Anon (Heiðr) 7^VIII (Heiðr 88)

Hlöðr var þar borinn         í Húnalandi
saxi ok með sverði,         síðri brynju,
hjálmi hringreifðum,         hvössum mæki,
mari veltömum         á mörk inni helgu.

Hlöðr var borinn þar í Húnalandi með saxi ok sverði, síðri brynju, hringreifðum hjálmi, hvössum mæki, mari veltömum á inni helgu mörk.

Hlǫðr was born there in the land of the Huns with short-sword and with sword, with long mailcoat, with ring-adorned helmet, with sharp sword, with a horse well tamed in the holy forest.

Mss: 2845(73r) (Heiðr)

Readings: [6] hvössum: ‘hꜹssum’ 2845

Editions: Skj AII, 250, Skj BII, 270, Skald II, 141, NN §1204C; FSN 1, 491, Heiðr 1873, 266, Heiðr 1924, 85-6, FSGJ 2, 53, Heiðr 1960, 46-7 (Heiðr); Edd. Min. 1, NK 302, ÍF Edd. II, 418.

Context: King Heiðrekr’s second son, Hlǫðr, is introduced. The prose rationalises the stanza (Heiðr 1960, 46): þat var fornt mál þann tíma, at maðr væri borinn með vápnum eða hestum ‘it was an old saying at that time, that a man was born with weapons or horses’, explaining: þat var til þess haft, at þat var mælt um þau vápn, er þá váru gǫr þann tíma, er maðrinn var fœddr, svá ok fé, kykvendi, yxn eða hestar, ef þat var þá fœtt; ok var þat allt fœrt saman til virðingar tignum mǫnnum ‘it was for this reason, that it was said about those weapons which were made at the time a man was born, and likewise of animals, cattle, oxen or horses, if they were born then; and that was all brought together to honour noble men’. The stanza is introduced sem hér segir um Hlǫð Heiðreksson ‘as it says here about Hlǫðr Heiðreksson’.

Notes: [1-4]: Kock (NN §1204C) highlights the alternation between the use of the dat. instr. by itself (saxi ‘with short-sword’, síðri brynju ‘with long mailcoat’; also attributes in ll. 5-7) and with the preposition með ‘with’ in l. 3. A similar effect occurs in HlǫðH Lv 2/7-12 (Heiðr 94). — [1] Hlöðr ‘Hlǫðr’: As a common noun the name means ‘destroyer, slayer’ (LP: hlǫðr; AEW: hlǫðr 1). — [3-8]: See Note to Heiðr 94/3-8. — [3-6]: These lines, listing Hlǫðr’s weaponry, are reminiscent of Herv Lv 9/5-8 (Heiðr 26), which list Hervǫr’s. — [3] saxi ‘with short-sword’: The sax was a short, single-edged sword (see Falk 1914b, 9-13). — [5] hringreifðum ‘ring-adorned’: Hap. leg. Possibly refers to a chain-mail cheek and neck guard such as found on the seventh-century helmet Valsgärde 6 (for description see Arwidsson 1934) or, probably, on the tenth-century helmet from Gjermundbu, Norway (Grieg 1947, 3-4), the only Viking-Age helmet so far found in Scandinavia. — [6]: The same half-line, except in the acc. case, occurs as Herv Lv 8/6 and 16/3 (Heiðr 25 and 40). Exactly what kind of sword was a mækir is unclear (Falk 1914b, 14-16). — [8]: Probably a reference to Myrkviðr, which is referred to as því inu mæta hrísi ‘that excellent forest’ in Heiðr 94/13-14 (on the p. n. see Note to those lines).

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. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. AEW = Vries, Jan de. 1962. Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 2nd rev. edn. Rpt. 1977. Leiden: Brill.
6. 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.
7. NK = Neckel, Gustav and Hans Kuhn (1899), eds. 1983. Edda: Die Lieder des Codex Regius nebst verwandten Denkmälern. 2 vols. I: Text. 5th edn. Heidelberg: Winter.
8. Falk, Hjalmar. 1914b. Altnordische Waffenkunde. Videnskapsselskapets skrifter, II. Hist.-filos. kl. 1914, 6. Kristiania (Oslo): Dybwad.
9. FSGJ = Guðni Jónsson, ed. 1954. Fornaldar sögur norðurlanda. 4 vols. [Reykjavík]: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan.
10. Heiðr 1924 = Jón Helgason, ed. 1924. Heiðreks saga. Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks konungs. SUGNL 48. Copenhagen: Jørgensen.
11. 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.
12. Arwidsson, Greta. 1934. ‘A New Scandinavian Form of Helmet from the Vendel Time’. Acta Archaeologica 5, 243-57.
13. Grieg, Sigurd. 1947. Gjermundbufunnet. En hövdingegrav fra 900-årene fra Ringerike. Norske Oldfunn 8. Oslo: Universitets Oldsaksamling.
14. Heiðr 1873 = Bugge, Sophus, ed. 1873. Hervarar saga ok Heidreks. Det Norske oldskriftselskabs samlinger 17. Christiania (Oslo): Brøgger.
15. Internal references
16. 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 367. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=23> (accessed 18 April 2024)
17. Hannah Burrows (ed.) 2017, ‘Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks 72 (Gestumblindi, Heiðreks gátur 25)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 438.
18. 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.
19. Not published: do not cite (HlǫðH^VIII)
20. Hannah Burrows (ed.) 2017, ‘Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks 25 (Hervǫr, Lausavísur 8)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 386.
21. 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.
22. Hannah Burrows (ed.) 2017, ‘Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks 94 (Hlǫðr Heiðreksson, Lausavísur 2)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 463.