Note to Hjþ Lv 2^VIII (HjǪ 3)

[8] Hrauðungs ‘of Hrauðungr’: This is an emendation taking account of the various ms. forms, which could be understood in at least two other ways: a) as the pers. n. Hrauðnis ‘of Hrauðnir’ or b) as the adj. hundvíss ‘very wise’, qualifying mær ‘girl’, assuming the scribe of papp6ˣ read ‘-uis’ as ‘-nis’. The latter, an adj. often collocated with the word jǫtunn ‘giant’, is the reading adopted by FSN. If either Hrauðungs or Hrauðnis is adopted, the phrase Hrauðungs or Hrauðnis mær becomes a giantess-kenning, as both proper names Hrauðungr and Hrauðnir are recorded as giant names. Hrauðnir is a sea-king in Þul Sækonunga 2/8^III and a giant in Þul Jǫtna I 1/6^III, while Hrauðungr is a sea-king in Þul Sækonunga 3/1^III and a giant in Þul Jǫtna II 3/3^III. The name Hrauðungr also appears in the prose preface to Grí as the name of the king whom Óðinn visits in disguise and it refers to a giant again in Hyndl 26/4. What is probably the same name appears in another stanza of HjǪ, 16/6, where 109a IIIˣ has the form ‘hraudings’. Skj B, Skald and FSGJ all have Hrauðungs and this form has also been adopted here, although the other possibilities are also plausible. The case for Hrauðnir is boosted considerably by the fact that this name occurs a number of times as the name of a giant in Hjálmþérsrímur II, 17, 21; IV, 26; X, 25 (Finnur Jónsson 1905-22, II, 182).

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
3. FSN = Rafn, Carl Christian, ed. 1829-30. Fornaldar sögur nordrlanda. 3 vols. Copenhagen: Popp.
4. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. FSGJ = Guðni Jónsson, ed. 1954. Fornaldar sögur norðurlanda. 4 vols. [Reykjavík]: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan.
6. Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1905-22. Rímnasafn: Samling af de ældste islandske rimer. 2 vols. SUGNL 35. Copenhagen: Møller.
7. Internal references
8. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Sækonunga heiti 2’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 680.
9. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Sækonunga heiti 3’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 681.
10. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Jǫtna heiti I 1’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 707.
11. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Jǫtna heiti II 3’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 722.
12. Not published: do not cite ()
13. Not published: do not cite ()