Hróksv Hrkv 9VIII (Hálf 59)
Hubert Seelow (ed.) 2017, ‘Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka 59 (Hrókr inn svarti, Hrókskviða 9)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 351.
Bað ekki hann í her höptu* græta,
né manns konu mein at vinna.
Mey bað hann hverja mundi kaupa,
fögru gulli, at föður ráði.
Hann bað ekki græta höptu* í her, né at vinna konu manns mein. Hann bað kaupa hverja mey mundi, fögru gulli, at ráði föður.
He forbade [men] to make a female captive in the army weep nor to do harm to a man’s wife. He ordered every girl to be bought for a bride-price, for fine gold, with the consent of her father.
Mss: 2845(38r) (Hálf)
Readings: [2] höptu*: hoptum 2845
Editions: Skj AII, 266, Skj BII, 288, Skald II, 151; Hálf 1864, 33, Hálf 1909, 123, FSGJ 2, 126, Hálf 1981, 192; Edd. Min. 45.
Notes: [All]: According to Andrews (Hálf 1909, 22-3), this stanza represents an idealised romantic attitude towards women which never obtained in the Viking Age. However, similar legislation to improve the position of women is mentioned amongst King Fróði’s laws (Saxo 2015, I, v. 5. 3, pp. 316-17). — [1] bað ekki ‘forbade’: Earlier eds (Edd. Min., Skj B, Skald) have replaced this and other verbs negated with ekki ‘not’ with the suffixed negative particle –at, here baðat. — [2] höptu* ‘a female captive’: The emendation höptu (so also Edd. Min., Hálf 1909 and FSGJ) is very close to the ms. reading, giving perfect sense to an otherwise incomprehensible line. The ms. reads hoptum. Skj B and Skald read hapt, m. acc. sg. of haptr ‘male captive’.
References
- Bibliography
- Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
- Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
- FSGJ = Guðni Jónsson, ed. 1954. Fornaldar sögur norðurlanda. 4 vols. [Reykjavík]: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan.
- 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.
- Hálf 1981 = Seelow, Hubert, ed. 1981. Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka. RSÁM 20. Reykjavík: Stofnun Árna Magnússonar.
- Hálf 1864 = Bugge, Sophus, ed. 1864. Saga af Hálfi ok Hálfsrekkum. Norrøne Skrifter af sagnhistorisk Indhold 1. Christiania (Oslo): Det Nordiske Oldskriftselskab.
- Hálf 1909 = Andrews, A. Le Roy, ed. 1909. Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka. ASB 14. Halle: Niemeyer.
- Saxo 2015 = Friis-Jensen, Karsten, ed. 2015. Saxo Grammaticus: Gesta Danorum: The History of the Danes. Trans. Peter Fisher. Oxford Medieval Texts. 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon.
- Internal references
- Not published: do not cite (RunVI)
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