Anon Krm 28^VIII

Rory McTurk (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Poems, Krákumál 28’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 774.

text and translation

notes and context

Lines 2-8 bear a striking resemblance to Ragn 26/1-6 and some resemblance (in ll. 5-6, 8) to st. 24/5-6, above; cf. Note to st. 24/5-6 above and McTurk (2012b, 376-8). — [1-3]: See Note to st. 27/7-10, above for an account of the arrangement of these lines in 147. — [2-4]: The present ed. takes boði in l. 4 as nom. sg. of boði ‘offerer, instigator’, and as the base-word in a warrior-kenning boði fleinþings ‘instigator of the spear-assembly’, standing in apposition to ek ‘I’ as the subject of the sentence. Some eds (Krm 1891; Finnur Jónsson 1893b; Finnur Jónsson 1905; Skj B; Skald) emend hef ek ‘I have’ in l. 2 to 3rd pers. sg. hefir, hefr ‘has’, thus making the warrior-kenning in l. 4 the sole grammatical subject of the sentence, and producing the meaning ‘the warrior has conducted …’, i.e., presenting the speaker of the poem as referring to himself in the 3rd pers. This emendation seems unnecessary. — [2-4]: The speaker of the poem claims here to have been involved in fifty-one battles (‘five times ten ... and one more’) during his lifetime. In none of the surviving accounts of Ragnarr loðbrók can as many battles as this in which he takes part be counted. In popular narrative, as Olrik (1921, 75; 1992, 52) has indicated, the number five tends to signify ‘many’. It seems likely that the number fifty, as it occurs here and in Ragn 26, was originally chosen to suggest a large number, and that ok eina ‘and one more’ has been added in each case to fill out an even-numbered line with a rhyming cadence. The addition of ok eina ‘and one more (battle)’ is syntactically awkward here, since fimm tigum sinna, lit. ‘five tens of times’, is an adverbial phrase of time of the kind illustrated in NS §118, with tigum dat. pl. of tigr ‘(unit of) ten’, here governing the gen. pl. sinna of sinn ‘time, occasion’ (see NS §118, and cf. §§128-30 and 127). The sentence thus means lit. ‘I have conducted battles between peoples five tens of times, and one more (battle)’. — [5-6, 8]: The king (annarr konungr ‘another king’) referred to in l. 8, is Ella (OE Ælle), mentioned by name in sts 24/5 and 27/6.

readings

• [1] Hjuggu vér með hjörvi: abbrev. as ‘H. v. m. h.’ R702ˣ, ‘H[...] v[...] m[...] h[...]rvi’ 147, Hjuggum vér með hjörvi 6ˣ, LR, R693ˣ
• [2] Hef ek: ‘(hef)eg’(?) 147, hefisk 6ˣ
• [2] fimm tigum sinna: ‘fimtugu[...]’ 147
• [3] fólkorrostur framðar: ‘(fo)lkorrust[...] (fr)amd(ar)’(?) 147
• [5] Minnst: ‘(mins[…])’(?) 147
• [5] hugða: hugði 6ˣ, LR
• [6] vera skyldi: ‘(ver)[...] skylldi’(?) 147
• [7] nam: nam corrected from man R693ˣ
• [7] odd at rjóða: ‘(o)d(d) at [...]’(?) 147
• [8] konungr: ‘[...](konungur)’(?) 147
• [8] fremri: ‘(fremri)’(?) 147, frægri 6ˣ
• [9] Oss munu: ‘(oss munu)’(?) 147
• [9] æsir: ‘æs(ir)’(?) 147, ‘aesar’ LR
• [10] era: ‘(eigi er)’(?) 147, er at 6ˣ, er ei LR, R693ˣ
• [10] sýtandi dauði: so 6ˣ, LR, R693ˣ, sýtanda dauða R702ˣ

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.

• UppsUB R 702x (R702x) — 31v - 31v

  .
  Hef ek fimm tigum sinna
  fólkorrostur framðar
  fleinþings boði ok eina.
  Minnst hugða ek manna,
  at mér vera skyldi
  — ungr nam ek odd at rjóða —
  annarr konungr fremri.
  Oss munu æsir bjóða;
  era sýtanda dauða .

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• AM 147 4° (147) — 103r - 103r

  †H[...] v[...] m[...] h[...]rvi† .
  †(hef)eg† †fimtugu[...]†
  †(fo)lkorrust[...] (fr)amd(ar)†
  fleinþings boði ok eina.
  †(mins[…])† hugða ek manna,
  at mér †(ver)[...] skylldi†
  — ungr nam ek †(o)d(d) at [...]† —
  annarr †[...](konungur) (fremri)†.
  †(oss munu)† †æs(ir)† bjóða;
  †(eigi er)† sýtandi dauði.

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• AM 6 folx (6x) — 91v/6 - 91v/15

  Hjuggum vér með hjörvi .
  hefisk fimm tigum sinna
  fólkorrostur framðar
  fleinþings boði ok eina.
  Minnst hugði ek manna,
  at mér vera skyldi
  — ungr nam ek odd at rjóða —
  annarr konungr frægri.
  Oss munu æsir bjóða;
  er at sýtandi dauði.

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• Worm 1636 (LR) — 225 - 226

  Hjuggum vér með hjörvi .
  Hef ek fimm tigum sinna
  fólkorrostur framðar
  fleinþings boði ok eina.
  Minnst hugði ek manna,
  at mér vera skyldi
  — ungr nam ek odd at rjóða —
  annarr konungr fremri.
  Oss munu †aesar† bjóða;
  er ei sýtandi dauði.

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• UppsUB R 693x (R693x) — 18r - 18r

  Hjuggum vér með hjörvi .
  Hef ek fimm tigum sinna
  fólkorrostur framðar
  fleinþings boði ok eina.
  Minnst hugða ek manna,
  at mér vera skyldi
  — ungr nam ek odd at rjóða —
  annarr konungr fremri.
  Oss munu æsir bjóða;
  er ei sýtandi dauði.

editions and texts