Anon Mhkv 9^III

Friggjar þótti svipr at syni;
sá var taldr ór miklu kyni;
Hermóðr vildi auka aldr;
Éljúðnir vann sólginn Baldr.
Ǫll grétu þau eptir hann;
aukit var þeim hlátrar bann;
heyrinkunn er frá hánum saga;
hvat þarf ek of slíkt at jaga.

Þótti svipr at {syni Friggjar}; sá var taldr ór miklu kyni; Hermóðr vildi auka aldr; Éljúðnir vann Baldr sólginn. Þau ǫll grétu eptir hann; {bann hlátrar} var þeim aukit; saga frá hánum er heyrinkunn; hvat þarf ek at jaga of slíkt.

It seemed a sudden loss concerning {the son of Frigg <goddess>} [= Baldr]; he was reckoned from a great family; Hermóðr wanted to extend his life; Éljúðnir <hall of Hel> had swallowed up Baldr. They all wept for him; {their ban of laughter} [SORROW] grew; the tale about him is very well known; why do I need to harp on it.

Mss: R(54v)

Editions: Skj AII, 132, Skj BII, 140, Skald II, 75; Möbius 1874, 5, Wisén 1886-9, I, 74.

Notes: [All]: Snorri Sturluson’s version of Baldr’s end in Gylf  (SnE 2005, 45-9) includes Hermóðr’s journey to Hel’s hall to rescue Óðinn’s son, a mission that failed when all creation did not lament the slain god. The Mhkv version of the myth portrays the tragic death of Baldr as an ordinary domestic tragedy rather than the beginning of the last days of the world. — [1-2]: Guðbrandur Vigfússon (CPB II, 365) emended this couplet to Friggjar þótti svipr at sveini | sá var tældr af Mistilteini ‘Frigg’s boy was snatched away, he was done to death by Mistiltoe’. — [1] Friggjar ‘of Frigg <goddess>’: Chief goddess, consort of Óðinn and mother of Baldr. Vsp 33 confirms her weeping at Baldr’s death. — [3] Hermóðr: Son of Óðinn (see Þul Ása I l. 6 and Note there) or servant of Óðinn (SnE 2005, 46-7). At Frigg’s command he rides to Hel’s compound in an attempt to restore Baldr to life. — [4] Éljúðnir ‘Éljúðnir <hall of Hel>’: Lit. ‘rain-damp’ (the first element of the cpd is él- ‘storm, rain’; cf. AEW: Éljúðnir). Hel’s residence, a name recorded elsewhere only in Gylf  (SnE 2005, 27).  — [5]: This suggestion of universal lamentation differs from Snorri’s account, in which one female figure (Loki in disguise) refuses to join in; but see Anon (Hrafn) 2/4^IV dated 1196. — [6] bann hlátrar var þeim aukit ‘their ban of laughter [SORROW] grew’: Lit. ‘the ban of laughter [SORROW] grew for them’. The kenning occurs again only in GSúrs Lv 5/4^V (Gísl 7). The word bann has juridical connotations and is found chiefly in legal and theological texts (ONP: bann). It appears in datable verse only from C11th on: e.g. hungrbann ‘ban on hunger’ i.e. ‘feasting’ (ÞjóðA Magnfl 7/4^II); fjǫrbann ‘ban on life’ i.e. ‘death’ (Sigv Víkv 12/4^I); friðbann ‘ban on peace’ i.e. ‘strife’ (Sigv ErfÓl 10/2^I; Ólhv Hryn 6/2^II). — [7] heyrinkunn ‘very well known’: The cpd is attested in poetry only in Mhkv; see also st. 29/2. — [8] jaga ‘harp on’: The verb occurs in the sense ‘chatter on, jabber, prattle’ in Orkney, Shetland and northern England (AEW: jaga).

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
3. AEW = Vries, Jan de. 1962. Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 2nd rev. edn. Rpt. 1977. Leiden: Brill.
4. CPB = Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and F. York Powell, eds. 1883. Corpus poeticum boreale: The Poetry of the Old Northern Tongue from the Earliest Times to the Thirteenth Century. 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon. Rpt. 1965, New York: Russell & Russell.
5. Wisén, Theodor, ed. 1886-9. Carmina Norrœnæ: Ex reliquiis vetustioris norrœnæ poësis selecta, recognita, commentariis et glossario instructa. 2 vols. Lund: Ohlsson.
6. ONP = Degnbol, Helle et al., eds. 1989-. A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose / Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog. 1-. Copenhagen: The Arnamagnæan Commission.
7. SnE 2005 = Snorri Sturluson. 2005. Edda: Prologue and Gylfaginning. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
8. Möbius, Theodor. 1874. ‘Malshatta-kvædi’. ZDP Ergänzungsband, 3-73, 615-16.
9. Internal references
10. (forthcoming), ‘ Snorri Sturluson, Gylfaginning’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=113> (accessed 17 April 2024)
12. Roberta Frank 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Málsháttakvæði’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1213. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1029> (accessed 17 April 2024)
13. Not published: do not cite (Anon (Hrafn) 2^IV)
14. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2022, ‘Gísla saga Súrssonar 7 (Gísli Súrsson, Lausavísur 5)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross, Kari Ellen Gade and Tarrin Wills (eds), Poetry in Sagas of Icelanders. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 5. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 557.
15. Not published: do not cite ()
16. Elena Gurevich 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Ása heiti I’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 754. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=3187> (accessed 17 April 2024)
17. Lauren Goetting (ed.) 2009, ‘Óláfr hvítaskáld Þórðarson, Hrynhenda 6’ 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. 663-4.
18. Judith Jesch (ed.) 2012, ‘Sigvatr Þórðarson, Erfidrápa Óláfs helga 10’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 677.
19. Judith Jesch (ed.) 2012, ‘Sigvatr Þórðarson, Víkingarvísur 12’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 551.
20. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Þjóðólfr Arnórsson, Magnússflokkr 7’ 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. 72-3.