Anon Krm 21^VIII

Hjuggu vér með hjörvi.
Há sverð bitu skjöldu,
þar er gullroðinn glumði
geirr við Hildar ræfri.
Sjá mun í Öngulseyju
of aldr mega síðan,
hversu at lögðis leiki
lofðungar fram gengu.
Roðinn var út fyrir eyri
ár flugdreki sára.

Hjuggu vér með hjörvi. Há sverð bitu skjöldu, þar er gullroðinn geirr glumði við {ræfri Hildar}. Mun mega sjá of aldr síðan í Öngulseyju, hversu lofðungar gengu fram at {leiki lögðis}. {Flugdreki sára} var roðinn ár út fyrir eyri.

We hewed with the sword. Long swords bit shields, where the gold-ornamented spear resounded against {the roof of Hildr <valkyrie>} [SHIELD]. It may be seen ever afterwards on Anglesey how chieftains went forward in {the game of the sword} [BATTLE]. {The flying dragon of wounds} [SPEAR] was reddened early off the sand-bank.

Mss: 1824b(80v), 147(108v), 6ˣ(90r) (Ragn); R702ˣ(31r), LR(218-219), R693ˣ(14v)

Readings: [1] Hjuggu vér með hjörvi: abbrev. as ‘H. ver m h᷎.’ 1824b, abbrev. as ‘H[…] v(’) m(’) h(’)’(?) 147, Hjuggum vér með hjörvi 6ˣ, LR, R693ˣ, abbrev. as ‘H v. m. h.’ R702ˣ    [2] skjöldu: ‘s(k)iolldu’(?) 147, ‘skilldu’ 6ˣ, skjöldum LR, R693ˣ    [3] þar er: þá er 6ˣ, R702ˣ, LR, R693ˣ    [4] við: ‘(vid)’(?) 147, ‘nid’ LR;    ræfri: ‘[…]f[…]’ 147, næfri 6ˣ, R702ˣ, LR, R693ˣ    [5] Sjá: ‘[…]’ 147;    Önguls‑: ‘(au)nguls’(?) 147, ‘onlugs’ LR;    ‑eyju: ‘(e)yium’(?) 147    [6] of: um 147, R702ˣ, LR, R693ˣ    [7] hversu: so 147, ‘hver[…]’ 1824b, hve vér 6ˣ, þar er R702ˣ, LR, R693ˣ;    lögðis: ‘laugþu’ 6ˣ    [8] lofðungar fram: ‘lofd(un)gar fra[…]’(?) 147;    gengu: gengum 6ˣ    [9] Roðinn: ‘[…]dinn’ 147;    fyrir: so all others, ‘[…]’ 1824b    [10] ár flugdreki sára: ‘[…](dreki saran)’(?) 147

Editions: Skj AI, 647, Skj BI, 654, Skald I, 319; Rafn 1826, 18-19, 138-9, Pfeiffer 1860, 126, CPB II, 343, Wisén 1886-9, I, 65, Krm 1891, 227, Finnur Jónsson 1893b, 89, Finnur Jónsson 1905, 156; Ragn 1906-8, 188.

