Bragi Rdr 10^III

Letrat ‘does not hold back’

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letja (verb): deprive

notes

[1] letrat ‘does not hold back’: From letja ‘resist, hold back from’ with suffixed negative. Kock (NN §156) reads lættrat ‘does not cause’ (with mun ‘desire’ l. 4).

lýða ‘of men’

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lýðr (noun m.; °-s, dat. -; -ir): one of the people

kennings

notes

[1-2] stillir lýða, vanr landa ‘the controller of men [RULER], lacking lands’: The phrase vanr landa ‘lacking lands’ is understood here as functioning adjectivally to identify the kind of ruler in question, one whose domain is the sea. The name Hǫgni appears in a list of sea-kings’ names (Þul Sækonunga 3/2). Most of the analogues to the legend of the Hjaðningar represent both Hildr’s father and her abductor as travelling by ship and fighting on an island (cf. á sandi ‘on the sand’ l. 2, í holmi ‘on the island’ st. 11/1).

stillir ‘The controller’

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stillir (noun m.): ruler

kennings

notes

[1-2] stillir lýða, vanr landa ‘the controller of men [RULER], lacking lands’: The phrase vanr landa ‘lacking lands’ is understood here as functioning adjectivally to identify the kind of ruler in question, one whose domain is the sea. The name Hǫgni appears in a list of sea-kings’ names (Þul Sækonunga 3/2). Most of the analogues to the legend of the Hjaðningar represent both Hildr’s father and her abductor as travelling by ship and fighting on an island (cf. á sandi ‘on the sand’ l. 2, í holmi ‘on the island’ st. 11/1).

landa ‘lands’

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land (noun n.; °-s; *-): land

notes

[1-2] stillir lýða, vanr landa ‘the controller of men [RULER], lacking lands’: The phrase vanr landa ‘lacking lands’ is understood here as functioning adjectivally to identify the kind of ruler in question, one whose domain is the sea. The name Hǫgni appears in a list of sea-kings’ names (Þul Sækonunga 3/2). Most of the analogues to the legend of the Hjaðningar represent both Hildr’s father and her abductor as travelling by ship and fighting on an island (cf. á sandi ‘on the sand’ l. 2, í holmi ‘on the island’ st. 11/1).

vanr ‘lacking’

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2. vanr (adj.): lacking

notes

[1-2] stillir lýða, vanr landa ‘the controller of men [RULER], lacking lands’: The phrase vanr landa ‘lacking lands’ is understood here as functioning adjectivally to identify the kind of ruler in question, one whose domain is the sea. The name Hǫgni appears in a list of sea-kings’ names (Þul Sækonunga 3/2). Most of the analogues to the legend of the Hjaðningar represent both Hildr’s father and her abductor as travelling by ship and fighting on an island (cf. á sandi ‘on the sand’ l. 2, í holmi ‘on the island’ st. 11/1).

á ‘on’

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3. á (prep.): on, at

sandi ‘the sand’

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sandr (noun m.; °-s, dat. -i; -ar): sand, beach

þá ‘then’

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2. þá (adv.): then

svall ‘swelled’

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1. svella (verb): swell

heipt ‘hatred’

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heift (noun f.; °-ar; -ir): hatred, enmity

í ‘in’

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í (prep.): in, into

Hǫgna ‘Hǫgni’

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Hǫgni (noun m.): [Hǫgni, Högni]

notes

[3] Hǫgna (dat.) ‘Hǫgni’: Not uncommon as a pers. n., especially in legendary sagas. Cognates appear in the Old English (Hagena) and Middle High German (Hagene) versions of the Hildr legend, and in Saxo’s Lat. Høginus; for Old Norse, cf. particularly RvHbreiðm Hl 46/7.

hǫð ‘of battle’

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hǫð (noun f.): [battle]

kennings

notes

[4] hǫðglamma ‘of battle-wolves [WARRIORS]’: The cpd hǫðglammi ‘battle-wolf’ (lit. ‘battle-howler’) is a hap. leg.  Hǫð ‘battle’ does not occur as a simplex, but is found as constituent of the name of the god Hǫðr, while glammi is a wolf-heiti (cf. Þul Vargs 1/7). Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) construes hǫðglamma mun as three separate words, with hǫð, dat. or instr. of hǫð ‘battle’ being understood as an adverbial phrase ‘in battle’. Other eds have understood the cpd hǫðglamma differently, Kock taking it with mun (as a kenning) and lætrat stǫðva to mean ‘[Hǫgni] does not cause the desire of the battle-wolf [BATTLE] to stop’. Such a kenning is unprecedented. Reichardt (1928, 94-5 n. 26) interpreted hǫðglammi as a sword-kenning, part of a battle-kenning hǫðglamma mun ‘desire of the battle-wolf [SWORD > BATTLE]’. LP: hǫð, following a suggestion of Krause, proposed that hǫð could be acc. and glamma mun in apposition to it.

