Þjóð Yt 24^I

Ok til þings
þriðja jǫfri
Hveðrungs mær
ór heimi bauð,
þás Halfdanr,
sás Holtum bjó,
norna dóms
of notit hafði.
Ok buðlung
á Borrói
sigrhafendr
síðan fôlu.

Ok {mær Hveðrungs} bauð þriðja jǫfri ór heimi til þings, þás Halfdanr, sás bjó Holtum, hafði of notit dóms norna. Ok sigrhafendr fôlu buðlung síðan á Borrói.

And {the maiden of Hveðrungr <= Loki>} [= Hel] invited a third ruler out of the world to a meeting when Hálfdan, who lived in Holtan, had used up the allotment of the norns. And afterwards the victorious ones buried the ruler in Borre.

Mss: Kˣ(42r), papp18ˣ(10v), 521ˣ(52-53), F(7ra-b), J1ˣ(20v), J2ˣ(23v-24r), R685ˣ(22r) (Hkr); 761aˣ(62v)

Readings: [2] jǫfri: ‘iofi’ R685ˣ    [5] Halfdanr: Halfdan all    [6] Holtum: so J2ˣ, R685ˣ, á Holti Kˣ, papp18ˣ, 521ˣ, 761aˣ, í Holti F, ‘hokum’ J1ˣ    [9] buðlung: buðlungs F    [10] Borrói: ‘boru’ F, ‘borror’ J1ˣ, J2ˣ, R685ˣ    [11] ‑hafendr: ‑hafendi papp18ˣ    [12] fôlu: sálu papp18ˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 14, Skj BI, 13, Skald I, 8-9, FF §53; Hkr 1893-1901, I, 80, IV, 24-5, ÍF 26, 79, Hkr 1991, I, 46 (Yng ch. 47), F 1871, 31; Yng 1912, 51, 68-9, Yng 2000, 66-7; Yt 1914, 16, Yt 1925, 208-9, 249-50.

Context: Hálfdan, son of Eysteinn, bore the nicknames inn mildi ‘the Generous’ and inn matarilli ‘the Food-stingy’ because, while he rewarded his men richly with gold coins, he was mean with food. His primary seat was Holtar in Vestfold, where, after a life as a great warrior, he died of illness. He is buried in Borró (Borre).

Notes: [1] til þings ‘to a meeting’: Finnur Jónsson (Hkr 1893-1901, IV; Yng 1912; Yt 1925) assumes the meeting is of an erotic nature (cf. Sundqvist 2005a, 111; Bergsveinn Birgisson 2008, 349). Though this is difficult to prove, it gains credibility because Yt 7/4 refers to Hel taking pleasure in a deceased prince (see Note). — [2] þriðja jǫfri ‘a third ruler’: Þriðja ‘third’ could imply the third in an uninterrupted line of rulers received by Hel (Hkr 1893-1901, IV); or the third in a line of rulers who died of illness (ÍF 26); or the third of the Norwegian Ynglingar (Yng 1912; Yt 1925). The last interpretation seems most likely. — [3] mær Hveðrungs ‘the maiden of Hveðrungr <= Loki> [= Hel]’: Since Hel is among Loki’s offspring (see Note to st. 7/5-6), the kenning mær Hveðrungs ‘the maiden of Hveðrungr [= Hel]’ indicates that Hveðrungr must be a designation for Loki, cf. also Vsp 55/5 (NK 13) mǫgr Hveðrungs ‘kinsman of Hveðrungr [= Fenrir]’. Hveðrungr has been interpreted as ‘the stone-dweller’ (Hkr 1893-1901, IV; Yt 1925) or ‘the roarer’ (Falk 1924, 19; AEW: hveðra). — [6] Holtum ‘in Holtan’: The reading of J2ˣ and R685ˣ (Holtum) is to be preferred over those of Kˣ (á Holti) and F (í Holti) for metrical reasons, and is adopted in all eds except Skald and Hkr 1991, which prefer Kˣ. Here the dat. is used as a locative (Konráð Gíslason 1881, 243; Yt 1925). It has usually been assumed that Holtar refers to Holtan in Borre, which lies 2-3 kilometres north of the Borre burial field. This is most likely, because according to the stanza, Hálfdan was buried in Borre (cf. Skre 2007c, 463-4). Other possibilities are Holtan in Sandefjord, not far from Huseby and Gokstad, or Holtan in Larvik (Myhre 1992b, 39). — [7-8] hafði of notit dóms norna ‘had used up the allotment of the norns’: The expression is equivalent to njóta aldrs ‘to enjoy a lifetime, live out one’s span of life’ (LP: njóta 1). For the notion that the norns determine the length of a human’s life cf. Hamð 30, HHund I 2/2-4, Kommentar IV, 172-4 and Notes to Yt 17/2-3, TorfE Lv 4/2. — [10] á Borrói ‘in Borre’: Borre, in Horten, Vestfold, is situated on Oslofjorden and is the site of the largest known collection of monumental burial mounds in Scandinavia. There are seven large earthen burial mounds, one large cairn and around thirty small cairns, dating to between 600 and the beginning of C10th. One of the large burial mounds, destroyed in 1852, contained a richly endowed ship burial from around the year 900 comparable with those of Gokstad and Oseberg (Myhre 1992a, 18‑23).

