Rloð Lv 2^VIII (Ragn 3 [a])

Rory McTurk (ed.) 2017, ‘Ragnars saga loðbrókar 3 (Ragnarr loðbrók, Lausavísur 2)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 630.

text and translation

notes and context

Ragnarr arrogantly speculates on how Kráka-Áslaug might respond to his sexual advances.

In 1824b, the prose introducing this half-stanza (spoken by Ragnarr) reads: Hann kvað vísu ‘He recited a stanza’. In the corresponding part of the 147 text, Olsen (Ragn 1906-8, 179) could read: ‘hann […]ad visu þerssa […]’ ‘he recited this stanza’, but recent ultraviolet photography shows that the correct reading to the end of the line is in all likelihood: ‘hu(n) kuad visu þessa til Ragnars lodb(rokar)’ (?) ‘she recited this stanza to Ragnarr loðbrók’. Since the next line in 147 appears to begin with the opening line of half-stanza 3b ‘Vamlau(sa)’ (?) ‘unblemished’, spoken by Kráka-Áslaug (see below), it is doubtful whether half-stanza 3a can be said to have formed part of the 147 text. — [2-3]: Editors have proposed various ways of dealing with l. 2, which is unmetrical and cannot be construed as a dróttkvætt line except by emendation. (a) The text of the present edn is fully in accordance with those of CPB, FSN, and Ragn 1891, except that the last-named has varðr in place of vörðr, of which it is apparently an acceptable variant (Fritzner IV: varðr, vǫrðr), and all three of them follow 1824b in treating ‘fauþur jarþar’ as two words rather than one. (b) Olsen (Ragn 1906-8, 197) emends 1824b’s ‘vordr’ and ‘mętr’ to á vǫrð and mætur in ll. 2 and 3 respectively, giving: … ef væri | á vǫrð fǫðurjarðar | mætur mildri snótu … ‘… if the gentle maiden had a fondness (mætur, f. pl.) for the guardian of the fatherland …’, taking vera ‘be’ with the dat. (mildri snótu) to mean ‘belong to’ and regarding vǫrð as either acc. (implying ‘towards’, ‘in the direction of’) or a relatively late dat. form (implying perhaps ‘fixed upon’). Olsen’s proposed emendation of l. 2 is unmetrical. (c) In l. 2 Finnur Jónsson, Skj B, retains the nom. vǫrðr reading, but emends föður to fræninga ‘of snakes’, and in l. 3 emends mætr á to mætri, comp. of adj. mætr ‘excellent, worthy’, thus producing: ‘… if the guardian of the land of snakes [GOLD > KING] were more acceptable (mætri) to the gentle maiden …’. (d) Guðni Jónsson (FSGJ) and Örnólfur Thorsson (Ragn 1985) accept the comp. mætri emendation and Finnur’s overall understanding of the clause, but retain the ms. reading vörðr föðurjarðar ‘guardian of the fatherland’ as its subject. (e) Kock (NN §1450) accepts the snake idea, but emends föður to fánþvengjar, gen. sg. of a postulated fánþvengr m. ‘glistening thong’, i.e. ‘snake’. He rejects the mætri emendation, however, and retains mætr ‘excellent’, ‘noble’, seeing it as referring attributively rather than predicatively to the subject of the sentence. In l. 3 he adopts hjá ‘alongside, beside’, in place of 1824b’s á ‘on (top of)’. Thus: ‘… if the noble guardian of the land of the glistening thong [SNAKE > GOLD > KING] were alongside the gentle maiden …’. (f) The present edn rejects Kock’s emendation to fánþvengjar, retaining the ms. reading föður, but is in line with Kock’s overall understanding of the clause, albeit retaining 1824b’s reading, á ‘on (top of)’, in place of 762’s more decorous hjá ‘beside’. This last choice is in large measure due to the encouragement of the late Gabriel Turville-Petre (pers. comm.).

readings

• [1] Sú mundi: ‘Svrvmdí’ 1824b, ‘Drumde’ 762ˣ
• [2] föðurjarðar (‘fauþur jarþar’): ‘faudurjardar’ or ‘faudur jardar’ 762ˣ
• [3] á: hjá 762ˣ

sources

Text is based on reconstruction from the base text and variant apparatus and may contain alternative spellings and other normalisations not visible in the manuscript text. Transcriptions may not have been checked and should not be cited.

• NKS 1824 b 4° (1824b) — 58r/2 - 58r/4

  †Svrvmdí† víst, ef væri
  vörðr föðurjarðar
  mætr á mildri snótu,
  á mér taka höndum.

  Svrvmdí | víst ef verí.vordr fauþur jarþar. mętr a milldri snotu. amer | taka haundvm. Vamlausa skaltu vise. ef vílltu gridum þyr | ma. heim hǫfum hilme sottan. hedan mic fara latíd.

  (RM)

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• AM 762 4°x (762x) — 2r/1 - 2r/4

  †Drumde† víst, ef væri
  vörðr †faudurjardar†
  mætr hjá mildri snótu,
  á mér taka höndum.

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