Ýma Lv 2^VIII (HjǪ 14)

Víst gleðr mik eitt,         þótt vitir eigi,
jöfurr inn ógndjarfi,         hvat um er at vera.
Munu systr mínar         at nái gera
út á herskipum         alla menn þína.

Víst gleðr mik eitt, inn ógndjarfi jöfurr, þótt vitir eigi, hvat um er at vera. Systr mínar munu gera alla menn þína at nái út á herskipum.

One thing certainly gladdens me, terror-bold prince, though you do not know how things stand. My sisters will turn all your men into corpses out on the warships.

Mss: 109a IIIˣ(270r), papp6ˣ(50v), ÍBR5ˣ(91) (HjǪ)

Readings: [2] þótt: so ÍBR5ˣ, þótt þú 109a IIIˣ, þó þú papp6ˣ    [5] Munu: munn papp6ˣ    [6] nái: so ÍBR5ˣ, ná 109a IIIˣ, papp6ˣ

Editions: Skj AII, 335, Skj BII, 356, Skald II, 192, NN §2839; HjǪ 1720, 37, FSN 3, 482, FSGJ 4, 207, HjǪ 1970, 31, 88, 146.

Context: Ýma, whose hand has just been cut off by Hjálmþér, rejoices that her nine sisters will kill all his men in vengeance, first tearing their ships apart with their ferocious beaks and claws.

Notes: [All]: Cf. Hjálmþérsrímur IV, 8 (Finnur Jónsson 1905-22, II, 28). — [3] inn ógndjarfi jöfurr ‘terror-bold prince’: The same epithet, ógndjarfr ‘terror-bold’ or ‘battle-bold’ is often applied in a positive, approbatory sense to military leaders; cf. Sigv Lv 5/4^I. — [5] munu ‘will’: Kock (NN §2839) takes issue with the emendation of Skj B to nú munu ‘now will’ as a means of correcting the faulty alliteration with nái in the next line. Instead of systr, Kock suggests, the synonym niptir would supply the alliterative requirement, and he adopts this emendation in Skald. There is no ms. support for either suggested emendation.

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. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
6. FSGJ = Guðni Jónsson, ed. 1954. Fornaldar sögur norðurlanda. 4 vols. [Reykjavík]: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan.
7. Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1905-22. Rímnasafn: Samling af de ældste islandske rimer. 2 vols. SUGNL 35. Copenhagen: Møller.
8. 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.
9. HjǪ 1970 = Harris, Richard L., ed. 1970. ‘Hjálmþérs saga: A Scientific Edition’. Ph.D. thesis. University of Iowa.
10. Internal references
11. R. D. Fulk (ed.) 2012, ‘Sigvatr Þórðarson, Lausavísur 5’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 705.