FriðÞ Lv 24^VIII (Frið 30)

Hafa skal ek baug         ór beggja höndum
ór svefnhúsi         seggja meiðma.
Sá er hugr á mér         af þeim hringi digrum;
verðr þeim, er varðar         við lítilmagna.

Ek skal hafa baug ór svefnhúsi ór beggja höndum seggja meiðma. Sá hugr er á mér af þeim digrum hringi; verðr þeim, er varðar við lítilmagna.

I am determined to have a ring out of the sleeping house from both arms of the men of treasures. That thought is upon me on account of that substantial ring; let it belong to the man who protects [it] from a weakling.

Mss: 510(94v), 27ˣ(137r) (Frið)

Readings: [2] ór beggja höndum: ór brendum 27ˣ    [3] ór svefnhúsi: ‘vr suennhusi’ 510, bauð nú svefnhúsi Svölnis 27ˣ    [4] seggja meiðma: ‘segja meiðum’ with segja added in the right margin in the scribal hand 510, sá er hugr á mér er digran 27ˣ    [5] Sá er hugr á mér: ekki stóð ek unda senn 27ˣ    [6] af þeim hringi digrum: ‘af eim hringi digrum’ 510, ‘i ótla þar ä miklum’ 27ˣ    [7] verðr þeim er varðar: gramr skyli verðr 27ˣ    [8] við lítilmagna: því er varðar 27ˣ

Editions: Skj AII, 276, Skj BII, 298, Skald II, 157, NN §§1476 Anm., 2597, 3194; Falk 1890, 80-1, Frið 1893, 53, Frið 1914, 24.

Context: In the A redaction, Friðþjófr speaks this stanza immediately after leaving the sanctuary at Baldrshagi. He holds up the ring he has rescued from Helgi’s wife as he does so.

Notes: [All]: The metre of this stanza is problematical. Line 1 is hypometrical, and could be ‘restored’ by using pl. bauga or rearranging as baug skal ek hafa (Type A2k). Lines 2, 6-8 are málaháttr and ll. 3-5 fornyrðislag. — [All]: This and the following stanza (Frið 31) are only in A redaction mss, and not in all of those. These display numerous variant readings (see further Frið 1914, 24, nn.), most of which are very difficult to make sense of and differ quite widely from the text of 510. The stanza is not in 568ˣ. Frið 30-1 come shortly after Frið 27 in those mss that include Frið 30. As Falk observed (1890, 80-1) this stanza is illogically placed where it stands, as it appears to refer to the situation before Friðþjófr has snatched back his ring, not after it, as here. — [1-4]: Ms. 510’s text is impossible to construe without some emendation. Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) emends in the following places in ll. 1-4: beggja (l. 2) to brúðar ‘of the bride, woman’, svefnhúsi (‘suennhusi’ 510) (l. 3) to sumlhúsi ‘banqueting house’, seggja meiðum (l. 4) to seima meiða, together with brúðar (l. 2), forming a woman-kenning, ‘of the bride of trees of gold wires [MEN > WOMAN]’. The present edn takes up a suggestion of Wenz (Frið 1914, lxxviii) that meiðum (l. 4) may be a scribal error for some form of the noun meiðm ‘treasure, valuables’ (usually in pl.). The emendation to seggja (l. 4) is minor. — [2-4] ór svefnhúsi ór beggja höndum seggja meiðma ‘out of the sleeping house from both arms of the men of treasures’: The meaning of these lines is obscure. Here it is suggested that the cpd svefnhús ‘sleeping house’ (l. 3) may refer to the sanctuary dedicated to Baldr, while the ‘men of treasures’ may be a phrase referring to the idols of the pagan gods contained inside it. — [7-8]: The syntax of these lines is obscure; this edn follows Kock’s proposed interpretation (NN §3194). The word við (l. 8) could be from the noun viðr ‘tree, wood’ or the prep. við(r) ‘against, to, with’, as it is understood here, even though a prep. in first position in a line would not normally bear alliteration.

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. Frið 1893 = Larsson, Ludvig, ed. 1893b. Sagan ock rimorna om Friðþiófr hinn frækni. SUGNL 22. Copenhagen: Malmström.
6. Frið 1914 = Wenz, Gustaf, ed. 1914. Die Friðþjófssaga in ihrer Überlieferung untersucht und der ältesten Fassung kritisch herausgegeben. Halle: Niemeyer.
7. Falk, Hjalmar. 1890. ‘Om Friðþjófs saga’. ANF 6, 60-102.
8. Internal references
9. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Friðþjófs saga ins frœkna 27 (Friðþjófr Þorsteinsson, Lausavísur 21)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 224.
10. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Friðþjófs saga ins frœkna 30 (Friðþjófr Þorsteinsson, Lausavísur 24)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 227.
11. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Friðþjófs saga ins frœkna 31 (Friðþjófr Þorsteinsson, Lausavísur 25)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 229.