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
3. AEW = Vries, Jan de. 1962. Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 2nd rev. edn. Rpt. 1977. Leiden: Brill.
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. 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.
6. Kommentar = See, Klaus von et al. 1997-2012. Kommentar zu den Liedern der Edda. 7 vols. Heidelberg: Winter.
7. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
8. Hkr 1893-1901 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1893-1901. Heimskringla: Nóregs konunga sǫgur af Snorri Sturluson. 4 vols. SUGNL 23. Copenhagen: Møller.
9. Hkr 1991 = Bergljót S. Kristjánsdóttir et al., eds. 1991. Heimskringla. 3 vols. Reykjavík: Mál og menning.
10. F 1871 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1871. Fríssbók: Codex Frisianus. En samling af norske konge-sagaer. Christiania (Oslo): Malling.
11. Falk, Hjalmar. 1924. Odensheite. Skrifter utg. av Videnskapsselskapet i Kristiania. II. Hist.-filos. kl. 1924, 10. Kristiania (Oslo): Dybwad.
12. FF = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1922. Fornjermansk forskning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 18:1. Lund: Gleerup.
13. Konráð Gíslason. 1881. ‘Nogle bemærkninger angående Ynglingatal’. ÅNOH, 185-251.
14. Yng 2000 = Jørgensen, Jon Gunnar, ed. 2000b. Ynglinga saga etter Kringla (AM 35 fol). Series of Dissertations submitted to the Faculty of Arts, University of Oslo 80. Oslo: Unipub forlag.
15. Yt 1914 = Grape, Anders and Birger Nerman, eds. 1914. Ynglingatal I-IV. Meddelanden från Nordiska Seminariet 3. Uppsala: Berling.
16. Yng 1912 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912. Ynglingasaga. Copenhagen: Gad.
17. Yt 1925 = Noreen, Adolf, ed. 1925. Ynglingatal: Text, översättning och kommentar. Stockholm: Lagerström.
18. Bergsveinn Birgisson. 2008. Inn i skaldens sinn: Kognitive, estetiske og historiske skatter i den norrøne skaldediktningen. Bergen: University of Bergen.
19. Myhre, Bjørn. 1992a. ‘Arkeologiske kilder og ynglingeætten’. In Christensen et al. 1992, 18-34.
20. Myhre, Bjørn. 1992b. ‘Diskusjonen om ynglingeættens gravplasser’. In Christensen et al. 1992, 35-50.
21. Skre, Dagfinn. 2007c. ‘Towns and Markets, Kings and Central Places in South-Western Scandinavia c. AD 800-950’. In Skre 2007a, 445-69.
22. Sundqvist, Olof. 2005a. ‘Aspects of Rulership Ideology in Early Scandinavia – with Particular References to the Skaldic Poem Ynglingatal’. In Erkens 2005, 87-124.
23. Internal references
24. (forthcoming), ‘ Heimskringla, Ynglinga saga’ 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, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=158> (accessed 16 April 2024)
25. Not published: do not cite ()
26. Not published: do not cite ()
27. Edith Marold (ed.) 2012, ‘Þjóðólfr ór Hvini, Ynglingatal 17’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 38.
28. Edith Marold (ed.) 2012, ‘Þjóðólfr ór Hvini, Ynglingatal 7’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 19.
29. Russell Poole (ed.) 2012, ‘Torf-Einarr Rǫgnvaldsson, Lausavísur 4’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 136.