Note to KrákÁsl Lv 4^VIII (Ragn 6)

[5-6]: (a) Valdimar Ásmundarson (Ragn 1891), evidently assuming that what is envisaged in ll. 1-3 is that the couple (albeit living together) will ‘pine’ for one another but not have intercourse (see above), emends þá munu to ella (his italics) ‘otherwise’ and mínu (formally n. dat. sg.) to mínum m. dat. sg. ‘for my (son)’, thus removing the auxiliary munu and taking verða as 3rd pers. pl. pres. rather than inf., and producing the meaning: ‘Otherwise the harmful consequences for my son … will become …’. (b) CPB and all subsequent eds make the emendation to mínum of mínu, the latter being formally n. dat. sg. but perhaps an elided form of m. dat. sg. (c) Olsen (Ragn 1906-8, 199), and Finnur Jónsson (Skj B), clearly also assuming that ll. 1-3 express an intention to refrain from intercourse, give the auxiliary munu the negative ending ‑t: þá munut mein …‘then the harmful consequences will not be …’; here they are followed by Ragn 1944, FSGJ, Ragn 1985 and Ragn 2003. (d) Kock (NN §1451), on the other hand, adopts here (it would seem from 147 as tentatively read by Olsen, Ragn 1906-8, 179 n.) þó ‘(and) yet’ in place of 1824b’s þá ‘then’ in l. 5, taking this instance of þó as adversative (as opposed to the one in l. 2, see his understanding of ll. 1-3, above). Clearly assuming that intercourse is envisaged in ll. 1-3, Kock retains the positive reading munu and produces the meaning: ‘The harmful consequences … will nevertheless be …’. Kock’s understanding of these two lines is followed here, for the reasons given above, and also on the basis of a cautious assumption that 147 has þó in l. 5 as opposed to 1824b’s þá, see the Readings, above.

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. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. CPB = Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and F. York Powell, eds. 1883. Corpus poeticum boreale: The Poetry of the Old Northern Tongue from the Earliest Times to the Thirteenth Century. 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon. Rpt. 1965, New York: Russell & Russell.
5. FSGJ = Guðni Jónsson, ed. 1954. Fornaldar sögur norðurlanda. 4 vols. [Reykjavík]: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan.
6. Ragn 1906-8 = Olsen 1906-8, 111-222.
7. Ragn 1944 = Eskeland, Severin, ed. and trans. 1944. Soga om Ragnar Lodbrok med Kråka-kvædet. Norrøne bokverk 16. 2nd ed. Oslo: Det Norske Samlaget. [1st ed. 1914].
8. Ragn 1985 = Örnólfur Thorsson 1985, 101-53.
9. Ragn 1891 = 2nd edn (pp. 175-224) of Ragn as ed. in Valdimar Ásmundarson 1885-9, I.
10. Ragn 2003 = Ebel, Uwe, ed. 2003. Ragnars saga loðbrókar. Texte des skandinavischen Mittelalters 4. Vol. II of Ebel 1997-2003.