Eyv Hák 17^I

‘Gerðar órar,’         kvað inn góði konungr,
        ‘viljum vér sjalfir hafa;
hjalm ok brynju         skal hirða vel;
        gótt es til gǫrs at taka.’

‘Vér viljum sjalfir hafa gerðar órar,’ kvað inn góði konungr; ‘skal hirða vel hjalm ok brynju; gótt es at taka til gǫrs.’

‘We ourselves [I myself] wish to keep our [my] armour,’ said the good king; ‘one should take good care of one’s helmet and mail-shirt; it is good to have recourse to ready gear.’

Mss: Kˣ(106v), F(18va-b), J1ˣ(64r), J2ˣ(61r) (Hkr); 761bˣ(100v-101v)

Readings: [1] órar (‘várar’): voru J1ˣ    [3] sjalfir: sjalfr J1ˣ    [6] gǫrs: ‘geyrs’ F, J1ˣ, J2ˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 67, Skj BI, 59, Skald I, 37, NN §1055; Hkr 1893-1901, I, 221, IV, 60, ÍF 26, 196, Hkr 1991, I, 128 (HákGóð ch. 31/32), F 1871, 84-5; Möbius 1860, 234, Jón Helgason 1968, 28, Krause 1990, 121-2.

Context: As for st. 1.

Notes: [All]: Hákon’s desire to keep his weapons (which recalls the image of slain princes sitting fully armed in st. 9) has been variously explained. Olsen (1916a) explains it as a sign that he wishes to be prepared at all times for the great final battle of the einherjar, and Paasche (1916) as a necessary precaution in the presence of Eiríkr and his allies (rendering ironic Bragi’s reassurance in the preceding stanza that Hákon has eight brothers in Valhǫll). See also Holm-Olsen (1953, 161). — [2] inn góði ‘the good’: This may be meant as characterisation, though it is also Hákon’s nickname. — [6] gótt es at taka til gǫrs ‘it is good to have recourse to ready gear’: Two main possibilities are to hand here. (a) ‘Geyrs’ in F, J1ˣ, J2ˣ is a common spelling of gǫrs: see Jón Þorkelsson (1884, 45). Gǫrs gives satisfactory sense, and the expression in l. 6 may be proverbial, with the sense ‘it’s good to use what is to hand’ (see Heggstad et al. 1997: gerr I. 2). This would harmonise with the impersonal skal ‘one should’ in l. 5. (b) Several eds read geirs ‘spear’ for gǫrs (from Bartholin 1689, 526 to Kock, Skald and NN §1055, comparing Beowulf ll. 1245-6a), and this would complement the reference to helmet and mail-shirt in l. 4.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
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. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
5. Hkr 1893-1901 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1893-1901. Heimskringla: Nóregs konunga sǫgur af Snorri Sturluson. 4 vols. SUGNL 23. Copenhagen: Møller.
6. Hkr 1991 = Bergljót S. Kristjánsdóttir et al., eds. 1991. Heimskringla. 3 vols. Reykjavík: Mál og menning.
7. F 1871 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1871. Fríssbók: Codex Frisianus. En samling af norske konge-sagaer. Christiania (Oslo): Malling.
8. Jón Þorkelsson [J. Thorkelsson]. 1884. ‘Bemærkninger til nogle steder i versene i Heimskringla’. Aftryk af oversigt over det kgl. danske videnskabs selskabs forhandlinger 1884. Copenhagen: Luno.
9. Möbius, Theodor. 1860. Edda Sæmundar hins fróða. Mit einem Anhang bisher ungedruckter Gedichte. Leipzig: Hinrichs.
10. Bartholin, Thomas. 1689. Antiquitatum danicarum de causis contemptæ a Danis adhuc gentilibus mortis libri tres ex vetustis codicibus & monumentis hactenus ineditis congesti. Copenhagen: J. P. Bockenhoffer.
11. Holm-Olsen, Ludvig. 1953. ‘Øyvind Skaldaspiller’. Edda 53, 145-65.
12. Jón Helgason, ed. 1968. Skjaldevers. 3rd edn. Copenhagen: Munksgaard.
13. Krause, Arnulf, ed. 1990. Die Dichtung des Eyvindr skáldaspillir: Edition-Kommentar-Untersuchungen. Altnordische Bibliothek 10. Leverkusen: Literaturverlag Norden Mark Reinhardt.
14. Olsen, Magnus. 1916a. ‘Fortjener Hákonarmáls digter tilnavnet “skáldaspillir”?’. In Til Gerhard Gran, 9. December 1916, fra venner og elever. Kristiania (Oslo): Aschehoug (Nygaard), 1-9. Rpt. in Olsen 1938a, 204-12.
15. Paasche, Fredrik. 1916. ‘Hákonarmál’. In Til Gerhard Gran, 9 december 1916, fra venner og elever. Kristiania (Oslo): Aschehoug (Nygaard), 10-16.
16. Internal references
17. (forthcoming), ‘ Heimskringla, Hákonar saga góða’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=130> (accessed 25 April 2024)
18. Not published: do not cite ()