Hundk Lv 4^VIII (HjǪ 35)

Lítt honum sæmir         hjá seggja liði,
þeim er í gullvefjum         glóa allir.
Siti hann yzt         af seggjum mínum;
skal honum veita vel         með várum þegnum.

Sæmir honum lítt hjá liði seggja, þeim er allir glóa í gullvefjum. Siti hann yzt af seggjum mínum; skal veita honum vel með þegnum várum.

It would hardly be appropriate for him to be among the company of men who all glitter in gold clothing. Let him sit farthest out among my men; he shall be well served among our freemen.

Mss: 109a IIIˣ(274r), papp6ˣ(53v), ÍBR5ˣ(95) (HjǪ)

Readings: [1] sæmir: sómir ÍBR5ˣ    [3] gull‑: guð‑ papp6ˣ    [5] yzt: so papp6ˣ, ÍBR5ˣ, ‘yrst’ 109a IIIˣ    [6] af: hjá ÍBR5ˣ

Editions: Skj AII, 339, Skj BII, 361, Skald II, 195, NN §127; HjǪ 1720, 50, FSN 3, 494, FSGJ 4, 219-20, HjǪ 1970, 41, 95, 157.

Context: Hundingi responds in disparaging terms to Hjálmþér’s introduction of Hǫrðr.

Notes: [All]: Compare Hjálmþérsrímur V, 31-5 (Finnur Jónsson 1905-22, II, 37-8) with HjǪ 35-40. — [1] sæmir ‘would be appropriate’: Ms. ÍBR5ˣ has sómir ‘would befit, beseem’, which is also an acceptable reading. — [3] í gullvefjum ‘in gold clothing’: The reading of 109a IIIˣ and ÍBR5ˣ. Ms. papp6ˣ has í guðvefjum ‘in precious clothing’, which is also possible. — [4-5]: These lines are hypometrical, unless there is suspended resolution on glóa and siti (or yzt were understood as an adj. yztr ‘outermost’ and desyllabified as yztur). — [6] af seggjum mínum ‘among my men’: This phrase might rather mean ‘[farthest out] from my men’, that is, beyond even the lowliest of Hundingi’s men, as Kock (NN§127) points out. The sense ‘from, away from’ is in fact more common than ‘among’ (cf. ONP: af) and would make Hundingi’s insult to Hǫrðr stronger. On the other hand ÍBR5ˣ’s reading hjá supports the sense ‘among’.

References

1. Bibliography
2. FSN = Rafn, Carl Christian, ed. 1829-30. Fornaldar sögur nordrlanda. 3 vols. Copenhagen: Popp.
3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. ONP = Degnbol, Helle et al., eds. 1989-. A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose / Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog. 1-. Copenhagen: The Arnamagnæan Commission.
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. Richard L. Harris (ed.) 2017, ‘Hjálmþés saga ok Ǫlvis 35 (Hundingi konungr, Lausavísur 4)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 526.