ‘Víga-Glúms saga 12 (Víga-Glúmr Eyjólfsson, Lausavísur 10)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross, Kari Ellen Gade and Tarrin Wills (eds), Poetry in Sagas of Icelanders. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 5. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1396.
15. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Laufás Edda’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=10928> (accessed 29 May 2024)