Hjþ Lv 7^VIII (HjǪ 16)

Richard L. Harris (ed.) 2017, ‘Hjálmþés saga ok Ǫlvis 16 (Hjálmþér Ingason, Lausavísur 7)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 508.

text and translation

notes and context

Hjálmþér, realising that he cannot deal with all the sea-ogresses on his own, awakens Ǫlvir with humorously heroic bravado as the women approach the heroes’ tent.

Compare Hjálmþérsrímur IV, 11-12 (Finnur Jónsson 1905-22, II, 28) with HjǪ 16-17. — The stanza is garbled in all mss. Lines 2, 5 and 7 are metrically defective. The tone of the stanza, in keeping with the nonchalant grotesqueries of the prose text at this point in Hjálmþér’s and Ǫlvir’s adventures, is drolly mock heroic and continues to emphasise the sexually provocative nature of the encounter between the heroes and their aggressive and ugly female opponents with their sharp claws and beak-like mouths. — [5]: This line is obviously corrupted in all mss and all versions have metrical and grammatical problems as they stand. Most eds, beginning with HjǪ 1720, have adopted the corrected text written by another hand in papp6ˣ, hér bíða þín ‘here wait for you’, assuming the subject of the verb bíða ‘wait for’ to be the meyjar Hrauðungs of l. 6, itself a partially emended phrase (see further Note to l. 6 below). However, the original text of papp6ˣ is very similar to that of the other mss, and all incorporate a word, ‘hranarar’, ‘hranann’ or ‘hrana’, that is not accounted for in papp6ˣ’s altered reading, though the latter makes sense. The only Old Norse word to which these obelised forms might relate is the noun hrani ‘blusterer, rude person’, but it is not clear how a form of hrani might fit with the other words in ll. 5-6. It is remotely possible that ‘hranarar’ conceals the noun hrannar ‘waves’, and alludes to the waves as daughters of the sea-giant Ægir, in which case it might be in apposition to meyjar Hrauðungs (l. 6).

readings

• [2] þú vilt: viltu papp6ˣ
• [5] Heyrðu: heyrðu crossed out in another hand papp6ˣ, heyr ÍBR5ˣ
• [5] †hranarar†: hér corrected from ‘hranann’ above the line in another hand papp6ˣ, hrana ÍBR5ˣ
• [5] bíða: bíðr 109a IIIˣ, ÍBR5ˣ, bíða corrected from bíðr above the line in another hand papp6ˣ
• [5] þín: þér 109a IIIˣ, ÍBR5ˣ, þér with þín written above the line in another hand papp6ˣ
• [6] Hrauðungs: ‘hraudings’ 109a IIIˣ, ‘hundning’ papp6ˣ, Hundings ÍBR5ˣ
• [6] meyjar: ‘meya’ 109a IIIˣ, ÍBR5ˣ, meyja with ‑r written above in another hand papp6ˣ

sources

Text is based on reconstruction from the base text and variant apparatus and may contain alternative spellings and other normalisations not visible in the manuscript text. Transcriptions may not have been checked and should not be cited.

• AM 109 a III 8°x (109a IIIx) — 270v/8 - 270v/11

  Vak þú, Ölvir,
  ef þú vilt víf sjá;
  þú ert kossmildr
  við konur harðla.
  Heyrðu †hranarar† bíðr þér
  †hraudings meya†;
  hverf þú við,
  ef þér hugr dugir.

  Wak þu olver ef þu villt vyf sea | þu ert koss milldr vid konvr harla heyrdu h | rananar Bydr þier hraudings meya hverf þu vid | ef þier hugr dvgir

  (RH)

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• Holm papp 6 4°x (papp6x) — 51r - 51r

  Vak þú, Ölvir,
  ef viltu víf sjá;
  þú ert kossmildr
  við konur harðla.
  heyrðu hér bíða þér
  †hundning† meyja;
  hverf þú við,
  ef þér hugr dugir.

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• ÍBR 5 folx (ÍBR5x) — 91 - 91

  Vak þú, Ölvir,
  ef þú vilt víf sjá;
  þú ert kossmildr
  við konur harðla.
  heyr hrana bíðr þér
  Hundings †meya†;
  hverf þú við,
  ef þér hugr dugir.

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