Anon Krm 26VIII/2 — mundu ‘would’
Hjuggu vér með hjörvi.
Hér mundu nú allir
burir Áslaugar bröndum
bitrum hildi vekja,
ef vandliga vissi
um viðfarar ossar,
hvé ófáir ormar
eitrfullir mik slíta.
Móðernis fekk ek mínum
mögum, svá at hjörtun dugðu.
Hjuggu vér með hjörvi. Allir burir Áslaugar mundu nú vekja hildi hér bitrum bröndum, ef vissi vandliga um viðfarar ossar, hvé ófáir eitrfullir ormar slíta mik. Ek fekk mögum mínum móðernis, svá at hjörtun dugðu.
We hewed with the sword. All the sons of Áslaug would now start a battle here with sharp swords, if they knew fully about our treatment, how numerous poisonous snakes are tearing at me. I gave my sons such a mother that their hearts stood firm.
readings
[2] mundu: so 147, vildu all others
notes
[2, 4] mundu … vekja ‘would … start’: Lit. ‘would wake’. A sense of strong probability is required here, in view of what is conveyed by the conditional clause in ll. 5-8. However, both the majority mss’ reading vildu and that of 147, mundu, adopted here, are 3rd pers. pl. pret. indic. rather than the expected subj. forms. Previous eds up to and including Wisén (1886-9) retain the majority mss’ reading vildu, while Finnur Jónsson (1893b; 1905; Skj B) and Kock (Skald) emend to vildi, 3rd pers. pl. pret. subj. of vilja, in order to obtain the appropriate sense ‘would wish’. The required sense of ‘would’ is however adequately conveyed by the reading mundu, 3rd pers. pl. pret. indic. of munu ‘will, shall, be likely to’ (see NS §§177(b) Anm. 1, and 195(b) Anm. 2).
grammar
Verbs: Preterite-present verbs
The present tense of these verbs is like the past tense of strong verbs, and their past tense is weak.
| eiga | mega | kunna | skulu | munu | muna | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| indic. pres. | sing. pl. | 1st 2nd 3rd 1st 2nd 3rd | á átt á eigum eiguð eigu | má mátt má megum meguð megu | kann kannt kann kunnum kunnuð kunnu | skal skalt skal skulum skuluð skulu | mun munt mun munum munuð munu | man mant man munum munið muna |
| indic. past stem subj. pres. stem subj. past stem | átt- eig- ætt- | mátt- meg- mætt- | kunn- kunn- kynn- | skyld- skyl- skyld- | mund- myn- mynd- | mund- mun- mynd- | ||