Note to Án Lv 5VIII (Án 5)
[3] hvíthaddaðar ‘fair-haired’: This reading from 109a Iˣ and other mss is certainly correct; 343a has hvíthaddaraðar. The form ‑haddaðr ‘-haired’ is attested in other virtually synonymous compounds, which are used as epithets of girls and young women: e.g. bjarthaddað man ‘bright-haired maiden’, Gríp 33/6 (NK 169), bjarthadduð brúðr ‘bright-haired woman’, GunnLeif Merl I 77/7-8 and brúðir bleikhaddaðar ‘pale-haired women’, Gestumbl Heiðr 17/1-2 (Heiðr 64). There is a particular similarity between the last-named riddle and the stanza from Án in that this stanza poses a question or questions, and the second question (ostensibly) concerns a natural phenomenon (logn, see Note to l. 8), as Gestumbl Heiðr 17 (the answer to the riddle is ‘swans’) and several other riddles in Heiðr do.
References
- Bibliography
- 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.
- Internal references
- (forthcoming), ‘ Anonymous, Áns saga bogsveigis’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=12> (accessed 10 May 2024)
- 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 367. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=23> (accessed 10 May 2024)
- Hannah Burrows (ed.) 2017, ‘Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks 64 (Gestumblindi, Heiðreks gátur 17)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 428.
- Not published: do not cite ()