Note to Anon Krm 15VIII
[2-4]: The word order of these lines makes it highly unlikely that the def. adj. sjálfum is to be taken either as m. dat. sg. ‘himself’ and referring to Herþjófi in l. 2 or as referring in the dat. pl. to mönnum órum ‘our men’, viz. ‘our own men’ in l. 4. Konráð Gíslason (Nj 1875-89, II, 324 n. 292) favoured the latter possibility while rejecting the former, and Finnur Jónsson (Skj B), with his translation vore egne mænd ‘our own men’, followed suit. The present ed. cannot agree with Konráð that taking the adj. sjálfum ‘themselves’ with Suðreyjum ‘the Hebrides’ gives ingen antagelig mening ‘no satisfactory meaning’. ‘In the Hebrides themselves’ makes good sense, as Olsen (1935, 79) recognised, assuming a Hebridean provenance for the poem’s composition, as discussed in the Introduction. See further Note to l. 3 below.
References
- Bibliography
- Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
- Nj 1875-89 = Konráð Gíslason and Eiríkur Jónsson. 1875-89. Njála: Udgivet efter gamle håndskrifter. Íslendingasögur udgivne efter gamle haandskrifter af Det Kongelige Nordiske Oldskrift-selskab 4. Copenhagen: Thiele.
- Olsen, Magnus. 1935. ‘Krákumál’. MM, 78-80.