Hjþ Lv 7^VIII (HjǪ 16)

Vak þú, Ölvir,         ef þú vilt víf sjá;
þú ert kossmildr         við konur harðla.
Heyrðu †hranarar† bíða þín         Hrauðungs meyjar;
hverf þú við,         ef þér hugr dugir.

Vak þú, Ölvir, ef þú vilt sjá víf; þú ert harðla kossmildr við konur. Heyrðu †hranarar† {meyjar Hrauðungs} bíða þín; hverf þú við, ef hugr dugir þér.

Wake up, Ǫlvir, if you want to see women; you are very generous with kisses for women. Listen … {the girls of Hrauðungr <giant>} [GIANTESSES] are waiting for you; turn to [them] if your courage serves you.

Mss: 109a IIIˣ(270v), papp6ˣ(51r), ÍBR5ˣ(91) (HjǪ)

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

Editions: Skj AII, 336, Skj BII, 356-7, Skald II, 192; HjǪ 1720, 38, FSN 3, 483, FSGJ 4, 208, HjǪ 1970, 32, 89, 147.

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.

Notes: [All]: Compare Hjálmþérsrímur IV, 11-12 (Finnur Jónsson 1905-22, II, 28) with HjǪ 16-17. — [All]: 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). — [6] meyjar Hrauðungs ‘the girls of Hrauðungr <giant> [GIANTESSES]’: The noun meyjar needs minor emendation from the mss’ meyja to give a nom. pl. form, which the syntax of ll. 5-6 seems to require. The pers. n. Hrauðungr also requires minor emendation, if 109a IIIˣ’s ‘hraudings’ is adopted. See the discussion of this presumed giant-name in the Note to HjǪ 3/8. The forms of the name in papp6ˣ and ÍBR5ˣ are likely to have been influenced by the name Hundingi, given in the saga to the evil father of Hervǫr, whom the heroes are compelled to seek under an álǫg or magical spell. — [7] hverf þú við ‘turn to [them]’: This line is hypometrical and eds have added þeim (Skj B) or þær (Skald) after við ‘towards them’ (the amorous women) to restore the metre and give good sense. — [8] ef hugr dugir þér ‘if your courage serves you’: The collocation of hugr ‘courage’ with duga ‘serve, help, avail’ is a commonplace of heroic poetry; cf. Sigv Knútdr 3/4^I, Am 52/10.

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. Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1905-22. Rímnasafn: Samling af de ældste islandske rimer. 2 vols. SUGNL 35. Copenhagen: Møller.
7. 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.
8. HjǪ 1970 = Harris, Richard L., ed. 1970. ‘Hjálmþérs saga: A Scientific Edition’. Ph.D. thesis. University of Iowa.
9. Internal references
10. Not published: do not cite ()
11. Matthew Townend (ed.) 2012, ‘Sigvatr Þórðarson, Knútsdrápa 3’ 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. 653.
12. 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.
13. Richard L. Harris (ed.) 2017, ‘Hjálmþés saga ok Ǫlvis 3 (Hjálmþér Ingason, Lausavísur 2)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 495.