Note to Hjálm Lv 5VIII (Ǫrv 15)
[6] andvani lífs ‘deprived of life’: This is the reading of the Heiðr mss, while the Ǫrv mss have lítt megandi ‘with little strength’, lit. ‘being capable of little’. Both phrases are probably formulaic. Lítt megandi occurs in Vsp 17/6 (NK 4; cf. SnE 2005, 13) to refer to the lifeless condition of the first humans, Askr and Embla, who lay, probably as logs, upon the seashore before a trio of deities gave them life. On the other hand lífs andvani has a parallel, together with the following line, in Hildibrandr Lv 6/2-3 (Ásm 6) lífs andvani, | mæki undaðr ‘deprived of life, wounded by a sword’, a similar situation of a hero’s death-song.
References
- Bibliography
- NK = Neckel, Gustav and Hans Kuhn (1899), eds. 1983. Edda: Die Lieder des Codex Regius nebst verwandten Denkmälern. 2 vols. I: Text. 5th edn. Heidelberg: Winter.
- SnE 2005 = Snorri Sturluson. 2005. Edda: Prologue and Gylfaginning. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
- 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 26 April 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 26 April 2024)
- Not published: do not cite ()
- Peter Jorgensen (ed.) 2017, ‘Ásmundar saga kappabana 6 (Hildibrandr, Lausavísur 6)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 20.