Ýma Lv 1^VIII (HjǪ 12)

Illa kveðr þú til mín;         því muntu, inn ungi,
fyrstr hafðr á seyði         af seggjum þínum.
Má sjá in hoska mær         þerra sína ljósa lokka
        með gullofnum dúki.

Kveðr þú illa til mín; því muntu, inn ungi, hafðr á seyði fyrstr af seggjum þínum. In hoska mær má sjá þerra sína ljósa lokka með gullofnum dúki.

You speak ill to me; thus you, young one, will be put on the fire first of your men. The wise maid can be seen to dry her bright locks with a gold-woven cloth.

Mss: 109a IIIˣ(269v), papp6ˣ(50r), ÍBR5ˣ(90) (HjǪ)

Readings: [5] sjá: sú ÍBR5ˣ    [7] gullofnum: ‘gullfonum’ papp6ˣ

Editions: Skj AII, 335, Skj BII, 356, Skald II, 192; HjǪ 1720, 36, FSN 3, 480-1, FSGJ 4, 205-6, HjǪ 1970, 30, 87, 145.

Context: Ýma, one of the sea-ogresses, threatens Hjálmþér when he speaks insultingly of her appearance. According to the prose text, she had a gold-woven cloth on her lap and combed her hair with a golden comb.

Notes: [All]: The first four lines of this stanza are málaháttr, while ll. 5-7 approximate to ljóðaháttr in structure but lack the required alliteration. In ÍBR5ˣ the poetry is usually written in a bolded hand, but here the first line is presented in the manner of the prose text. — [2]: This line has been modified by most eds, even though it is regular Type A* málaháttr. Skj B and Skald have því enn ungi munt, while FSGJ reads því at, inn ungi, munt. — [3] á seyði ‘on the fire’: Lit. ‘on the cooking fire’; cf. HjǪ 19/2. A seyðir was an earth oven, in which heated stones were used to cook meat. — [5] hoska ‘wise’: The reading of all mss. A number of eds, including Skj B, Skald and FSGJ, emend to glaða ‘cheerful, glad’, presumably to make ll. 5-6 alliterate, but glaða is both unmetrical and inappropriate in reference to a sea-ogress who has just been insulted. — [7] með ‘with’: Present in all mss, but removed by Skj B and Skald though the line is not unmetrical.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
3. FSN = Rafn, Carl Christian, ed. 1829-30. Fornaldar sögur nordrlanda. 3 vols. Copenhagen: Popp.
4. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. FSGJ = Guðni Jónsson, ed. 1954. Fornaldar sögur norðurlanda. 4 vols. [Reykjavík]: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan.
6. HjǪ 1720 = Peringskiöld, Johann, ed. 1720. Hialmters och Olvers saga, Handlande om trenne Konungar i Manahem eller Sverige, Inge, Hialmter, och Inge, samt Olver Jarl och om theras uthresor til Grekeland och Arabien. Stockholm: Horn.
7. HjǪ 1970 = Harris, Richard L., ed. 1970. ‘Hjálmþérs saga: A Scientific Edition’. Ph.D. thesis. University of Iowa.
8. Internal references
9. Richard L. Harris (ed.) 2017, ‘Hjálmþés saga ok Ǫlvis 19 (Hjálmþér Ingason, Lausavísur 8)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 511.