Hannah Burrows (ed.) 2017, ‘Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks 101 (Humli konungr, Lausavísur 2)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 473.
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velja (verb): choose
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þú (pron.; °gen. þín, dat. þér, acc. þik): you
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Hlǫðr (noun m.): Hlǫðr
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herlið (noun n.): [a war-host, troop]
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3. ok (conj.): and, but; also
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2. heyja (verb): fight, wage (battle)
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með (prep.): with
[5] með tólfvetra mengi ‘with a multitude of twelve-year-olds’: Both mss indicate the word gömlu ‘old’ after tólfvetra (lit. ‘of twelve years’), but this has been deleted by means of underlining in 203ˣ. It makes an already hypermetrical line more so and is not required for sense.
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tolf (num. cardinal): twelve < tolfvetra (adj.)
[5] með tólfvetra mengi ‘with a multitude of twelve-year-olds’: Both mss indicate the word gömlu ‘old’ after tólfvetra (lit. ‘of twelve years’), but this has been deleted by means of underlining in 203ˣ. It makes an already hypermetrical line more so and is not required for sense.
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vetr (noun m.; °vetrar/vetrs(HómHauksb³ 173²³), dat. vetri; vetr): winter < tolfvetra (adj.)
[5] ‑vetra: vetra corrected from vetra gömlu with gömlu underlined 203ˣ, ‘var goml’ R715ˣ
[5] með tólfvetra mengi ‘with a multitude of twelve-year-olds’: Both mss indicate the word gömlu ‘old’ after tólfvetra (lit. ‘of twelve years’), but this has been deleted by means of underlining in 203ˣ. It makes an already hypermetrical line more so and is not required for sense.
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mengi (noun n.): multitude, crowd
[5] mengi: ‘mein̄ge’ 203ˣ, ‘m̄n̄gi’ R715ˣ
[5] með tólfvetra mengi ‘with a multitude of twelve-year-olds’: Both mss indicate the word gömlu ‘old’ after tólfvetra (lit. ‘of twelve years’), but this has been deleted by means of underlining in 203ˣ. It makes an already hypermetrical line more so and is not required for sense.
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3. ok (conj.): and, but; also
[6] ok [með] tvævetrum [mengi] fola ‘and [with] a two-year-old [multitude] of foals’: The syntax of this line depends on understanding the noun mengi ‘multitude’ (dat.) from l. 5, here, however, qualified by the adj. tvævetrum ‘two-year-old’ (also dat.), with both tólfvetra ‘of twelve-year-olds’ and fola ‘of foals’ in the gen. pl.
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tvívetr (adj.): [two-year-old]
[6] ok [með] tvævetrum [mengi] fola ‘and [with] a two-year-old [multitude] of foals’: The syntax of this line depends on understanding the noun mengi ‘multitude’ (dat.) from l. 5, here, however, qualified by the adj. tvævetrum ‘two-year-old’ (also dat.), with both tólfvetra ‘of twelve-year-olds’ and fola ‘of foals’ in the gen. pl.
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foli (noun m.)
[6] ok [með] tvævetrum [mengi] fola ‘and [with] a two-year-old [multitude] of foals’: The syntax of this line depends on understanding the noun mengi ‘multitude’ (dat.) from l. 5, here, however, qualified by the adj. tvævetrum ‘two-year-old’ (also dat.), with both tólfvetra ‘of twelve-year-olds’ and fola ‘of foals’ in the gen. pl.
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svá (adv.): so, thus
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skulu (verb): shall, should, must
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herr (noun m.; °-s/-jar, dat. -; -jar, gen. -ja/herra): army, host
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[3-4]: Previous eds have made various conjectural attempts at alliteration across these lines. Jón Helgason (1967, 232) highlights some other examples of this alliterative pattern in fornyrðislag, but only from later poetry. — [5-6]: The implication is that absolutely all resources will be drawn on, with warriors and horses utilised from the youngest possible age. Foote and Wilson (1980, 116) suggest ‘there are some signs that in an earlier period [than extant written laws] boys of twelve were accepted as full-grown members of society’.
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