Anon Krm 27^VIII

Hjuggu vér með hjörvi.
Harðla líðr at ævi:
grimt stendr grand af naðri;
góinn byggvir sal hjarta.
Væntum hins, at Viðris
vöndr í Ellu standi;
sonum mínum mun svella
sinn föður ráðinn verða.
Ei munu snarpir sveinar
sitt kyrt vera láta.

Hjuggu vér með hjörvi. Líðr harðla at ævi: grimt grand stendr af naðri; góinn byggvir {sal hjarta}. Væntum hins, at {vöndr Viðris} standi í Ellu; mun svella sonum mínum föður sinn verða ráðinn. Snarpir sveinar munu ei láta sitt vera kyrt.

We hewed with the sword. My life is drawing very much to to its end: grim danger emanates from the serpent; the snake occupies {the hall of my heart} [BREAST]. We expect this, that {the staff of Viðrir <= Óðinn>} [SPEAR] will become lodged in Ella <Northumbrian king>; the slaying of their father will cause my sons’ hearts to swell with rage. Those bold boys will not let this concern of theirs rest.

Mss: R702ˣ(31v), 147(103r), 6ˣ(91r-v) (Ragn); LR(224-225), R693ˣ(17v)

Readings: [1] Hjuggu vér með hjörvi: abbrev. as ‘H. v. m. h.’ R702ˣ, abbrev. as ‘H(’) v(’) m(’) h(’rv)[...]’(?) 147, Hjuggum vér með hjörvi 6ˣ, LR, R693ˣ    [2] Harðla: ‘har(d)la’(?) 147;    ævi: arfi with ‘æfe’ in margin in another hand R702ˣ, ‘(arfi)’(?) 147, ‘arfe’ 6ˣ, ‘arfue’ LR, ‘árfve’ R693ˣ    [3] grimt stendr grand af: ‘grim(t) (stend[…] grand af)’(?) 147;    naðri: so 6ˣ, nöðru R702ˣ, LR, R693ˣ, ‘(nad)[...]’(?) 147    [4] góinn: ‘(goinn)’(?) 147, ‘Goin ́(m)’(?) R693ˣ;    byggvir sal hjarta: ‘bygir s[…] hiarta’ 147    [5] Væntum hins at: ‘(v)[…]u(m) híns at’(?) 147;    Viðris: so 6ˣ, LR, R693ˣ, ‘vidris’ corrected from ‘vimrar’ in another hand R702ˣ, ‘(vidris)’(?) 147    [6] vöndr: ‘vaund[...]’ 147;    Ellu: Ella 147;    standi: so 6ˣ, blóði all others    [7] sonum mínum: ‘sonum m[...]’ 147;    mun: man 6ˣ, ‘mune’ LR, R693ˣ;    svella: ‘(s)v(el)la’(?) 147    [8] sinn föður ráðinn verða: so 6ˣ, ‘sinn modr rodin verda:’ R702ˣ, ‘(s)in(n) mod[…]’(?) 147, ‘sin modur rodinn verda’ LR, R693ˣ    [9] Ei munu snarpir sveinar: ‘(eigi munu sn)ar(p)ir sueinar’(?) 147    [10] sitt kyrt: so 6ˣ, ‘setkyrt’ R702ˣ, ‘sitt k(yr)t’(?) 147, ‘sett kyrt’ LR, ‘setkÿrt’ R693ˣ;    láta: ‘lat[...]’ 147

Editions: Skj AI, 648-9, Skj BI, 655, Skald I, 320; Rafn 1826, 22-3, 148-50, Pfeiffer 1860, 127, CPB II, 344-5, Wisén 1886-9, I, 66, Krm 1891, 228, Finnur Jónsson 1893b, 90, Finnur Jónsson 1905, 156-7; Ragn 1906-8, 189.

