Hjálm Lv 14^VIII (Ǫrv 24)

Sé ek, hvar sitja         Sigtúnum á
fljóð, þau er löttu         farar mik þaðan.
Gleðr eigi Hjálmar         í höll konungs
öl né rekkar         um aldr síðan.

Ek sé, hvar fljóð sitja á Sigtúnum, þau er löttu mik farar þaðan. Öl né rekkar gleðr eigi Hjálmar í höll konungs síðan um aldr.

I see where those women sit in Sigtuna, who dissuaded me from my journey from there. Neither ale nor warriors will gladden Hjálmarr in the king’s hall ever afterwards.

Mss: 344a(17v), 343a(68v), 471(75r), 173ˣ(37v) (Ǫrv)

Readings: [2] á: í 173ˣ    [4] farar: so all others, fara 344a;    þaðan: þannig 343a, 471, þar veg 173ˣ    [5] Hjálmar: so all others, mik 344a    [7] rekkar: so 343a, 173ˣ, ríki 344a, rekka 471    [8] um aldr: aldri 343a, 471, 173ˣ

Editions: Skj AII, 295, Skj BII, 315, Skald II, 167; Ǫrv 1888, 103, Ǫrv 1892, 58-9, FSGJ 2, 260; Edd. Min. 51.

Context: This stanza is the last of the sequence of eight stanzas, beginning with Hjálm 11 (Ǫrv 21) that forms the main part of Hjálmarr’s death-song in the Ǫrv mss. After it the younger mss (343a, 471 and 173ˣ) follow with Ǫrv 25-9, and then there is a final prose passage in all Ǫrv mss which concludes with Ǫrv 16 and 20, which are also in the mss of Heiðr.

Notes: [7] rekkar ‘warriors’: Ms. 344a alone has ríki ‘power, rule, kingdom’, a less good reading from the point of view of sense, as Hjálmarr was a heroic warrior, rather than a ruler.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
3. FSGJ = Guðni Jónsson, ed. 1954. Fornaldar sögur norðurlanda. 4 vols. [Reykjavík]: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan.
4. 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.
5. Ǫrv 1888 = Boer, R. C., ed. 1888. Ǫrvar-Odds saga. Leiden: Brill.
6. Ǫrv 1892 = Boer, R. C., ed. 1892a. Ǫrvar-Odds saga. Altnordische Saga-Bibliothek 2. Halle: Niemayer.
7. Internal references
8. 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 30 April 2024)
9. 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 30 April 2024)
10. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Ǫrvar-Odds saga 16 (Hjálmarr inn hugumstóri, Lausavísur 6)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 829.
11. 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.
12. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Ǫrvar-Odds saga 25 (Hjálmarr inn hugumstóri, Lausavísur 15)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 839.