Heiðv Lv 2^VIII (Hrólf 3)

Þeir er í Vifilsey         váru lengi
ok hétu þar         hunda nöfnum
        Hoppr ok Hó.

Þeir er váru lengi í Vifilsey ok hétu þar nöfnum hunda Hoppr ok Hó.

They who were in Vifilsey for a long time and were called there by dogs’ names, Hoppr and Hó.

Mss: 285ˣ(4v), 9ˣ(4r), 11ˣ(4v), 109a IIˣ(215v), papp17ˣ(288v) (Hrólf)

Editions: Skj AII, 230-1, Skj BII, 250, Skald II, 130, NN §3178; Hrólf 1960, 10; Edd. Min. 61.

Context: Asked by Fróði whether she is speaking of the boys or of those who have sheltered them, the sibyl gives this reply.

Notes: [1] Vifilsey: Name of an island, whose location is unspecified in Hrólf. According to ch. 1 of the saga (Hrólf 1960, 1-2), Vifill (or Vífill, see below) was the name of a wise commoner (karl) who was a friend of King Hálfdan and lived on this island. He had two dogs named Hoppr and Hó. He hid Hróarr and Helgi on the island after Fróði had killed their father and, when Fróði himself came looking for them there, adopted the ruse of calling out the dogs’ names in order to alert the boys to present danger. The pers. n. Vifill or Vífill is common in legendary sagas. The initial vowel of Vifill may be either short, as here, in a Type A3-line with resolution, or long (Type B), as emended in Edd. Min. (þeir í Vífilsey). — [5] Hoppr ok Hó ‘Hoppr and Hó’: The last line is perhaps not original. It is enclosed in square brackets in Skj B, while Skald omits the line altogether. The two names are appropriate to dogs; cf. ON hoppa ‘jump, dance’ (AEW: hoppa and references) and hóa ‘call’ and the exclamatory ho!

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. 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. AEW = Vries, Jan de. 1962. Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 2nd rev. edn. Rpt. 1977. Leiden: Brill.
6. Edd. Min. = Heusler, Andreas and Wilhelm Ranisch, eds. 1903. Eddica Minora: Dichtungen eddischer Art aus den Fornaldarsögur und anderen Prosawerken. Dortmund: Ruhfus. Rpt. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft.
7. Hrólf 1960 = Slay, Desmond, ed. 1960a. Hrólfs saga kráka. EA B 1. Copenhagen: Munksgaard.
8. Internal references
9. 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Hrólfs saga kraka’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 539. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=73> (accessed 25 April 2024)