FriðÞ Lv 6^VIII (Frið 6)

Helgi veldr, at hrannir
hrímfaxaðar vaxa;
er ei, sem bjarta brúði
í Baldrshaga kyssim.
Ólíkt mun mér unna
Ingibjörg eða þengill;
heldr vilda ek hennar
hæfi at minni gæfu.

Helgi veldr, at hrímfaxaðar hrannir vaxa; er ei, sem kyssim bjarta brúði í Baldrshaga. Ingibjörg eða þengill mun unna mér ólíkt; ek vilda heldr hæfi hennar at gæfu minni.

Helgi is causing the rime-maned waves to grow; it is not as though we [I] were kissing the radiant woman in Baldrshagi. Ingibjǫrg and the king will love me differently; I would rather her situation [was] to my advantage.

Mss: papp17ˣ(358v), 109a IIˣ(147r), 1006ˣ(583), 173ˣ(84v) (Frið)

Editions: Skj AII, 270, Skj BII, 293, Skald II, 154, NN §1472; Falk 1890, 72-3, Frið 1893, 12-13, Frið 1901, 18.

Context: As for Frið 5.

Notes: [All]: Like Frið 5, this stanza is not in the A redaction mss. This and the following stanza are in an irregular form of munnvǫrp ‘mouth-throwings’ metre. Friðþjófs rímur III, 16-17 are closely similar. Lines 3-4 are reminiscent of Anon Krm 13/7-8 (Ragn) Varat, sem bjarta brúði | í bing hjá sér leggja ‘It was not like placing a fair maiden in a bed beside one’ and 20/7-8 Varat, sem unga ekkju | í öndvegi kyssa ‘It was not like kissing a young woman in the high seat’ and may have been influenced by Krm or be simply drawing on the conventional Norse contrast between the tough man’s life in battle or, as here, at sea, and the delights of affairs with women; cf. Anon Sveinfl 1/1-4^I. The close similarity of vocabulary may, however, suggest poetic influence rather than pure convention.   — [1] Helgi: Name of the elder of the two sons of King Beli of Sogn. In the saga’s B redaction he is said to have been a great blótmaðr ‘sacrificer, idolater, heathen worshipper’ (Frið 1901, 3). — [2] hrímfaxaðar ‘rime-maned’: This cpd adj. is a hap. leg. but causes no difficulty in understanding. The icy waves are likened to horses tossing their manes covered by hoar-frost. — [5-6] Ingibjörg eða þengill mun unna mér ólíkt ‘Ingibjǫrg and the king will love me differently’: This remark is a kind of litotes, to signal Friðþjófr’s awareness that the king (presumably Helgi is meant though it is possible that the allusion is to King Hringr, Ingibjǫrg’s intended) does not love him at all, though Ingibjǫrg does. The conj. eða (l. 6) must be understood here as meaning ‘and’ rather than its usual sense ‘or’. — [8] hæfi ‘situation’: The meaning of this noun seems to be ‘situation, position’ in the sense of a situation that it is fitting for someone to be in (cf. LP: hœfi; Fritzner: hœfi 2; ÍO: 406).

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. 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. ÍO = Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon. 1989. Íslensk orðsifjabók. Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans.
6. Frið 1893 = Larsson, Ludvig, ed. 1893b. Sagan ock rimorna om Friðþiófr hinn frækni. SUGNL 22. Copenhagen: Malmström.
7. Frið 1901 = Larsson, Ludvig, ed. 1901. Friðþjófs saga ins frœkna. ASB 9. Halle: Niemeyer.
8. Falk, Hjalmar. 1890. ‘Om Friðþjófs saga’. ANF 6, 60-102.
9. Internal references
10. 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Ragnars saga loðbrókar’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 616. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=81> (accessed 3 May 2024)
11. Rory McTurk (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Poems, Krákumál 13’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 743.
12. Rory McTurk 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Krákumál’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 706. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1020> (accessed 3 May 2024)
13. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2012, ‘Anonymous Poems, Flokkr about Sveinn Álfífuson 1’ 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. 1029.
14. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Friðþjófs saga ins frœkna 5 (Friðþjófr Þorsteinsson, Lausavísur 5)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 200.