Hjǫrtr Lv 2II
Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Hjǫrtr, Lausavísur 2’ 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. 346.
Hafr ‘A billy-goat’
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hafr (noun m.; °hafrs/-s(SnEU 56¹⁹), dat. hafri; hafrar): goat
notes
[1] hafr ‘billy-goat’: This alludes to the bag of goat-skin filled with gold that Hjǫrtr has brought back from Russia. The bag is also referred to at the beginning of Hem in Hr and Flat, and must have been part of the original þáttr, although the sts are only preserved in the Hb version (see Fellows Jensen 1962, cix-cx, 1).
es ‘is’
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2. vera (verb): be, is, was, were, are, am
úti ‘outside’
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úti (adv.): out, outdoors, out at sea, abroad
hvítr ‘white’
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hvítr (adj.; °-an; -ari, -astr): white
í ‘in’
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í (prep.): in, into
túni ‘the yard’
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tún (noun n.; °-s; -): homefield, enclosure
skúmir ‘he grows dark’
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2. skúma (verb): [he grows dark]
notes
[3] skúmir ‘grows dark’: The weak verb skúma ‘grow dark’ is otherwise unattested in ON, but it is related to skúmi ‘twilight’, skúmr ‘unfriendly person’ and ModNorw. skuma, ModSwed. skymma ‘grow dark’ (see AEW: skúma). See also the nickname skúma ‘Dusky’ (Þskúm) in the Introduction to Eskál Lv 1-3I. Finnur Jónsson suggests the conjectural translation ‘squint’ (Skj B; LP: skúma).
augum ‘in the eyes’
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auga (noun n.; °auga; augu/augun, gen. augna): eye
hefr ‘has’
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hafa (verb): have
skegg ‘beard’
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skegg (noun n.; °-s; -): beard
mikit ‘a huge’
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mikill (adj.; °mikinn): great, large
brestir ‘bangs’
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1. bresta (verb; °brestr; brast, brustu; brostinn): burst, split
klaufum ‘his hoofs’
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klauf (noun f.; °; -ir): [his hoofs]
vill ‘wants’
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vilja (verb): want, intend
bǫrn ‘children’
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barn (noun n.; °-s; bǫrn/barn(JKr 345³), dat. bǫrnum/barnum): child
taka ‘to take’
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2. taka (verb): take
geitar ‘a goat’s’
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geit (noun f.): nanny-goat
notes
[7] geitarson ‘a goat’s son’: For the loss of the final -r in the nom. sg. of such compounds, see ANG §395.1. See also sonr Sýrar ‘Sýr’s son’ in Lv 1/3 above, and the implied comparison between Haraldr’s (the sow’s son’s) passivity and parsimony (see Lv 1 above) and the virility of the ‘goat’s son’ filled with gold. For possible sexual innuendos, see Notes to Mgóð Lv 1/4 and SnH Lv 11/1. See also Note to Lv 3/3 below.
son ‘son’
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sonr (noun m.; °-ar, dat. syni; synir, acc. sonu, syni): son
notes
[7] geitarson ‘a goat’s son’: For the loss of the final -r in the nom. sg. of such compounds, see ANG §395.1. See also sonr Sýrar ‘Sýr’s son’ in Lv 1/3 above, and the implied comparison between Haraldr’s (the sow’s son’s) passivity and parsimony (see Lv 1 above) and the virility of the ‘goat’s son’ filled with gold. For possible sexual innuendos, see Notes to Mgóð Lv 1/4 and SnH Lv 11/1. See also Note to Lv 3/3 below.
gerr ‘ready’
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gerr (adv.): [ready]
við ‘for’
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2. við (prep.): with, against
erru ‘a quarrel’
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erra (noun f.; °-u): quarrel
Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses
King Haraldr asks Hjǫrtr how the mission to Russian has gone, and Hjǫrtr replies with this st.
Heusler (1923, 99) identifies this st. as a nursery rhyme, and, indeed, it does resemble Skaufhalabálkur ‘Tassle-tail Bálkur’, a C14th nursery rhyme (barngælur) of forty-two sts by Svartur á Hofstöðum (Svart SkaufVIII). See also Anon (Ldn) 3IV. — [8]: The l. has internal rhyme (-err : -err-) as in tøglag.
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