Notes: [3] þar er ‘where’:  There seems no reason not to adopt this reading here, as previous eds up to and including Wisén (1886-9) have done, though þás (þá er) ‘when’, adopted in subsequent eds (from Finnur Jónsson 1893b onwards), is also acceptable. — [3] gullroðinn ‘gold-ornamented’: This cpd adj. also occurs in Akv 4/3; cf. de Vries (1964-7, II, 40 n. 69). — [4] ræfri Hildar ‘the roof of Hildr <valkyrie> [SHIELD]’: The reading ræfri, dat. sg. of ræfr n. ‘roof’, adopted here from 1824b and used elsewhere as a base-word in shield-kennings (see ESk Øxfl 2/2-3^III and Hást Lv 4/7^IV), seems on the whole preferable to næfri, dat. sg. of næfri n. or næfr f. ‘birch-bark, roof-shingle’ (cf. LP: 3. næfr; næfri n.), which would presumably have much the same meaning here as ‘roof’, thus also forming with Hildar a shield-kenning. The reading næfri is adopted by all previous eds, Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) translating it as brynjen ‘the mail-coat’. On the connotations of the name Hildr in Krm in particular, see further first Note to st. 4/2. — [5]: This line exemplifies the consonantless internal half-rhyme (skothending, here on <á> and <ey>) that may occur in lines in which the vowel or diphthong in the cadence is followed by a glide, <j> or <v> (see Kuhn 1983, 78). Cf. the Note to st. 3/9-10, above. — [5] í Öngulseyju ‘on Anglesey’: There is no difficulty in identifying this as the island of Anglesey off the north-west coast of Wales. It is referred to in Gísl Magnkv 11/3^II and in ESk Geisl 31/7^VII. — [7, 8] hversu lofðungar gengu fram ‘how chieftains went forward’: So all previous eds apart from Rafn (1826), who reads: Hví vér … Lofðúngar framgengum [sic], i.e. ‘why we chieftains went forward’, a reading which finds support in ms. 6ˣ. The emendation to hversu ‘how’ adopted by all subsequent previous eds, which need no longer be treated as an emendation if the tentative reading of 147 above may be trusted, produces a clause with lofðungar ‘chieftains’ as its subject rather than vér ‘we’ as the subject with lofðungar ‘chieftains’ in apposition to it.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. LP = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1931. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis: Ordbog over det norsk-islandske skjaldesprog oprindelig forfattet af Sveinbjörn Egilsson. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Møller.
5. CPB = Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and F. York Powell, eds. 1883. Corpus poeticum boreale: The Poetry of the Old Northern Tongue from the Earliest Times to the Thirteenth Century. 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon. Rpt. 1965, New York: Russell & Russell.
6. Wisén, Theodor, ed. 1886-9. Carmina Norrœnæ: Ex reliquiis vetustioris norrœnæ poësis selecta, recognita, commentariis et glossario instructa. 2 vols. Lund: Ohlsson.
7. Finnur Jónsson. 1893b. Carmina Norrœna: Rettet Tekst. Copenhagen: Nielsen & Lydiche.
8. Kuhn, Hans (1899). 1983. Das Dróttkvætt. Heidelberg: Winter.
9. Pfeiffer, Friedrich. 1860. Altnordisches Lesebuch. Leipzig: T. O. Weigel.
10. Ragn 1906-8 = Olsen 1906-8, 111-222.
11. Finnur Jónsson. 1905. ‘Krákumál’. Oversigt over det Kgl. Danske videnskabernes selskabs forhandlinger 1905, 151-83.
12. Krm 1891 = 2nd edn (pp. 225-8) of Krm as ed. in Valdimar Ásmundarson 1885-9, I.
13. Rafn, Carl Christian, ed. 1826. Krakas Maal eller Kvad om Kong Ragnar Lodbroks Krigsbedrifter og Heltedød efter en gammel Skindbog og flere hidtil ubenyttede Haandskrifter med dansk, latinsk og fransk oversættelse, forskjellige Læsemaader, samt kritiske og philologiske Anmærkninger. Copenhagen: Jens Hostrup Schultz; London: John and Arthur Arch.
14. Internal references
15. Rory McTurk 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Krákumál’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 706. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1020> (accessed 26 April 2024)
16. Martin Chase 2007, ‘ Einarr Skúlason, Geisli’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 5-65. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1144> (accessed 26 April 2024)
17. Kari Ellen Gade 2017, ‘ Einarr Skúlason, Øxarflokkr’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 140. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1149> (accessed 26 April 2024)
18. Kari Ellen Gade 2009, ‘ Gísl Illugason, Erfikvæði about Magnús berfœttr’ 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, pp. 416-30. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1201> (accessed 26 April 2024)
19. Not published: do not cite ()