Hundk Lv 6^VIII (HjǪ 38)

Statt upp, Hástigi,         ok gef rúm gestum,
mönnum velbornum,         furðu farmóðum.
Mik hafa eigi öðlingar         áðr heim sóttan,
þeir er mér sýnz hafa         með betra bragði.

Statt upp, Hástigi, ok gef gestum rúm, velbornum mönnum, furðu farmóðum. Öðlingar hafa eigi sóttan mik áðr heim, þeir er sýnz mér hafa með betra bragði.

Stand up, Hástigi, and make space for the guests, well-born men, very travel-weary. Princes have not visited me before who seemed to me to have better behaviour.

Mss: 109a IIIˣ(274r), papp6ˣ(54r), ÍBR5ˣ(96) (HjǪ)

Readings: [1] Statt: so papp6ˣ, ÍBR5ˣ, stattu 109a IIIˣ    [3] mönnum: mínum papp6ˣ;    velbornum: velbornum ok crossed out in another hand papp6ˣ    [4] furðu farmóðum: furðu farmóðum with ok frekum í ræþu written above the line in another hand papp6ˣ    [7] þeir er: þeir all    [8] betra: svinnra corrected from betra above the line in another hand papp6ˣ

Editions: Skj AII, 339-40, Skj BII, 361, Skald II, 195; HjǪ 1720, 51-2, FSN 3, 495-6, FSGJ 4, 221, HjǪ 1970, 42, 96, 158.

Context: Hundingi looks at Hástigi and orders him in this stanza to vacate his seat as a sign of hospitality to the guests.

Notes: [All]: Most previous eds (with the exception of HjǪ 1970 and Valdimar Ásmundarson 1885-9, in part) have taken the opportunity to ‘improve’ this stanza by emending l. 1 (statt replaced with rís ‘rise’ to give regular alliteration, so Skj B and Skald) and by adopting the additional text written above the line in papp6ˣ, replacing l. 4 with ok frekum í ræðu ‘and bold in speech’. If the mss’ original forms are retained in ll. 3-4 there is no alliteration. On the other hand, Hundingi’s deliberate and ironic use of repeated velbornum ‘well-born’ (l. 3) from l. 8 of the previous stanza, is lost. Most previous eds also adopt the additional svinnra ‘wiser, more prudent’ from papp6ˣ in l. 8, again to provide regular alliteration. The additional readings from papp6ˣ make ll. 3-4 and 8 of this stanza metrical and alliteratively regular, viz. furðu farmóðum | ok frekum í ræðu ‘very travel-weary and bold in speech’ (ll. 3-4) and með svinnra bragði ‘more prudent behaviour’ (l. 8). — [7] þeir er ‘who’: All mss have þeir. Another example of the loss of the rel. particle er in the combination demonstrative + rel. particle characteristic of C14th poetry; cf. Note to HjǪ 15/4. — [8] sýnz ‘seemed’: Lit. ‘seem’.

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. Valdimar Ásmundarson, ed. 1885-9. Fornaldarsögur Norðurlanda. 3 vols. Reykjavík: Sigurður Kristjánsson and Sigmundur Guðmundsson. 2nd edn of Vol. I 1891.
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. Richard L. Harris (ed.) 2017, ‘Hjálmþés saga ok Ǫlvis 15 (Hergunnr, Lausavísur 1)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 507.