glamma ‘wolves’

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glammi (noun m.): babble

[4] glamma: so all others, ‘‑glammrr’ apparently corrected from ‘‑glamms’ R

kennings

notes

[4] hǫðglamma ‘of battle-wolves [WARRIORS]’: The cpd hǫðglammi ‘battle-wolf’ (lit. ‘battle-howler’) is a hap. leg.  Hǫð ‘battle’ does not occur as a simplex, but is found as constituent of the name of the god Hǫðr, while glammi is a wolf-heiti (cf. Þul Vargs 1/7). Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) construes hǫðglamma mun as three separate words, with hǫð, dat. or instr. of hǫð ‘battle’ being understood as an adverbial phrase ‘in battle’. Other eds have understood the cpd hǫðglamma differently, Kock taking it with mun (as a kenning) and lætrat stǫðva to mean ‘[Hǫgni] does not cause the desire of the battle-wolf [BATTLE] to stop’. Such a kenning is unprecedented. Reichardt (1928, 94-5 n. 26) interpreted hǫðglammi as a sword-kenning, part of a battle-kenning hǫðglamma mun ‘desire of the battle-wolf [SWORD > BATTLE]’. LP: hǫð, following a suggestion of Krause, proposed that hǫð could be acc. and glamma mun in apposition to it.

mun ‘the desire’

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munr (noun m.; °-ar/-s, dat. -/-i; -ir, acc. -i): mind, pleasure

[4] mun: so W, man R, Tˣ

stǫðva ‘from stopping’

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stǫðva (verb): stop

es ‘when’

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2. er (conj.): who, which, when

þrym ‘of the noise’

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þrymr (noun m.; °-s): din < þrymregin (noun n.)

kennings

þrym ‘of the noise’

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þrymr (noun m.; °-s): din < þrymregin (noun n.)

kennings

regin ‘gods’

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regin (noun n.): divine power < þrymregin (noun n.)

[5] ‑regin: so Tˣ, ‑reginn R, W

kennings

þremja ‘of sword-edges’

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þremjar (noun f.): parts of a sword?

kennings

þremja ‘of sword-edges’

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þremjar (noun f.): parts of a sword?

kennings

þróttig ‘the enduring’

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þróttigr (adj.): [enduring]

kennings

notes

[6] þróttig ‘enduring’: This adj. may possibly allude to the nature of the battle as an ongoing one, with the dead warriors being revived every evening to fight again on account of Hildr’s magical powers.

Heðin* ‘Heðinn’

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2. Heðinn (noun m.): [Heðinn, champions]

[6] Heðin*: Heðins all

notes

[6] Heðin* (acc.) ‘Heðinn’: The reading of all mss, Heðins (gen.), must be emended to provide a direct object for sóttu ‘attacked’. The name, which probably means etymologically ‘skin-clad one’ (AEW: heðinn 1 and 2), varies across versions of the legend (OE Henden, MHG Hetele, Saxo Hithinus); for Old Norse, cf. particularly RvHbreiðm Hl 45/5.

sóttu ‘attacked’

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sœkja (verb): seek, attack

heldr ‘rather’

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heldr (adv.): rather

[7] heldr an: so all others, ‘[…]n’ R

an ‘than’

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2. an (conj.): than

[7] heldr an: so all others, ‘[…]n’ R

Hildar ‘of Hildr’

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1. hildr (noun f.): battle

svíra ‘of the neck’

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svíri (noun m.; °-a; -ar): neck

[7] svíra: so W, svika R, om. Tˣ

notes

[7] svíra (gen.) ‘of the neck’: Ms. R has svika which could be gen. pl. of svik ‘treachery’, but the metre requires a long vowel here, so the Tˣ, W reading has been adopted by all eds.

hringa ‘the rings’

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1. hringr (noun m.; °-s, dat. -; -ar): ring; sword

þeir ‘’

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hann (pron.; °gen. hans, dat. honum; f. hon, gen. hennar, acc. hana): he, she, it, they, them...

of ‘’

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4. of (particle): (before verb)

fingi ‘accept’

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2. fá (verb; °fǽr; fekk, fengu; fenginn): get, receive

[8] fingi: fingu R, Tˣ, fengu W

notes

[8] fingi ‘accept’: Lit. ‘they should accept’. All mss’ indic. verb fingu/fengu has been emended to subj. fingi after heldr an ‘rather than’ (l. 7); so Skj B and Skald, cf. NS §§310-13. Both R and Tˣ record the earlier form fingu (beside fengu) of the 3rd pers. pl. pret. indic. of fá ‘receive, accept, get’ (cf. ANG §504 and Anm. 1 and 5), which is necessary to provide aðalhending.