Notes: [All]: On the interlocking in 147 of the present stanza with st. 28, see Note to ll. 7-10 below. — [2] líðr harðla at ævi ‘my life is drawing very much to its end’: Lit. ‘It’s drawing very much to [the end of my] life’; cf. Fritzner: líða (líða at 2). Among previous eds, Rafn (1826), Pfeiffer (1860) and Valdimar Ásmundarson (Krm 1891) retain the mss’ arfi, dat. sg. of arfr ‘inheritance, estate (of one deceased)’, as the final word in the line, evidently taking this as a metonymic expression for ‘death’ (so Rafn 1826, 149), and understanding the accompanying verb and prep. (líðr… at) as forming with it an impersonal construction meaning lit. ‘it passes towards death’, i.e. ‘[my] death is approaching’. The emended reading ævi ‘life’ has been adopted by all other eds, including the present, and is based upon a marginal alternative reading to R702ˣ in the hand of Magnús Ólafsson (see Skj AI, 648). Ævi is also in the dat. here and participates in an impersonal construction with the verb líða ‘pass’, this time with the meaning ‘life is failing’. The intensive adv. harðla ‘greatly, very much’ ensures that the line does not convey too great a sense of life drawing peacefully to a close, which would be inappropriate in the present context. — [4] góinn ‘the snake’: Góinn is given in Grí 34/4-5 (NK 64) as the name of a serpent, one of the sons of Grafvitnir (cf. first Note to st. 1/4 above), and is listed among heiti for serpents in Þul Orma 2/2^III (see Note to that line) and among heiti for swords in Þul Sverða 9/7^III. It occurs as the determinant in a few skaldic kennings for ‘gold’ (with the meaning ‘serpent’) and in one at least for ‘shield’ (with the meaning ‘sword’), see LP: góinn. It refers to a serpent here. The word is of uncertain origin; cf. AEW, ÍO: góinn. — [5-6] vöndr Viðris ‘the staff of Viðrir <= Óðinn> [SPEAR]’: On Viðrir as a name for Óðinn, see first Note to st. 25/10 above. Óðinn’s spear, elsewhere named Gungnir, is a prominent feature of traditions about him (Simek 1993, 124). — [7-10]: In 147, the last three words of l. 10 (‘k(yr)t vera lat[…]’ (?)) occur at the end of l. 20 of fol. 103r, the earlier part of this line being taken up with ll. 1-3 of st. 28. The previous line (19) on fol. 103r is occupied by ll. 7-10 of the present stanza, from and including mun svella down to and including sitt. Line 10 of the present stanza is thus interrupted in 147 between sitt and kyrt by the first three lines of st. 28. — [7-8]: These lines are lit. translated: ‘(Rage) will swell for my sons at their father being slain’; cf. LP: svella 1 (2). Line 8 contains an acc. and inf. construction, with sinn föður ‘their father’ as the subject acc., verða as the inf., and the p. p. ráðinn, m. acc. sg. ‘slain’, referring predicatively to the subject acc. (with ráða used here in the sense ‘contrive sby’s death’; see LP: ráða 9). The construction is dependent on the verb svella ‘swell’ in l. 7, used impersonally with dat. pl. sonum mínum ‘my sons’ as its ‘logical subject’ (‘my sons will swell’, i.e. their hearts will swell with anger), to which the refl. poss. adj. sinn ‘their’ in l. 8 refers (cf. Stefán Einarsson 1945, 169-70; NS §333). — [8]: Only ms. 6ˣ has the reading föður presented here, while the other mss have some form of móðir ‘mother’, which is implausible in context, together with roðinn ‘reddened’ instead of ráðinn ‘slain’. Föður is also recorded by Árni Magnússon in 761bˣ(557r) and has been adopted in virtually all eds. — [10] sitt ‘this concern of theirs’: This substantival use of sinn, refl. poss. adj. ‘one’s (own)’ in the n. acc. sg. may be compared with the Modern Icelandic expression að gera sitt ‘do one’s bit, play one’s part’. 

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj A = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15a. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. A: Tekst efter håndskrifterne. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1967. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. AEW = Vries, Jan de. 1962. Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 2nd rev. edn. Rpt. 1977. Leiden: Brill.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. Wisén, Theodor, ed. 1886-9. Carmina Norrœnæ: Ex reliquiis vetustioris norrœnæ poësis selecta, recognita, commentariis et glossario instructa. 2 vols. Lund: Ohlsson.
8. Finnur Jónsson. 1893b. Carmina Norrœna: Rettet Tekst. Copenhagen: Nielsen & Lydiche.
9. NK = Neckel, Gustav and Hans Kuhn (1899), eds. 1983. Edda: Die Lieder des Codex Regius nebst verwandten Denkmälern. 2 vols. I: Text. 5th edn. Heidelberg: Winter.
10. NS = Nygaard, Marius. 1906. Norrøn syntax. Kristiania (Oslo): Aschehoug. Rpt. 1966.
11. ÍO = Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon. 1989. Íslensk orðsifjabók. Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans.
12. Pfeiffer, Friedrich. 1860. Altnordisches Lesebuch. Leipzig: T. O. Weigel.
13. Simek, Rudolf. 1993. Dictionary of Northern Mythology. Trans. Angela Hall. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer.
14. Ragn 1906-8 = Olsen 1906-8, 111-222.
15. Finnur Jónsson. 1905. ‘Krákumál’. Oversigt over det Kgl. Danske videnskabernes selskabs forhandlinger 1905, 151-83.
16. Stefán Einarsson. 1945. Icelandic: Grammar, Texts, Glossary. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press.
17. Krm 1891 = 2nd edn (pp. 225-8) of Krm as ed. in Valdimar Ásmundarson 1885-9, I.
18. 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.
19. Internal references
20. Not published: do not cite ()
21. Elena Gurevich 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Sverða heiti’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 789. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=3194> (accessed 26 April 2024)
22. Elena Gurevich 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Orma heiti’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 927. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=3235> (accessed 26 April 2024)