Hundk Lv 1^VIII (HjǪ 29)

Hverr er sá,         kominn ór Manheimum,
ungr at aldri,         oss at kveðja?
Berr þú, inn ungi,         ormfrán augu;
mun ek við brögðum         búaz mega.

Hverr er sá, kominn ór Manheimum, ungr at aldri, at kveðja oss? Þú, inn ungi, berr ormfrán augu; ek mun mega búaz við brögðum.

Who is he, come from Manheimar, young in age, to greet us [me]? You, young one, have snake-flashing eyes; I will be able to prepare myself for tricks.

Mss: 109a IIIˣ(273v), papp6ˣ(53v), ÍBR5ˣ(95) (HjǪ)

Readings: [3] aldri: so papp6ˣ, ÍBR5ˣ, aldi 109a IIIˣ    [6] ormfrán: örn framar papp6ˣ, orm framm ÍBR5ˣ

Editions: Skj AII, 338, Skj BII, 359, Skald II, 194, NN §3298; HjǪ 1720, 48-9, FSN 3, 492, FSGJ 4, 217, HjǪ 1970, 40, 95, 156.

Context: King Hundingi greets Hjálmþér, but with a threat of mixed hospitality.

Notes: [1] hverr er sá ‘who is he’: Many eds (e.g. Skj B, Skald, FSGJ) have added karla ‘of men’ to the end of this line to provide alliteration and a metrical line. — [2] ór Manheimum ‘from Manheimar’: See Note to HjǪ 18/8. The corresponding passages of Hjálmþérsrímur (V. 24-5, Finnur Jónsson 1905-22, II, 36) do not locate Hjálmþér’s home in Manheimar, but rather in Denmark, a difference that has suggested that the introduction of Manheimar was the work of a later redactor and that the saga’s original location was in Denmark. — [6] ormfrán ‘snake-flashing’: An epithet invariably collocated with augu ‘eyes’, as here, and often applied to the terrifying glances of powerful rulers (cf. Marold 1998a); in Sigv ErfÓl 13/8^I, for example, it is applied to the terror-inspiring eyes of King Óláfr Haraldsson.  — [7-8] ek mun mega búaz við brögðum ‘I will be able to prepare myself for tricks’: Kock (NN §3298) questions what reason the king would have to anticipate tricks from the bright-eyed young man, noticing that ormfránn is used elsewhere suggestive of ambition and vigour. Rather than translating brögðum as ‘tricks’, Kock prefers a more positive anticipation, of ‘feats’ or ‘exploits’. Against this, the meaning of bragð as ‘cunning, tricks’ is well attested (cf. LP: bragð 3), and the prose saga indicates that Hundingi has the power to understand the inner motivation of an apparently polite young man like Hjálmþér.

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. LP = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1931. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis: Ordbog over det norsk-islandske skjaldesprog oprindelig forfattet af Sveinbjörn Egilsson. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Møller.
7. FSGJ = Guðni Jónsson, ed. 1954. Fornaldar sögur norðurlanda. 4 vols. [Reykjavík]: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan.
8. Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1905-22. Rímnasafn: Samling af de ældste islandske rimer. 2 vols. SUGNL 35. Copenhagen: Møller.
9. Marold, Edith. 1998a. ‘Die Augen des Herrschers’. In Meier 1998, 7-29.
10. 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.
11. HjǪ 1970 = Harris, Richard L., ed. 1970. ‘Hjálmþérs saga: A Scientific Edition’. Ph.D. thesis. University of Iowa.
12. Internal references
13. Judith Jesch (ed.) 2012, ‘Sigvatr Þórðarson, Erfidrápa Óláfs helga 13’ 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. 679.
14. Richard L. Harris (ed.) 2017, ‘Hjálmþés saga ok Ǫlvis 18 (Hergunnr, Lausavísur 2)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 510.