Angantýr Lv 6^VIII (Heiðr 37)

Kveðkat ek þik, mær ung,         mönnum líka,
er þú um hauga         hvarfar á nóttum
gröfnum geiri         ok með Gota málmi,
hjálmi ok með brynju,         fyrir hallar dyrr.

Ek kveðkat þik, ung mær, líka mönnum, er þú hvarfar um hauga á nóttum gröfnum geiri ok með málmi Gota, hjálmi ok með brynju, fyrir dyrr hallar.

I would not declare you, young girl, [to be] like humans, when you wander around the mounds at night, with engraved spear and with the metal of the Goths, with helmet and with mail-shirt, before the doors of the hall.

Mss: Hb(74r), R715ˣ(14r) (Heiðr)

Readings: [1] Kveðkat: Kveð R715ˣ;    þik: þik R715ˣ    [3] er þú um: ‘e[…] vm’ with ‘þú’ in the margin R715ˣ    [4] hvarfar: ‘huarlar’ R715ˣ    [6] ok: om. R715ˣ    [7] hjálmi: hjálm R715ˣ;    með: om. R715ˣ

Editions: Skj AII, 247-8, Skj BII, 267, Skald II, 139; Heiðr 1672, 93, FSN 1, 439, 521, Heiðr 1873, 218-19, Heiðr 1924, 28, 110, Heiðr 1960, 78; Edd. Min. 18.

Notes: [2] mönnum ‘humans’: The Old Norse masculine noun refers both to males specifically, perhaps here playing on the fact that Hervǫr is disguised as a man, and to humankind in general, implying there is something unnatural about her activities; cf. her response (referring to herself as mennskr maðr ‘human being’) in the following stanza. — [5-7]: The content of these lines is similar to Heiðr 26/5-8, although there is no direct verbal echo. — [6] málmi Gota ‘the metal of the Goths’: Málmr can be used to denote ‘sword’ in particular (LP) and is used as a heiti for ‘sword’ in Þul Sverða 3/5^III. It can also denote weapons or armour more generally, as would fit the context here. Hervǫr is of Gothic descent on her father’s side, and is hence equipped with her ancestral possessions. — [8] hallar ‘of the hall’: Refers to Angantýr’s burial mound; cf. Heiðr 14/7 and Note.

References

1. Bibliography
2. FSN = Rafn, Carl Christian, ed. 1829-30. Fornaldar sögur nordrlanda. 3 vols. Copenhagen: Popp.
3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 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. Heiðr 1672 = Verelius, Olaus, ed. 1672. Hervarar Saga på Gammel Gotska. Uppsala: Curio.
6. Heiðr 1924 = Jón Helgason, ed. 1924. Heiðreks saga. Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks konungs. SUGNL 48. Copenhagen: Jørgensen.
7. Heiðr 1960 = Tolkien, Christopher, ed. and trans. 1960. Saga Heiðreks konungs ins vitra / The Saga of King Heidrek the Wise. Nelson Icelandic Texts. London etc.: Nelson.
8. Heiðr 1873 = Bugge, Sophus, ed. 1873. Hervarar saga ok Heidreks. Det Norske oldskriftselskabs samlinger 17. Christiania (Oslo): Brøgger.
9. Internal references
10. Hannah Burrows (ed.) 2017, ‘Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks 73 (Gestumblindi, Heiðreks gátur 26)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 440.
11. Hannah Burrows (ed.) 2017, ‘Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks 61 (Gestumblindi, Heiðreks gátur 14)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 424.
12. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Sverða heiti 3’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 794.