FriðÞ Lv 22VIII (Frið 28)
Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Friðþjófs saga ins frœkna 28 (Friðþjófr Þorsteinsson, Lausavísur 22)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 225.
text and translation
Helgi varð fyr höggi;
hraut sjóðr á nef kauða;
hneig Hálfdanar hlýri
ór hásæti miðju.
Þar varð Baldr at brenna,
en baugi náða ek áðr;
síðan frá eldi usla
ódrjúgr dró ek bjúga.
Helgi varð fyr höggi; sjóðr hraut á nef kauða; {hlýri Hálfdanar} hneig ór miðju hásæti. Þar varð Baldr at brenna, en ek náða baugi áðr; síðan dró ek ódrjúgr bjúga usla frá eldi.
‘Helgi met with a blow; the purse struck on the wretch’s nose; the brother of Hálfdan [= Helgi] fell from the middle of the high-seat. There Baldr <god> had to burn, but I grabbed the ring beforehand; afterwards I, not sluggish, pulled curved embers out of the fire. ’
notes and context
Bjǫrn asks Friðþjófr, who has left the hall with the ring that has fallen from the arm of Helgi’s wife, what has happened while he was inside, and Friðþjófr recites this stanza while holding up the ring.
This and the following stanza (Frið 29) are only in the B redaction mss. Two separate stanzas covering much the same ground (Frið 30 and 31) are only in the A redaction mss. This stanza is in an irregular dróttkvætt, with hendingar in ll. 2, 6 and 8, although l. 6 is problematic. — [3-4]: These lines tally with the prose text; in the A recension, the text simply states that Helgi fell … í óvit ‘lost … consciousness’ (Frið 1914, 23), while B has en hann fell ór hásætinu í úvit ‘and he fell from the high-seat in an unconscious state’ (Frið 1901, 35). — [6]: This line is hypometrical (assuming cliticisation of ek) unless en is deleted and áðr is desyllabified to áður. Skj B, following a suggestion of Konráð Gíslason, changes the word order to en baugi ek áðr náða ‘but I got hold of the ring first’, but this line is unmetrical. — [7-8]: Understood here as an oblique reference to the piece of firewood (eldskíða) which the B text says that Friðþjófr used to set fire to Baldrshagi. Other eds resort to emendation to make sense of these two lines, but this is unnecessary. Larsson (Frið 1901) emends ódrjúgr to údrjúga and bjúga to bjúgur, translating dann zog ich gebückt schnellverzehrte brennende holzscheite aus dem feuer ‘then I drew curved, quickly consumed burning logs of wood from the fire’. Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) inserts an ok in l. 7 between eldi and usla (cf. Ǫrv 101/7) while emending ódrjúgr ‘not slugglish’ (lit. ‘not lasting’) to ódeigr ‘not timid, not faint-hearted’, presenting the following translation: siden slæbte jeg ufej den krumböjede kvinde fra ilden og flammeødelæggeslen ‘afterwards I, not timid, dragged the bent woman from the fire and the destruction of flames’. Falk (1890, 82) suggested emending bjúga (l. 8) to ljúga, ‘lie, tell a lie’ and implied a translation like ‘I, inadequate in lying’, with reference to Friðþjófr’s relationship to Helgi and Hálfdan. Kock (Skald; NN §2388) follows Skj B in emending ódrjúgr to ódeigr and also emends síðan ‘afterwards’ (l. 7) to þá ‘then’.
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.
-
Holm papp 17 4°x (papp17x) — 360v/27 - 360v/29
imagesHelge vard fyrer hꝍgge, hraut siꝍdur ꜳ̈ nef kauda, hneig haldanar hlyre· vr ha | sæti midiu, þar vard balldur ad brenna, enn bauge nada eg ädur· sydan frä elldi ꝍsla | odriugur droo eg biuga,
(JG)
-
AM 109 a II 8°x (109a IIx) — 150v - 150v
images -
GKS 1006 folx (1006x) — 590/9 - 590/12
imagesHelge vard firr hógge hraut siödur ꜳ | nef kauda. hneig Haldanar hlýri ur hasæti midiu. þar vard | Balldur ad brenna, enn bauge nada ec ädur, sydan fra ellde o᷎sla | odriugur drö ec biuga.
(JG)
-
AM 173 folx (173x) — 89v/22 - 89v/29
Helgi varð fyr höggi;
images
hraut sjóðr á nef kauða;
hneig Hálfdanar hlýri
ór hásæti miðju.
Þar varð Baldr at brenna,
en baugi †nana† ek áðr;
síðan frá eldi usla
ódrjúgr dró ek bjúga.
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