RvHbreiðm Hl 8^III

Atli tók ǫðling frœknan
— es svá rétt saga þessi —
— eptir frá alnar driptum —
ekki mjúkr sonum Gjúka*.
Leggja bað í linnum byggðan
lǫgði*s hrjóð †fram† …
byggðar vǫrðr bǫðvarharðan
bauga †ga† …

Atli, ekki mjúkr {sonum Gjúka*}, tók frœknan ǫðling; frá eptir {driptum alnar}; svá es þessi saga rétt. Vǫrðr byggðar bað leggja {bǫðvarharðan hrjóð lǫgði*s} †fram† … í linnum byggðan … bauga †ga† …

Atli, not gentle {to the sons of Gjúki <legendary king>} [= Gunnar and Hǫgni], seized the brave prince; he asked about {the snow-drifts of the arm} [SILVER]; thus this tale is right. The guardian of the settlement [Atli] ordered {the battle-hard destroyer of the sword} [WARRIOR] to be placed … … in the snake-settled … of rings … …

Mss: papp25ˣ(40v), R683ˣ(125v)

Readings: [1] Atli: so R683ˣ, ‘Atte’ papp25ˣ    [3] frá: frá hann papp25ˣ, R683ˣ    [4] Gjúka*: Gjúkar papp25ˣ, R683ˣ    [6] lǫgði*s: ‘logdecs’ papp25ˣ, ‘log‑degs‑’ R683ˣ    [7] bǫðvar‑: so R683ˣ, bǫð var papp25ˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 513-14, Skj BI, 489, Skald I, 240, NN §§1157, 2747A; Hl 1941, 32, 43.

Context: As st. 7 above.

Notes: [1] Atli: See Note to st. 6/2 above. — [2]: The internal rhyme (aðalhending) is on es s- : -ess-, involving a non-rhotacised [s] in es ‘is’ and the initial [s] in svá ‘thus’. See also Note to st. 13/1. — [3] frá ‘he asked’: In this line the pron. hann (m. nom. sg.) ‘he’ (so both mss) has been deleted for metrical reasons (standard normalisation). — [4] Gjúka* ‘of Gjúki <legendary king>’: In both mss a final inorganic ‑r is frequently added to the end of words ending in a vowel (see Introduction and Hl 1941, 111). — [5]: The line is hypermetrical, and the metre would be restored if the prep. í ‘in’ were deleted. See Note to st. 7/4. — [6] hrjóð lǫgði*s ‘destroyer of the sword [WARRIOR]’: Skj B (followed by Skald) reads lǫgdagshrjóð ‘the destroyer of the sea-daylight’, i.e. ‘the destroyer of gold [GENEROUS MAN]’. Lǫgðis ‘of the sword’ is preferable from a metrical point of view (a long syllable followed by a short). The form ‘logdecs’ (so papp25ˣ) may have been caused by a misreading of ‘logdces’ i.e. ‘lǫgðis’ (see Hl 1941, 113). — [6] †fram† … ‘… …’: Skj B and Skald supply frama góðan ‘rich in fame’ as an apposition to their kenning lǫgdagshrjóð ‘the destroyer of the sea-daylight’. That phrase is conjectural, and the words in positions 5-7 could also be construed (conjecturally) as framar þjóðir ‘outstanding men’ as an object to bað ‘asked’ in the previous line (so Hl 1941). — [8]: Kock (NN §§1157, 2747A) completes this line as follows: bauga garð fránna jarðar, i.e. garð fránna bauga jarðar ‘the pit of the shining rings of the earth [SNAKE-PIT]’. That reading is entirely conjectural, although it is clear that the last helmingr describes Gunnarr being thrown into the snake-pit (see, e.g. Akv 31, Am 66-7 and Vǫls ch. 39).

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. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. Hl 1941 = Jón Helgason and Anne Holtsmark, eds. 1941. Háttalykill enn forni. BA 1. Copenhagen: Munksgaard.
6. Vǫls = Vǫlsunga saga.
7. Internal references
8. Not published: do not cite ()
9. Not published: do not cite ()