Note to Herv Lv 12VIII (Heiðr 31)
[1]: Ms. R715ˣ has the reading chosen here (with ei for eigi ‘not’), but this appears to have been crossed out in the hand of Jón Rugman. Ms. 2845 agrees with the first four words; Hb includes mér in l. 1, but this is extrametrical (see also Andrews 1920, 97). Kock (Skald) takes the reading of Hb, Seg einsatt mér ‘Speak clearly to me’, from the adj. einsær ‘only choice’ (Fritzner, LP: einsær). He points out in NN §3182 that einsætt appears elsewhere in poetry with the meaning ‘evident, clear’; see e.g. Gamlkan Has 43/8VII, Nj 16//2V, Arngr Gd 15/6IV. This is an acceptable alternative. The reading of the present edn is chosen since 2845 and R715ˣ are almost in agreement and the sense fits the context more closely: Angantýr has told an untruth in the previous stanza, saying he does not have Tyrfingr.
References
- Bibliography
- Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
- NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
- LP = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1931. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis: Ordbog over det norsk-islandske skjaldesprog oprindelig forfattet af Sveinbjörn Egilsson. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Møller.
- Fritzner = Fritzner, Johan. 1883-96. Ordbog over det gamle norske sprog. 3 vols. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske forlagsforening. 4th edn. Rpt. 1973. Oslo etc.: Universitetsforlaget.
- Andrews, A. Le Roy. 1920. ‘Studies in the Fornaldarsǫgur Norðrlanda – Continued’. MP 18, 93-100.
- Internal references
- Katrina Attwood (ed.) 2007, ‘Gamli kanóki, Harmsól 43’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 111-12.
- R. D. Fulk (ed.) 2022, ‘Njáls saga 16 (Sigmundr Lambason, Lausavísur 2)’ 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. 1240.