AngH Lv 11^VIII (Heiðr 119)

Bölvat er okkr, bróðir;         bani em ek þinn orðinn;
þat mun æ uppi;         illr er dómr norna!

Bölvat er okkr, bróðir; ek em orðinn bani þinn; þat mun æ uppi; dómr norna er illr!

We are cursed, brother; I have become your slayer; that will always be remembered; the judgement of the norns is evil!

Mss: 203ˣ(112v), R715ˣ(36r) (Heiðr)

Readings: [3] æ: enn 203ˣ, R715ˣ    [4] norna: norna corrected from ‘[…]rna’ (struck through) in another hand R715ˣ

Editions: Skj AII, 256, Skj BII, 276, Skald II, 144; Heiðr 1672, 176-7, FSN 1, 508, Heiðr 1873, 289, Heiðr 1924, 155, FSGJ 2, 67, Heiðr 1960, 58 (Heiðr); Edd. Min. 12, NK 312, ÍF Edd. II, 430.

Context: The stanza is introduced (Heiðr 1960, 58), Ok enn kvað hann ‘and he said again’.

Notes: [1] bölvat er okkr ‘we are cursed’: An impersonal construction with the p. p. of bǫlva ‘curse’, the 3rd pers. sg. pres. indic. of vera ‘be’ and the acc./dat. dual pers. pron. — [2]: Internecine slaughter is frequently mentioned in medieval sources as particularly heinous, and is the first mentioned catastrophe for the human world at Ragnarǫk in Vsp 45/1-2. The present conflict is foreshadowed in Heiðr 34 and 43, in which Angantýr Arngrímsson warns Hervǫr that the cursed sword Tyrfingr will spilla allri ætt þinni ‘destroy all your family’. Angantýr and Hlǫðr Heiðrekssynir are Hervǫr’s grandsons. — [3] æ ‘always’: Both mss read enn ‘yet, still’. The emendation was first made by Bugge (Heiðr 1873) and has been followed by all subsequent eds except NK and ÍF Edd. The same line is found in Vsp 16/5, with æ in the Hb text, simply þat mun uppi ‘that will be remembered’ in Codex Regius (NK 4 and n.). Cf. also Anon Nkt 9/5-6^II Þess mun æ | uppi lengi ‘[Haraldr’s name] will be remembered for a very long time’. — [4]: Both mss leave a blank space to the end of the ms. line after this stanza, and in 203ˣ l. 4 is written in slightly larger letters, as if perhaps written in later, though it is in the scribal hand. — [4] norna ‘of the norns’: The norns are supernatural females representing fate or destiny in Old Norse mythology; cf. Hamð 30/5-6 (NK 274) qveld lifir maðr ecci | eptir qvið norna ‘a person doesn’t live for a night after the norns’ decree’. They need not always signify ill fate, as they do in the present stanza: Gylf (SnE 2005, 18) explains that there are both malevolent norns, who deal out unfortunate lives, and good norns, who shape good lives.

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. Heiðr 1672 = Verelius, Olaus, ed. 1672. Hervarar Saga på Gammel Gotska. Uppsala: Curio.
6. FSGJ = Guðni Jónsson, ed. 1954. Fornaldar sögur norðurlanda. 4 vols. [Reykjavík]: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan.
7. SnE 2005 = Snorri Sturluson. 2005. Edda: Prologue and Gylfaginning. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
8. Heiðr 1924 = Jón Helgason, ed. 1924. Heiðreks saga. Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks konungs. SUGNL 48. Copenhagen: Jørgensen.
9. 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.
10. Heiðr 1873 = Bugge, Sophus, ed. 1873. Hervarar saga ok Heidreks. Det Norske oldskriftselskabs samlinger 17. Christiania (Oslo): Brøgger.
11. Internal references
12. 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 2 May 2024)
13. Hannah Burrows (ed.) 2017, ‘Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks 81 (Gestumblindi, Heiðreks gátur 34)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 448.
14. (forthcoming), ‘ Snorri Sturluson, Gylfaginning’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=113> (accessed 2 May 2024)
15. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Anonymous Poems, Nóregs konungatal 9’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 768.
16. Not published: do not cite ()
17. Not published: do not cite ()