Hálfr Innkv 4^VIII (Hálf 21)

Hrynja um herðar,         þeim er hamalt fylkja
grams verðungu,         gyldnar brynjur.
Þat mun á öxlum         öðlings vinum
ljóst at líta,         sem logi brenni.

Gyldnar brynjur hrynja um herðar, þeim er fylkja hamalt verðungu grams. Þat mun ljóst at líta á öxlum vinum öðlings, sem logi brenni.

Gilded byrnies fall around the shoulders of those who draw up the prince’s retinue in a wedge-shaped phalanx. A brightness will be clearly seen on the shoulders of the prince’s friends, as if a flame were burning.

Mss: 2845(36r) (Hálf)

Editions: Skj AII, 260, Skj BII, 280, Skald II, 147, NN §118, FF §25; Hálf 1864, 19, Hálf 1909, 104, FSGJ 2, 112, Hálf 1981, 181; Edd. Min. 34­-5.

Context: This stanza is introduced by the words: kóngr kvað ‘the king said’.

Notes: [All]: Following a suggestion by Svend Grundtvig, Bugge (Hálf 1864) altered the ms. sequence of stanzas at this point, interchanging Hálf 23 and Hálf 21. This change of sequence has been followed by all subsequent eds aside from Hálf 1981 and the present edn, which follow the ms. order. — [2] fylkja hamalt ‘draw up in a wedge-shaped phalanx’: The word hamalt occcurs only in the idiomatic expression fylkja hamalt, see LP: 1. hamall. In the ms. fylkja is written fylgía; see further Hálf 67/5, where fylkti is written fylgdí; see Note to ÞjóðA Run 1/4^II. Óðinn was reputed to have taught warriors how to fylkja hamalt (Beck 1998). — [5, 7] þat mun ljóst at líta ‘a brightness will be clearly seen’: Lit. ‘It will be bright to look at’.

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. FSGJ = Guðni Jónsson, ed. 1954. Fornaldar sögur norðurlanda. 4 vols. [Reykjavík]: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan.
6. Edd. Min. = Heusler, Andreas and Wilhelm Ranisch, eds. 1903. Eddica Minora: Dichtungen eddischer Art aus den Fornaldarsögur und anderen Prosawerken. Dortmund: Ruhfus. Rpt. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft.
7. FF = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1922. Fornjermansk forskning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 18:1. Lund: Gleerup.
8. Hálf 1981 = Seelow, Hubert, ed. 1981. Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka. RSÁM 20. Reykjavík: Stofnun Árna Magnússonar.
9. Hálf 1864 = Bugge, Sophus, ed. 1864. Saga af Hálfi ok Hálfsrekkum. Norrøne Skrifter af sagnhistorisk Indhold 1. Christiania (Oslo): Det Nordiske Oldskriftselskab.
10. Hálf 1909 = Andrews, A. Le Roy, ed. 1909. Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka. ASB 14. Halle: Niemeyer.
11. Beck, Heinrich. 1998a. ‘Fylking’. In RGA, 10, 291-3.
12. Internal references
13. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Þjóðólfr Arnórsson, Runhent poem about Haraldr 1’ 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, pp. 103-5.
14. Hubert Seelow (ed.) 2017, ‘Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka 21 (Hálfr Hjǫrleifsson, Innsteinskviða 4)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 321.
15. Hubert Seelow (ed.) 2017, ‘Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka 23 (Hálfr Hjǫrleifsson, Innsteinskviða 5)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 323.
16. Hubert Seelow (ed.) 2017, ‘Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka 67 (Hrókr inn svarti, Hrókskviða 17)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 357.