Hannah Burrows (ed.) 2017, ‘Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks 26 (Hervǫr, Lausavísur 9)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 387.
Hervarðr, Hjörvarðr, Hrani, Angantýr,
vek ek yðr alla undir viðar rótum,
hjálmi ok með brynju, hvössu sverði,
rönd ok með reiði, roðnum geiri.
Hervarðr, Hjörvarðr, Hrani, Angantýr, ek vek yðr alla undir rótum viðar, hjálmi ok með brynju, hvössu sverði, rönd ok með reiði, roðnum geiri.
Hervarðr, Hjǫrvarðr, Hrani, Angantýr, I wake you all under the roots of the tree, with helmet and with mail-shirt, with sharp sword, with shield and with war-gear, with decorated spear.
Mss: Hb(74r), 2845(65r), R715ˣ(13r) (Heiðr)
Readings: [1] Hervarðr: so 2845, Hervaðr ok Hb, ‘hieruardur og’ R715ˣ [2] Hrani: so 2845, ‘hran’ Hb, ‘hrani og’ R715ˣ [3] vek: so 2845, R715ˣ, vel Hb [5] hjálmi: með hjálmi corrected from hjálmi in the hand of JR R715ˣ; með: om. R715ˣ; brynju: brynjum 2845 [6] hvössu: so R715ˣ, ‘hvorsv’ Hb, ‘hꜹsv’ 2845 [7] reiði: om. 2845, reiða corrected from reiði in the hand of JR R715ˣ
Editions: Skj AII, 245, Skj BII, 265, Skald II, 138, NN §3179; Heiðr 1672, 91, FSN 1, 434, 519-20, Heiðr 1873, 214-15, 316, Heiðr 1924, 22-3, 107-8, FSGJ 2, 15-16, Heiðr 1960, 14; Edd. Min. 15.
Notes: [1-2] Hervarðr, Hjörvarðr, Hrani, Angantýr ‘Hervarðr, Hjǫrvarðr, Hrani, Angantýr’: The four eldest of the sons of Arngrímr. These lines are repeated at the beginning of Heiðr 28 and also occur in Ǫrv 5/1-2. — [3] yðr alla ‘you all’: Ǫrv ch. 30 (Ǫrv 1888, 106) states that the brothers were buried all together under one mound. — [4]: A similar line occurs in Skí 35/5. — [5-8]: These lines are more likely to refer to Hervǫr herself (cf. Heiðr 37/5-8) than to the sons of Arngrímr, though either is possible since we are told that the latter were buried með ǫllum vápnum (Heiðr 1960, 10) ‘with all their weapons’. Cf. Heiðr 88, which lists the weapons of Hervǫr’s grandson, Hlǫðr Heiðreksson, with some similarity. — [8] roðnum ‘decorated’: Probably a variant form, required for alliteration, of hroðinn, p. p. of hrjóða, rather than roðinn ‘reddened, smeared with blood, bleeding’ (p. p. of rjóða). Cf. LP (1860): hrjóða. Hrjóða usually means ‘clear, empty (of ships)’, but could apparently also imply ‘decorate, adorn, paint’, cf. réð hrjóða ‘painted’ ÞjóðA Magnfl 18/5II (and see Note there); hroðit sigli, probably ‘adorned brooch’ Sigsk 49/6 (NK 215); and the cpd gullroðinn ‘gilt’ (see Fritzner: gullroðinn). Cf. also the Old English p. p. hroden ‘adorned’, e.g. hroden hildecumbor ‘adorned battle-banner’, Beowulf l. 1022 (Beowulf 2008, 36). Though it is conventional in Old Norse poetry to describe weapons reddened with blood, the meaning ‘decorated’ accords better with Heiðr 37/5, where Hervǫr is described with grafinn geirr ‘graven spear’, and makes better sense, since at this point in the saga she has not recently been involved in fighting or battle.
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