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Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Ormarr Lv 4VIII (Heiðr 105)

Hannah Burrows (ed.) 2017, ‘Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks 105 (Ormarr, Lausavísur 4)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 476.

OrmarrLausavísur
34

Léttari gerðiz hon at böð*         en við biðil ræða,
eða í bekk at fara         at brúðargangi.

Hon gerðiz léttari at böð* en ræða við biðil, eða at fara í bekk at brúðargangi.

She became more at ease with battle than with talking with a suitor, or with going to the bench in the bridal procession.

Mss: 203ˣ(111v), R715ˣ(34r) (Heiðr)

Readings: [1] Léttari: ‘Littare’ 203ˣ, om. R715ˣ;    at: so R715ˣ, á 203ˣ;    böð*: hauðri 203ˣ, ‘badni’ R715ˣ    [3] eða í bekk at fara: ‘ad leik j sar̄a’ R715ˣ    [4] at: en at R715ˣ;    brúðar‑: lundr R715ˣ;    ‑gangi: gengu R715ˣ

Editions: Skj AII, 254, Skj BII, 274, Skald II, 143, FF §19; Heiðr 1672, 173, FSN 1, 499-500, Heiðr 1873, 280, Heiðr 1924, 150, FSGJ 2, 62, Heiðr 1960, 54 (Heiðr); Edd. Min. 8, NK 308, ÍF Edd. II, 426.

Context: The stanza follows directly on from the previous one.

Notes: [1]: ÍF Edd. emends to lútari ‘more inclined’. — [3-4]: The mss have different readings here, and neither version is completely satisfactory. Kock (Skald; FF §19), possibly following Heiðr 1672 (which however does not offer a translation), emends R715ˣ’s problematic reading to ad leiki sara | en ad lundar geingu ‘to the play of wounds [BATTLE], than to the journey to the grove’. NK also follows R715ˣ, emending to at leic ísarna | enn at lundar gǫngo ‘to the play of irons [BATTLE], than to the journey to the grove’. Either conjectured battle-kenning would be the only kenning in the group of stanzas about the Huns and Goths, though that fact does not make it an impossible occurrence here, especially given the relative infrequency of kennings in non-skaldic metres. — [4] brúðargangi ‘the bridal procession’: Though Tolkien (Heiðr 1960, 54 n. 2) confidently explains, ‘the brúðargangr was the procession of the bride and ladies from the brúðarhús (bride’s chamber) to the stofa [main room] ... for the feast’, the word is not attested in Old Norse (either as a cpd or its separate components, cf. ONP: brúðr), though it is in later Icelandic (OHá: brúðargangur).

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. 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.
  5. ONP = Degnbol, Helle et al., eds. 1989-. A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose / Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog. 1-. Copenhagen: The Arnamagnæan Commission.
  6. Heiðr 1672 = Verelius, Olaus, ed. 1672. Hervarar Saga på Gammel Gotska. Uppsala: Curio.
  7. FSGJ = Guðni Jónsson, ed. 1954. Fornaldar sögur norðurlanda. 4 vols. [Reykjavík]: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan.
  8. OHá = Orðabók Háskólans.
  9. Heiðr 1924 = Jón Helgason, ed. 1924. Heiðreks saga. Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks konungs. SUGNL 48. Copenhagen: Jørgensen.
  10. FF = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1922. Fornjermansk forskning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 18:1. Lund: Gleerup.
  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. Heiðr 1873 = Bugge, Sophus, ed. 1873. Hervarar saga ok Heidreks. Det Norske oldskriftselskabs samlinger 17. Christiania (Oslo): Brøgger.
  13. Internal references
  14. 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 29 March 2024)
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