Herv Lv 4VIII (Heiðr 17)
Hannah Burrows (ed.) 2017, ‘Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks 17 (Hervǫr, Lausavísur 4)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 375.
Bú ‘Dress’
[1] Bú þú: breiða corrected from beiða in the hand of JR R715ˣ
notes
[1] bú þú ‘dress’: The annotator of R715ˣ, Jón Rugman, has altered the ms.’s beiða ‘ask’, which makes no sense in the context, to breiða ‘broad’, apparently attempting to connect it to ólpu ‘cloak’ in the previous stanza by demarcating the end of the stanza (as he sees it) with a vertical line. He then inserts Ertu ‘You are’ to begin the present stanza.
þú ‘’
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þú (pron.; °gen. þín, dat. þér, acc. þik): you
[1] Bú þú: breiða corrected from beiða in the hand of JR R715ˣ
notes
[1] bú þú ‘dress’: The annotator of R715ˣ, Jón Rugman, has altered the ms.’s beiða ‘ask’, which makes no sense in the context, to breiða ‘broad’, apparently attempting to connect it to ólpu ‘cloak’ in the previous stanza by demarcating the end of the stanza (as he sees it) with a vertical line. He then inserts Ertu ‘You are’ to begin the present stanza.
at ‘in’
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3. at (prep.): at, to
[1] at: Ertu at corrected from ‘at’ in the hand of JR R715ˣ
öllu ‘all respects’
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allr (adj.): all
sem ‘as’
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sem (conj.): as, which
[2] sem: of sem corrected from sem in the margin in the hand of JR R715ˣ
hraðast ‘as quickly’
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hraðr (adj.; °compar. -ari, superl. -astr): [swift, fast]
[2] hraðast: so R715ˣ, ‘hataz’ 2845
notes
[2] hraðast ‘as quickly as you can’: Lit. ‘quickest’. The long-line lacks alliteration and the text is not sound, 2845 appearing to read hvatast (so, e.g. Heiðr 1924, 16 n. 3; Skj A) though with an ambiguous abbreviation (Heiðr 1873, 313 n. 14); the meaning is similar. Rafn (FSN 1, 432) and Tolkien (Heiðr 1960, 11) take the reading bráðast, also implying ‘speed, haste’, from a C17th ms., AM 345 4°ˣ. This, however, stems from a copy of 203ˣ and has no independent textual value (Heiðr 1924, xliv-xlv); the reading may be a scribal conjecture to restore alliteration, but results in a hypermetrical line. Skj B, Skald and Edd. Min., following Bugge (Heiðr 1873, 313), opt for bezt ‘best’. Andrews (1920, 96) suggests that bú ‘prepare’ in l. 1 may be where the corruption lies, but does not suggest an alternative.
sann ‘truly’
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2. sannr (adj.; °-an; compar. -ari, superl. -astr): true < sannfróðr (adj.)
notes
[3] sannfróð ‘truly-wise’: The emendation was first suggested by Ettmüller (1861, 32), and has since been followed by most other eds (the earlier FSN 1, 432 has sannprúð ‘truly-magnificent’). Bugge (Heiðr 1873, 313) suggests sannreynd ‘truly-proved’, perhaps because the claim of Sváfa’s infidelity which prompted Hervǫr’s actions in this group of stanzas has been invalidated (Heiðr 14).
fróð ‘wise’
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fróðr (adj.; °compar. -ari, superl. -astr): wise < sannfróðr (adj.)
[3] ‑fróð: ‑fund 2845, ‑find R715ˣ
notes
[3] sannfróð ‘truly-wise’: The emendation was first suggested by Ettmüller (1861, 32), and has since been followed by most other eds (the earlier FSN 1, 432 has sannprúð ‘truly-magnificent’). Bugge (Heiðr 1873, 313) suggests sannreynd ‘truly-proved’, perhaps because the claim of Sváfa’s infidelity which prompted Hervǫr’s actions in this group of stanzas has been invalidated (Heiðr 14).
kona ‘woman’
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kona (noun f.; °-u; -ur/-r(KlmA1980 116¹¹), gen. pl. kvenna/kvinna): woman
sem ‘as’
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sem (conj.): as, which
þú ‘you’
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þú (pron.; °gen. þín, dat. þér, acc. þik): you
son ‘a son’
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sonr (noun m.; °-ar, dat. syni; synir, acc. sonu, syni): son
notes
[4] myndir ‘would’: Emended to the pret. subj. form, as do Skj B and Skald; mundir, retained by Heiðr 1960 among others, is pret. indic.
Satt ‘The truth’
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2. sannr (adj.; °-an; compar. -ari, superl. -astr): true
[5] Satt: so R715ˣ, fátt 2845
eitt ‘alone’
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2. einn (pron.; °decl. cf. einn num.): one, alone
mun ‘will’
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munu (verb): will, must
mér ‘to me’
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ek (pron.; °mín, dat. mér, acc. mik): I, me
í ‘in’
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í (prep.): in, into
svefn ‘a dream’
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svefn (noun m.; °-s, dat. -i; -ar): sleep
bera ‘be brought’
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3. bera (verb; °berr; bar, báru; borinn): bear, carry
fæ ‘get’
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2. fá (verb; °fǽr; fekk, fengu; fenginn): get, receive
ek ‘I’
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ek (pron.; °mín, dat. mér, acc. mik): I, me
ynði ‘happiness’
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ynði (noun n.; °-s): pleasure
[8] ynði it: ‘nid hid’ corrected from ‘[…]d[…]’ in the hand of JR R715ˣ
it ‘in the’
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2. inn (art.): the
[8] ynði it: ‘nid hid’ corrected from ‘[…]d[…]’ in the hand of JR R715ˣ
næsta ‘near future’
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nærri (adj. comp.; °superl. nǽstr): near, nearer, next
Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses
Hervǫr goes to speak to her mother, named elsewhere in the R and U redactions as Sváfa; see Note to Herv Lv 8/4 (Heiðr 25).
[1-2]: Ms. R715ˣ reads (after alteration in l. 2): Ertu at öllu | of sem hraðast ‘You are in all things too hasty’. Verelius (Heiðr 1672, 86), who accepts this reading, attributes this and the following two lines to the jarl, and only the second helmingr to Hervǫr, presumably on grounds of sense; there is no ms. support for this. — [7-8]: Although Heiðr 13-17 are omitted in Hb, these lines are echoed in the prose as the direct speech of Hervǫr: brott vil ek heðan, því at ekki fæ ek hér ynði ‘I wish to go away from here, because I will not get happiness here’. — [8]: Jón Rugman’s attempts to emend the text in R715ˣ (apparently to nið it næsta ‘a son in the near future’) have partially obscured the original reading, but it was likely close to the reading of 2845 (Heiðr 1924 suggests ‘indit’). On the senses of næri, næstr, see NN §2831.
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