Anon Mhkv 9III
Roberta Frank (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Poems, Málsháttakvæði 9’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1223.
text and translation
Friggjar þótti svipr at syni;
sá var taldr ór miklu kyni;
Hermóðr vildi auka aldr;
Éljúðnir vann sólginn Baldr.
Ǫll grétu þau eptir hann;
aukit var þeim hlátrar bann;
heyrinkunn er frá hánum saga;
hvat þarf ek of slíkt at jaga.
Þótti svipr at {syni Friggjar}; sá var taldr ór miklu kyni; Hermóðr vildi auka aldr; Éljúðnir vann Baldr sólginn. Þau ǫll grétu eptir hann; {bann hlátrar} var þeim aukit; saga frá hánum er heyrinkunn; hvat þarf ek at jaga of slíkt.
‘It seemed a sudden loss concerning the son of Frigg <goddess> [= Baldr]; he was reckoned from a great family; Hermóðr wanted to extend his life; Éljúðnir <hall of Hel>
notes and context
Snorri Sturluson’s version of Baldr’s end in Gylf (SnE 2005, 45-9) includes Hermóðr’s journey to Hel’s hall to rescue Óðinn’s son, a mission that failed when all creation did not lament the slain god. The Mhkv version of the myth portrays the tragic death of Baldr as an ordinary domestic tragedy rather than the beginning of the last days of the world. — [1-2]: Guðbrandur Vigfússon (CPB II, 365) emended this couplet to Friggjar þótti svipr at sveini | sá var tældr af Mistilteini ‘Frigg’s boy was snatched away, he was done to death by Mistiltoe’. — [5]: This suggestion of universal lamentation differs from Snorri’s account, in which one female figure (Loki in disguise) refuses to join in; but see Anon (Hrafn) 2/4IV dated 1196.
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.
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GKS 2367 4° (R) — 54v/22 - 54v/24
imagesFriɢiar þotti svipr at syni sa var taldr or miklo | kyni hermoðr villdi avka alldr elivðɴir vaɴ solgin balldr . avll gretv þav eptir hann avkit | var þeim hlatrar baɴ heyrin kvnn er fra hanvm saga hvat þarf ek vm slikt at iaga . |
(VEÞ)
editions and texts
Skj: Anonyme digte og vers [XIII], A. [1]. Málsháttakvæði 9: AII, 132, BII, 140, Skald II, 75; Möbius 1874, 5, Wisén 1886-9, I, 74.
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