Hjálm Lv 5^VIII (Ǫrv 15)

Áttak at fullu         fimm tún saman,
en ek því aldri         unða ráði.
Nú verð ek liggja         lífs andvani,
sverði undaðr,         Sámseyju í.

Áttak at fullu fimm tún saman, en ek unða aldri því ráði. Nú verð ek liggja andvani lífs, undaðr sverði, í Sámseyju.

I owned fully five homesteads together, but I never loved that lot [in life]. Now I must lie deprived of life, wounded by a sword, on Samsø.

Mss: 2845(64r), R715ˣ(10v) (Heiðr); 344a(17v), 343a(68v), 471(75r), 173ˣ(37r) (Ǫrv)

Readings: [1] Áttak (‘Aktag’): ‘Atti eg’ R715ˣ;    at fullu: á foldu R715ˣ, 344a, 343a, 471, 173ˣ    [2] tún: ‘bwu’ corrected from ‘twn’ R715ˣ, bú 344a, 173ˣ, ból 343a, 471    [3] en ek því aldri: en ek því aldr R715ˣ, en þó unða ek 344a, en ek unða því 343a, 471, en ek unða þó 173ˣ    [4] unða ráði: unði á láði R715ˣ, ‘…itt rade’ corrected from allvel báði in a later hand 344a, eigi láði 343a, 471, ei á láði 173ˣ    [6] lífs andvani: lítt megandi 344a, 343a, 471, 173ˣ    [7] undaðr: so R715ˣ, 343a, 471, 173ˣ, sundaðr 2845, 344a    [8] Sámseyju í: so 344a, 343a, 471, 173ˣ, í Sámseyju 2845, Sáms í eyju R715ˣ

Editions: Skj AII, 293, Skj BII, 313, Skald II, 166; Ǫrv 1888, 104, Ǫrv 1892, 58, FSGJ 2, 259; Heiðr 1924, 12-13, 100, Heiðr 1960, 8; Edd. Min. 50, 52.

Context: In both Heiðr mss this stanza follows immediately from Ǫrv 14, introduced with ok enn kvað hann ‘and then he said’, but in the prose of Ǫrv Oddr is given further lines of self-justification, while Hjálmarr urges him to sit down and listen to the poem he is about to compose and then send it back to Sweden. Ǫrv mss then give Hjálm Lv 11 (Ǫrv 21) as the stanza that begins the sequence of verses in Hjálmarr’s death-song, which are presented without intervening prose. Ǫrv 21 is not in the Heiðr mss. The Ǫrv mss all agree on the following sequence: Hjálm Lv 11 (Ǫrv 21), 9 (Ǫrv 19), 7 (Ǫrv 17), 12 (Ǫrv 22), 13 (Ǫrv 23), 5 (Ǫrv 15) and 8 (Ǫrv 18). Thereafter the sequences change, as described in the Introductions to sts 21-4 and sts 25-9 (and see Table 2 above).

Notes: [All]: In the Ǫrv mss this stanza comes after several in which Hjálmarr speaks romantically of his attachment to the ladies of the Swedish court at Sigtuna, especially the king’s daughter Ingibjǫrg, and how they will grieve that he will not come back to them. — [1] at fullu ‘fully’: This is the reading of 2845 alone, all the other mss having á foldu ‘on the earth, in the land’. Ǫrv 1892, 104-5 suggests this means auf der ebene ‘on the plain’ and refers specifically to Sweden, comparing Ǫrv 21/2. — [2] tún ‘homesteads’: The scribe of R715ˣ seems to have known both tún and the Ǫrv variant bú ‘farm, estate’. Ból ‘farm’ is another possible reading. — [3-4]: These lines exhibit considerable variation across the mss. The alternative reading of 343a and 471, en ek unða því | eigi láði ‘but I did not love that land’ also gives sense. — [6] andvani lífs ‘deprived of life’: This is the reading of the Heiðr mss, while the Ǫrv mss have lítt megandi ‘with little strength’, lit. ‘being capable of little’. Both phrases are probably formulaic. Lítt megandi occurs in Vsp 17/6 (NK 4; cf. SnE 2005, 13) to refer to the lifeless condition of the first humans, Askr and Embla, who lay, probably as logs, upon the seashore before a trio of deities gave them life. On the other hand lífs andvani has a parallel, together with the following line, in Hildibrandr Lv 6/2-3 (Ásm 6) lífs andvani, | mæki undaðr ‘deprived of life, wounded by a sword’, a similar situation of a hero’s death-song. — [7] undaðr ‘wounded’: Probably to be preferred, given the parallel from Ásm cited in the previous Note, over 2845’s and 344a’s sundaðr, possibly some form of the verb sundra, ‘cut in pieces’, though the p. p. should be sundraðr. — [8] í Sámseyju ‘on Samsø’: The reading of the Ǫrv ms. 2845 reverses the order, giving í Sámseyju, while R715ˣ has Sáms í eyju.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
3. NK = Neckel, Gustav and Hans Kuhn (1899), eds. 1983. Edda: Die Lieder des Codex Regius nebst verwandten Denkmälern. 2 vols. I: Text. 5th edn. Heidelberg: Winter.
4. FSGJ = Guðni Jónsson, ed. 1954. Fornaldar sögur norðurlanda. 4 vols. [Reykjavík]: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan.
5. SnE 2005 = Snorri Sturluson. 2005. Edda: Prologue and Gylfaginning. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
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. Heiðr 1924 = Jón Helgason, ed. 1924. Heiðreks saga. Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks konungs. SUGNL 48. Copenhagen: Jørgensen.
8. Ǫrv 1888 = Boer, R. C., ed. 1888. Ǫrvar-Odds saga. Leiden: Brill.
9. Heiðr 1960 = Tolkien, Christopher, ed. and trans. 1960. Saga Heiðreks konungs ins vitra / The Saga of King Heidrek the Wise. Nelson Icelandic Texts. London etc.: Nelson.
10. Ǫrv 1892 = Boer, R. C., ed. 1892a. Ǫrvar-Odds saga. Altnordische Saga-Bibliothek 2. Halle: Niemayer.
11. Internal references
12. 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 367. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=23> (accessed 18 April 2024)
13. 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Ǫrvar-Odds saga’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 804. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=35> (accessed 18 April 2024)
14. 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Ásmundar saga kappabana’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 15. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=65> (accessed 18 April 2024)
15. Not published: do not cite ()
16. Peter Jorgensen (ed.) 2017, ‘Ásmundar saga kappabana 6 (Hildibrandr, Lausavísur 6)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 20.
17. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Ǫrvar-Odds saga 14 (Hjálmarr inn hugumstóri, Lausavísur 4)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 827.
18. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Ǫrvar-Odds saga 15 (Hjálmarr inn hugumstóri, Lausavísur 5)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 828.
19. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Ǫrvar-Odds saga 17 (Hjálmarr inn hugumstóri, Lausavísur 7)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 831.
20. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Ǫrvar-Odds saga 18 (Hjálmarr inn hugumstóri, Lausavísur 8)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 832.
21. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Ǫrvar-Odds saga 19 (Hjálmarr inn hugumstóri, Lausavísur 9)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 833.
22. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Ǫrvar-Odds saga 21 (Hjálmarr inn hugumstóri, Lausavísur 11)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 836.
23. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Ǫrvar-Odds saga 22 (Hjálmarr inn hugumstóri, Lausavísur 12)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 837.
24. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Ǫrvar-Odds saga 23 (Hjálmarr inn hugumstóri, Lausavísur 13)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 838.