Marm Lv 4^VIII (Hálf 9)

Hefir sér á höfði         hjálm upp spenntan,
herkuml harðligt         Heðins af létta.
Skammt mun sveinum         — sé þat, sem er —
hildar at bíða         hér á ferli.

Hefir sér á höfði upp spenntan hjálm {harðligt herkuml Heðins}, af létta. Sveinum mun skammt at bíða hildar hér á ferli; sé þat, sem er.

On her head she has clasped with ease a helmet, {the hard war token of Heðinn <legendary hero>} [HELMET]. The lads will have to wait a short time for war to be on its way here. I see it as it is.

Mss: 2845(34r) (Hálf)

Editions: Skj AII, 258, Skj BII, 277-8, Skald II, 145; Hálf 1864, 10, Hálf 1909, 84-5, FSGJ 2, 103, Hálf 1981, 114, 174-5; Edd. Min. 91.

Notes: [3-4] harðligt herkuml Heðins ‘the hard war token of Heðinn <legendary hero> [HELMET]’: The meaning of herkum(b)l is ‘war token’ (Fritzner: herkuml), ‘helmet’ (LP: herkum(b)l). Herkuml Heðins ‘the war token of Heðinn’ has the character of a kenning, although not listed by Meissner as such. Meissner does, however, mention herkumbl as a heiti for ‘helmet’, and lists kennings in which a famous hero’s headgear means ‘helmet’. In Ásm 10/7, where the same expression is used in the pl., herkumbl harðlig ‘hard war tokens’, its meaning is clearly ‘wounds’, but even in this instance it is closely associated with a helmet. — [4] af létta ‘with ease’: Andrews (Hálf 1909, 84-5) suggests á fléttum ‘on (her) plaits’, which would be a nice parallel to á höfði in l. 1 and is very close to the ms. reading. Bugge (Hálf 1864, 10) and Wimmer (1875, 200) think that the reading of l. 4 must have been a version of a Hildr-kenning, like Heðins of leika ‘Heðinn’s playmate’, i.e. Hildr; so do Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) and Heusler and Ranisch (cf. Heðins of beðja ‘Heðinn’s bed-mate’ Edd. Min.). Patzig (1924) explains af létta by presupposing the existence of an otherwise unknown f. noun aflétta, meaning ‘obliging female companion’, derived from the adj. afléttr ‘willing (to give things away)’ (see Fritzner: afléttr).

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. Meissner = Meissner, Rudolf. 1921. Die Kenningar der Skalden: Ein Beitrag zur skaldischen Poetik. Rheinische Beiträge und Hülfsbücher zur germanischen Philologie und Volkskunde 1. Bonn and Leipzig: Schroeder. Rpt. 1984. Hildesheim etc.: Olms.
5. 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.
6. Fritzner = Fritzner, Johan. 1883-96. Ordbog over det gamle norske sprog. 3 vols. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske forlagsforening. 4th edn. Rpt. 1973. Oslo etc.: Universitetsforlaget.
7. FSGJ = Guðni Jónsson, ed. 1954. Fornaldar sögur norðurlanda. 4 vols. [Reykjavík]: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan.
8. 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.
9. Hálf 1981 = Seelow, Hubert, ed. 1981. Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka. RSÁM 20. Reykjavík: Stofnun Árna Magnússonar.
10. Hálf 1864 = Bugge, Sophus, ed. 1864. Saga af Hálfi ok Hálfsrekkum. Norrøne Skrifter af sagnhistorisk Indhold 1. Christiania (Oslo): Det Nordiske Oldskriftselskab.
11. Hálf 1909 = Andrews, A. Le Roy, ed. 1909. Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka. ASB 14. Halle: Niemeyer.
12. Patzig, Hermann. 1924. ‘Zum text der Eddica Minora’. ZDA 61, 13-16.
13. Wimmer, Ludvig F. A. 1875. ‘Store Rygbjærg-Stenen’. ÅNOH, 188-208.
14. Internal references
15. Peter Jorgensen (ed.) 2017, ‘Ásmundar saga kappabana 10 (Ásmundr kappabana, Lausavísur 4)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 23.