Note to AngH Lv 2^VIII (Heiðr 95)

[7-10]: None of the mss’ readings work perfectly as they stand, but the insertion of en to go with fyrr l.1 (= fyrr en ‘before’) from 203ˣ and the emendation of ms. ‘tau’, with the line break after the ‘t’, to tvau ‘two’ are the only changes necessary to 2845’s reading, and that is presented here. Skj B and FSGJ also follow this order, though the former places ll. 7-8 in square brackets, while Skald omits them altogether. Both begin l. 9 áðr ek ‘before I’. The U redaction reverses the order of the last two long-lines, but also presents variants, both compared to the R redaction and between the two U mss. Ms. 203ˣ gives the better reading: áðr en Tyrfing | í mið [ms, ‘midt’, ‘tuenn ra’ R715ˣ] deilak, | eða þér, Humlungr, | hálfan arf gefak ‘before I divide Tyrfingr in the middle, or I give to you, Humlungr, half the inheritance’. The enclitic 1st pers. pronouns could well have been in the original stanza, but are editorial in the ms. NK and Heiðr 1960 follow U, emending mið ‘middle’ to tvau ‘two’, while Edd. Min. follows the order of U, but picks and chooses variants from 2845 to produce a composite reading.

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. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. 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.
5. FSGJ = Guðni Jónsson, ed. 1954. Fornaldar sögur norðurlanda. 4 vols. [Reykjavík]: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan.
6. Heiðr 1960 = Tolkien, Christopher, ed. and trans. 1960. Saga Heiðreks konungs ins vitra / The Saga of King Heidrek the Wise. Nelson Icelandic Texts. London etc.: Nelson.