Hjþ Lv 4^VIII (HjǪ 7)

Kantu mjúkligar,         mær in harðleita,
leika at hrækerti         en hölðar aðrir sex.
Sel þú mér sárloga         sveipinn orms dýnu;
fús em ek fljóð at kyssa;         fer sem má jöfri.

In harðleita mær, kantu leika at {hrækerti} mjúkligar en sex aðrir hölðar. Sel þú mér {sárloga} sveipinn {dýnu orms}; ek em fús at kyssa fljóð; fer jöfri sem má.

Hard-faced girl, you know how to play with {the corpse-candle} [SWORD] more nimbly than six other champions. Give me {the wound-flame} [SWORD], wrapped in {the eiderdown of the serpent} [GOLD]; I am eager to kiss the woman; let it go as it may with the prince [me].

Mss: 109a IIIˣ(267v) (ll. 1, 3-4, 2, 5-8), papp6ˣ(48v), ÍBR5ˣ(88) (ll. 1, 3-4, 2, 5-8) (HjǪ)

Readings: [2] mær in harðleita: so with brackets in another hand indicating placement in this position from a position as l. 4 papp6ˣ    [4] en hölðar aðrir sex: so corrected from mjúkligar en sex aðrir in another hand papp6ˣ, mjúkligar en sex aðrir 109a IIIˣ, meir en sex aðrir ÍBR5ˣ    [5] ‑loga: ‘‑lǫgann’ papp6ˣ    [6] sveipinn: ‘sueyps’ 109a IIIˣ, ‘sueijfz’ with ‘z’ crossed out papp6ˣ, ‘sueips’ ÍBR5ˣ

Editions: Skj AII, 334, Skj BII, 355, Skald II, 191; HjǪ 1720, 29, FSN 3, 475-6, FSGJ 4, 200, HjǪ 1970, 25, 84, 139-40.

Context: Remembering the advice of a previously encountered troll-woman, Skinnhúfa ‘Skin-hood’, later revealed as Vargeisa’s sister, Princess Hildisif, not to forego the acquisition of a better sword if he should see one, Hjálmþér consents in this stanza to kiss the finngalkn, Vargeisa, in return for the sword, Snarvendill.

Notes: [All]: Considerable corruption has evidently entered into the transmission of the text of the first four lines of this stanza. Like most eds, beginning with HjǪ 1720 and including Skj B, Skald and FSGJ, the arrangement of papp6ˣ has been followed here, even though the order of lines and the text of l. 4 in that ms. has been added as an afterthought to what was originally more similar to the order of lines in 109a IIIˣ and ÍBR5ˣ. The arrangement of the latter two mss brings with it several problems: 1) alliteration is lacking between ll. 1 and 2; 2) the adv. mjúkligar is repeated in l. 3 from l. 1 and l. 3 is also hypermetrical (in 109a IIIˣ); and 3) mjúkligar en sex aðrir ‘more nimbly than six others’ (109a IIIˣ) or meir en sex aðrir ‘more than six others’ (ÍBR5ˣ) brings with it a problem of meaning in that Hjálmþér is addressing a female person and comparing her to six other males, who have not been mentioned in the saga narrative. — [2] hrækerti ‘the corpse-candle [SWORD]’: A sword-kenning with a base-word expressing the concept ‘fire, flame’, as in sárlogi ‘wound-flame’ (l. 5); cf. blóðkerti ‘blood-candle’, understood from the context (Árm Lv 1/8^II and Note) as a spear-kenning, but closely matching common patterns for sword-kennings (cf. Meissner 150-1). Falk (1914b, 52) records several sword names with the element hræ- ‘corpse’. — [6] sveipinn ‘wrapped’: None of the ms. forms are satisfactory here. They have thus been emended to the appropriate form of the p. p. of the strong verb sveipa ‘sweep, stroke, wrap’. FSGJ favours the form sveiptan (from sveipa, ‑ta, ‑tr) with the same meaning. The notion of wrapping the sword in gold may refer to the sword hilt, which was frequently wrapped around with gold wires. — [6] dýnu orms ‘the eiderdown of the serpent [GOLD]’: Meissner 237 discusses gold-kennings based on the familiar image of the dragon as the proper guardian of gold. — [7] em ‘am’: All mss have er, a common C14th form of the 1st pers. sg. pres. tense of the verb ‘be’ (cf. ANG §§531.1 and 532.3). The same occurs in HjǪ 30/8 and 45/8. All three instances of er have been normalised to the earlier em.

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. Meissner = Meissner, Rudolf. 1921. Die Kenningar der Skalden: Ein Beitrag zur skaldischen Poetik. Rheinische Beiträge und Hülfsbücher zur germanischen Philologie und Volkskunde 1. Bonn and Leipzig: Schroeder. Rpt. 1984. Hildesheim etc.: Olms.
6. ANG = Noreen, Adolf. 1923. Altnordische Grammatik I: Altisländische und altnorwegische Grammatik (Laut- und Flexionslehre) unter Berücksichtigung des Urnordischen. 4th edn. Halle: Niemeyer. 1st edn. 1884. 5th unrev. edn. 1970. Tübingen: Niemeyer.
7. Falk, Hjalmar. 1914b. Altnordische Waffenkunde. Videnskapsselskapets skrifter, II. Hist.-filos. kl. 1914, 6. Kristiania (Oslo): Dybwad.
8. FSGJ = Guðni Jónsson, ed. 1954. Fornaldar sögur norðurlanda. 4 vols. [Reykjavík]: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan.
9. 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.
10. HjǪ 1970 = Harris, Richard L., ed. 1970. ‘Hjálmþérs saga: A Scientific Edition’. Ph.D. thesis. University of Iowa.
11. Internal references
12. Judith Jesch (ed.) 2009, ‘Ármóðr, Lausavísur 1’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 620-1.
13. Richard L. Harris (ed.) 2017, ‘Hjálmþés saga ok Ǫlvis 30 (Hjálmþér Ingason, Lausavísur 10)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 522.