Note to Hergunnr Lv 2^VIII (HjǪ 18)

[8] inn suðræni konungr ‘southern king’: The adj. suðrœnn ‘southern’ is used frequently in Old Norse eddic poetry to refer to characters from the legend of the Niflungar and to other heroic figures (cf. LP: suðrœnn) and those associations may be intended here. In the saga, the geographical location of Hjálmþér’s kingdom is only vaguely indicated. His father Ingi is said to be king of Man(n)heimar ‘Worlds of humans’, a name used elsewhere in Old Norse only in Yng (ÍF 26, 21-2) to refer to Sweden, where the Yngling dynasty established itself, in contrast to the earthly home of the euhemerised Norse gods. In support of this interpretation, Snorri quotes Eyv Hál 2^I, where in l. 6 the phrase í manheimum occurs, though its meaning has been debated, and may have nothing to do with humanity in general; see Note to this stanza in SkP I. The name Manheimar occurs in HjǪ 29/2. In his introduction to HjǪ 1720 and in the edition’s title, Johan Fredrich Peringskiöld equates Manheim (he spells it ‘Mannahem’) with Sweden, following Olaus Rudbeck’s equation (Rudbeck 1679-1702) of Manheim/Sweden, in his Atland eller Manheim, with the lost Atlantis of classical antiquity.

References

1. Bibliography
2. 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.
3. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
4. SkP I = Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Ed. Diana Whaley. 2012.
5. HjǪ 1720 = Peringskiöld, Johann, ed. 1720. Hialmters och Olvers saga, Handlande om trenne Konungar i Manahem eller Sverige, Inge, Hialmter, och Inge, samt Olver Jarl och om theras uthresor til Grekeland och Arabien. Stockholm: Horn.
6. Rudbeck, Olof. 1679-1702. Atland eller Manheim. Atlantica sive Manheim. 4 vols. Uppsala: Curio.
7. Internal references
8. (forthcoming), ‘ Heimskringla, Ynglinga saga’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=158> (accessed 27 April 2024)
9. Russell Poole (ed.) 2012, ‘Eyvindr skáldaspillir Finnsson, Háleygjatal 2’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 199.
10. Richard L. Harris (ed.) 2017, ‘Hjálmþés saga ok Ǫlvis 29 (Hundingi konungr, Lausavísur 1)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 521.