Hróksv Hrkv 25VIII (Hálf 75)
Hubert Seelow (ed.) 2017, ‘Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka 75 (Hrókr inn svarti, Hrókskviða 25)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 362.
text and translation
Ván væri mér vitra manna,
snarpra seggja, ef vér saman ættum,
því at ek fann ekki mey margsvinnari
hvergi landa en Haka dóttur.
Væri mér ván vitra manna, snarpra seggja, ef vér ættum saman, því at ek fann ekki margsvinnari mey hvergi landa en {dóttur Haka}.
‘I would expect wise people, smart men, if we had offspring together, for I did not find a more intelligent girl in any country than the daughter of Haki [= Brynhildr]. ’
notes and context
Hrókr’s expectation of wise and smart descendants from a marriage with Brynhildr is doubtless to be understood in the light of the intelligence conveyed in the saga prose (Hálf 1981, ch. 11, 197, ll. 11-13) that dóttir Hróks ins svarta ok Brynhildar var Gunnlǫð, móðir Hrómundar Gripssonar ‘the daughter of Hrókr the Black and Brynhildr was Gunnlǫð, the mother of Hrómundr Gripsson’. Hrómundr Gripsson is mentioned in a number of Old Icelandic texts (for details, see Hálf 1909, 131-2 n. 19) and was the subject of a saga, now lost in its medieval form, which was performed at a wedding at Reykjahólar in 1119 (Brown 1952, 18). According to Anon Mhkv 7/4III, Hrómundr þótti garpr ok slœgr ‘Hrómundr seemed bold and cunning’. — [5]: As it stands, this line is unmetrical, though it could be emended to give a metrical line (e.g. þvít mey fannkat or þvít mey fannk ei).
sources
Text is based on reconstruction from the base text and variant apparatus and may contain alternative spellings and other normalisations not visible in the manuscript text. Transcriptions may not have been checked and should not be cited.
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GKS 2845 4° (2845) — 38v/21 - 38v/23
imagesVon ǀ uærí mer uittra manna snarpra seggia ef uær saman ættum þuiat eg fan ekki ǀ mey marg suínarí huergi landa en haka dottur
(HS)
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