Note to Hjálm Lv 6VIII (Ǫrv 16)
[All]: Skj’s and Skald’s apparent preference for the first helmingr of this stanza according to the Ǫrv mss presumably derives from their belief (doubtless following the arguments of Edd. Min. xxxix-xlii) that the contents of the helmingr were more compatible with what both Heiðr and Ǫrv tell us about Hjálmarr, who is elsewhere represented as serving the Swedish king and being a suitor for the hand of his daughter, Ingibjörg. But, as Christopher Tolkien has pointed out (Heiðr 1960, 75), the information in the Heiðr version of this stanza might represent an older version of the story of Hjálmarr, in which he had no connection with the Swedish king, and allude to the behaviour of retainers at his father’s court. Edd. Min. (xl) on the other hand argued that this information was a later intrusion into the story. Here the Heiðr text is treated as potentially old and the two are treated as genuine variants.
References
- Bibliography
- Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
- Edd. Min. = Heusler, Andreas and Wilhelm Ranisch, eds. 1903. Eddica Minora: Dichtungen eddischer Art aus den Fornaldarsögur und anderen Prosawerken. Dortmund: Ruhfus. Rpt. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft.
- Heiðr 1960 = Tolkien, Christopher, ed. and trans. 1960. Saga Heiðreks konungs ins vitra / The Saga of King Heidrek the Wise. Nelson Icelandic Texts. London etc.: Nelson.
- Internal references
- 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 367. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=23> (accessed 3 June 2024)
- 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Ǫrvar-Odds saga’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 804. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=35> (accessed 3 June 2024)