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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Anon Krm 23VIII

Rory McTurk (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Poems, Krákumál 23’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 764.

Anonymous PoemsKrákumál
222324

text and translation

Hjuggu vér með hjörvi.
Hitt tel ek jafnt, at gangi
at samtogi sverða
sveinn í móti einum.
Hrøkkvi ei þegn fyrir þegni;
þat var drengs aðal lengi;
æ skal ástvinr meyja
einarðr í dyn sverða.

Hjuggu vér með hjörvi. Hitt tel ek jafnt, at sveinn gangi í móti einum at {samtogi sverða}. Hrøkkvi ei þegn fyrir þegni; þat var lengi aðal drengs; {ástvinr meyja} skal æ einarðr í {dyn sverða}.
 
‘We hewed with the sword. This I consider fair, that one lad should go against another at the drawing together of swords [BATTLE]. One warrior should not give way to another; that was always the nature of a hero; the dear friend of maidens [LOVER] should always be resolute in the din of swords [BATTLE].

notes and context

In 147(108v, l. 25) the first two words of st. 1/9, Stakk ek ‘I thrust’, appear in abbreviated form between the present stanza and st. 22, see first Note to st. 1/9-10. — With the possible exception of 147, in which there is illegible text immediately following l. 8 of st. 23 (see st. 16, Note to [All] above), the mss leave little doubt that this is an eight-line stanza. Previous eds have treated it as such apart from Rafn (1826) and the eds of CPB. — [5]: The repetition in this line’s penultimate syllable of þegn ‘warrior’, occurring earlier in the line, appears to be an example of samhending or samhenda, i.e. ‘coincidental rhyme’ (so Faulkes in SnE 2007, 137), i.e. rhyme falling on the same syllable as the alliteration and in cases of full rhyme producing identical syllables. Other examples are found in RvHbreiðm Hl 57-8III and SnSt Ht 46-8III; see further SnE 2007, 52. — [7]: This line exemplifies the consonantless internal half-rhyme (skothending: here on <æ> 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) and cf. the Note to st. 3/9-10, above.

readings

sources

Text is based on reconstruction from the base text and variant apparatus and may contain alternative spellings and other normalisations not visible in the manuscript text. Transcriptions may not have been checked and should not be cited.

editions and texts

Skj: Anonyme digte og vers [XII], H. Krákumál 23: AI, 647, BI, 654, Skald I, 320; Rafn 1826, 20-1, 142, Pfeiffer 1860, 126, CPB II, 344, Wisén 1886-9, I, 65, Krm 1891, 228, Finnur Jónsson 1893b, 90, Finnur Jónsson 1905, 156; Ragn 1906-8, 188.

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