AngH Lv 2^VIII (Heiðr 95)

Hannah Burrows (ed.) 2017, ‘Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks 95 (Angantýr Heiðreksson, Lausavísur 2)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 466.

text and translation

notes and context

In R Angantýr tells Hlǫðr he has no right to the land and is acting unjustly. In U the stanza is introduced simply, Angantýr kvað ‘Angantýr said’.

This stanza poses various problems for, and has seen various attempts at, reconstruction. See Notes below. — [2-3]: Omitted in 2845; Skj and Skald insert these lines after the present ll. 5-6, but no ms. has this reading. — [2]: Ms. 2845’s word order gives alliteration on the wrong syllable. Ms. R715ˣ doubtless reflects the word order presented here, with its ‘iij’ in the place of in ‘the’ likely a misreading of the minims. Blikhvíta ‘white-gleaming’ is a hap. leg., but white or bright shields are a common motif in the corpus. See Note to Heiðr 63/6. — [5-6]: Edd. Min. places these lines in square brackets, but they appear in all mss. — [7-10]: None of the mss’ readings work perfectly as they stand, but the insertion of en to go with fyrr l.1 (= fyrr en ‘before’) from 203ˣ and the emendation of ms. ‘tau’, with the line break after the ‘t’, to tvau ‘two’ are the only changes necessary to 2845’s reading, and that is presented here. Skj B and FSGJ also follow this order, though the former places ll. 7-8 in square brackets, while Skald omits them altogether. Both begin l. 9 áðr ek ‘before I’. The U redaction reverses the order of the last two long-lines, but also presents variants, both compared to the R redaction and between the two U mss. Ms. 203ˣ gives the better reading: áðr en Tyrfing | í mið [ms, ‘midt’, ‘tuenn ra’ R715ˣ] deilak, | eða þér, Humlungr, | hálfan arf gefak ‘before I divide Tyrfingr in the middle, or I give to you, Humlungr, half the inheritance’. The enclitic 1st pers. pronouns could well have been in the original stanza, but are editorial in the ms. NK and Heiðr 1960 follow U, emending mið ‘middle’ to tvau ‘two’, while Edd. Min. follows the order of U, but picks and chooses variants from 2845 to produce a composite reading.

readings

• [1] Bresta: Bera corrected from ‘Bressa’ in the margin in another hand 203ˣ
• [1] fyrr: for 2845, ‘áðr’ with strikethrough in another hand 203ˣ, áðr R715ˣ
• [2] in blikhvíta lind: lind in blikhvíta 2845, minn blikhvíta hönd 203ˣ, ‘iij blikr huita lind’ R715ˣ
• [3] kaldr: kaldar 203ˣ
• [3] geirr: geir 203ˣ, R715ˣ
• [4] annan: annat 203ˣ
• [5] gumi: gumi corrected from gunni in the margin in another hand 203ˣ, gunni R715ˣ
• [7] en: om. 2845, áðr en 203ˣ, áðr er R715ˣ
• [7] ek: om. 203ˣ, R715ˣ
• [7] mun: þér 203ˣ, R715ˣ
• [7] Humlung: Humlungr 203ˣ, R715ˣ
• [8] láta: arf gefak corrected from ‘arf gefa’ in another hand 203ˣ, arf gefa R715ˣ
• [9] eða: om. R715ˣ
• [10] tvau: ‘tau’ 2845, ‘midt’ 203ˣ, ‘tuennra’ R715ˣ
• [10] deila: ‘deilik’ corrected from deili in another hand 203ˣ, deili R715ˣ

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.

• GKS 2845 4° (2845) — 73v/21 - 73v/23 [1-2, 5-10]

  Bresta mun for, bróðir,
  lind in blikhvíta ,
  ok kaldr geirr
  koma við annan,
  ok margr gumi
  í gras hníga,
  ek mun Humlung
  hálfan láta,
  eða Tyrfing
  í †tau† deila.

  Bresta mvn for brodir líɴdiɴ blik huita ok m | argur gumi i gras hniga eg muɴ humlung halfan lata eda tyrfing i t | au deila

  (HB)

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• AM 203 folx (203x) — 110r/23 - 110r/26 [1-6, 9-10, 7-8]

  Bera mun †áðr†, bróðir,
  minn blikhvíta hönd ,
  ok kaldar geir
  koma við annat,
  ok margr gumi
  í gras hníga,
  áðr en þér Humlungr
  hálfan arf gefak,
  eða Tyrfing
  í †midt deilik†.

  Bresta | mun adur brodir minn blik hvy̋ta hond ok kalldar Geir koma vid | annad og margur Gunne j gras hnga adur enn Tyrfing j | Midt deilik eda þier Humlungur halfan arff geffak

  (HB)

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• UppsUB R 715x (R715x) — 31v/23 - 32r/4 [1-6, 9-10, 7-8]

  Bresta mun áðr, bróðir,
  †iij blikr huita lind† ,
  ok kaldr geir
  koma við annan,
  ok margr gunni
  í gras hníga,
  áðr er þér Humlungr
  hálfan arf gefa,
  Tyrfing
  í †tuennra† deili.

  Bresta mun adur / Brodir || iii blikr huita lind og kalldur ger koma vid | annann og margur gunni j gras hnga adur er | trfing j tuenn ra deili um þier humlungur | halfann arf gefa

  (HB)

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• AM 192 folx (192x)

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