FriðÞ Lv 31^VIII (Frið 37)

Nú skal þér um þakka;
þú hefir prúðliga veitta
— búinn er greppr at ganga —
gisting ara nisti.
Ek man Ingibjörgu
æ, meðan vit lifum bæði;
— hon siti heil — en hljótum
hnoss fyr koss at senda.

Nú skal þér um þakka; þú hefir prúðliga veitta {nisti ara} gisting; greppr er búinn at ganga. Ek man Ingibjörgu æ, meðan vit bæði lifum; hon siti heil; en hljótum at senda hnoss fyr koss.

Now I must thank you; you have splendidly granted hospitality {to the feeder of the eagle} [WARRIOR = me]; the man is ready to depart. I will remember Ingibjǫrg for ever as long as we both shall live; may she remain well; and we are [I am] obliged to send a precious ornament instead of a kiss.

Mss: 510(95v), Holm10 VI(3r), 568ˣ(103r), 27ˣ(138v-139r), papp17ˣ(362v), 1006ˣ(597), 173ˣ(93v) (Frið)

Readings: [1] skal: so Holm10 VI, 568ˣ, 27ˣ, skal ek 510, papp17ˣ, 1006ˣ, 173ˣ;    um þakka (‘of þacka’): so Holm10 VI, 568ˣ, 27ˣ, papp17ˣ, 1006ˣ, ‘of gistingt þacka’ 510, ‘ofþcka’ 173ˣ    [2] prúðliga: mest papp17ˣ, 1006ˣ, 173ˣ;    veitta: so Holm10 VI, 27ˣ, mik prísat vetra 510, ‘[…]’ 568ˣ, of veitta papp17ˣ, 1006ˣ, 173ˣ    [3] búinn: ‘[…]’ 568ˣ;    greppr: garpr papp17ˣ, 1006ˣ, 173ˣ    [4] gisting ara nisti: so 27ˣ, papp17ˣ, 1006ˣ, 173ˣ, gistingar visti 510, gisting ara Holm10 VI, 568ˣ    [5] man: mun papp17ˣ, 1006ˣ, 173ˣ    [6] æ meðan vit lifum bæði: meðan vit lifum bæði Holm10 VI, 27ˣ, ‘med[…]ifum bæði’ 568ˣ, æ meðan lifum bæði papp17ˣ, 1006ˣ, 173ˣ    [7] hon siti heil: lifi hon heil papp17ˣ, 1006ˣ, 173ˣ;    en hljótum: so papp17ˣ, 1006ˣ, 173ˣ, með hnossir 510, ok hylli Holm10 VI, 568ˣ, 27ˣ    [8] hnoss fyr koss at senda: so Holm10 VI, 568ˣ, 27ˣ, 1006ˣ, 173ˣ, hylli fyr koss at senda 510, hnoss fyrir marga koss at senda with marga added in a later hand and at senda crossed through papp17ˣ

Editions: Skj AII, 278, Skj BII, 299, Skald II, 158, NN §2389; Falk 1890, 86-7, Frið 1893, 34, 58, 86-7, Frið 1901, 48, Frið 1914, 31-2.

Context: After Friðþjófr has been with King Hringr and Ingibjǫrg for some time, and has been very well treated by the king, though rather disdainfully by Ingibjǫrg, he decides early one morning to announce his impending departure to Hringr with this stanza.

Notes: [All]: This stanza occurs in both A and B redaction mss (though it is omitted in 109a IIˣ). It and the following four stanzas are also in the oldest witness to the saga, the fragmentary Holm10 VI, which provides a better text here than 510, though for editorial consistency 510 is still presented as the primary ms. The metre is an irregular dróttkvætt, with internal rhyme in l. 4 and, with incorrect placement, in l. 8. — [All]: The gracious, even noble sentiment of this stanza and the next is in marked contrast to the hero’s ferocious self-image presented in Frið 36. — [3] greppr ‘man’: Friðþjófr uses the same word of himself in Frið 34/8. The B redaction mss have garpr ‘champion, hero’ here. — [7-8] en hljótum at senda hnoss fyr koss ‘and we are [I am] obliged to send a precious ornament instead of a kiss’: Most eds adopt this text, which is a mixture of B (en hljótum) and AB readings. Clearly, the scribe of 510 had a garbled text, as the full rhyme hnoss : koss is likely to have been the original aðalhending of l. 8, and this is misplaced in 510, though both Holm10 VI and 568ˣ have it correctly. These two mss of the A redaction have ok hylli instead of the B text’s ok hljótum ‘and we are [I am] obliged’. If hylli is a verb (from hylla ‘make friends with’) rather than a noun (hylli ‘favour, grace’), the A text could be construed thus: hon siti heil ok hylli, at senda hnoss fyr koss ‘may she remain well and show friendship, by sending an ornament instead of a kiss’. This seems to be at variance with the understanding of the B text redactors, as the prose of the B text immediately after the stanza states that Friðþjófr threw his ring towards Ingibjǫrg and urged her to take it. This statement is not present in the A text and the sense of the A text in Holm10 VI and 568ˣ may well be the original.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
3. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. Frið 1893 = Larsson, Ludvig, ed. 1893b. Sagan ock rimorna om Friðþiófr hinn frækni. SUGNL 22. Copenhagen: Malmström.
5. Frið 1901 = Larsson, Ludvig, ed. 1901. Friðþjófs saga ins frœkna. ASB 9. Halle: Niemeyer.
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 34 (Friðþjófr Þorsteinsson, Lausavísur 28)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 232.
10. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Friðþjófs saga ins frœkna 36 (Friðþjófr Þorsteinsson, Lausavísur 30)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 234.