Gestumbl Heiðr 1VIII (Heiðr 48)
Hannah Burrows (ed.) 2017, ‘Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks 48 (Gestumblindi, Heiðreks gátur 1)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 410.
vildak ‘I would wish’
(not checked:)
vilja (verb): want, intend
[1] vildak: so 2845, ek þat vilda Hb, 597bˣ, ek þat vilda corrected from ek þat vildu 281ˣ, mundak 203ˣ, vil ek dag þat R715ˣ
þat ‘’
[1] þat: so 2845, 203ˣ, R715ˣ, om. Hb, 281ˣ, 597bˣ
notes
[2] ek ‘I’: Describing the referent as something the riddler has experienced is a convention occurring in several riddling traditions of Indo-European origin (West 2007, 366-7). Cf. Gestumbl Heiðr 2, 3, 8-16, 25, 31, 33-5 (Heiðr 49, 50, 55-63, 72, 78, 80-2).
hafða ‘had’
(not checked:)
hafa (verb): have
[2] hafða í gær: í gær hafða 2845, 203ˣ, í gær hafðak R715ˣ
gær ‘yesterday’
(not checked:)
gær (adv.): [Yesterday]
[2] hafða í gær: í gær hafða 2845, 203ˣ, í gær hafðak R715ˣ
vittu ‘find out’
(not checked:)
1. vita (verb): know
[3] vittu: so 2845, 203ˣ, R715ˣ, konungr gettu Hb, konungr gettu til 281ˣ, 597bˣ
lýða ‘of people’
(not checked:)
lýðr (noun m.; °-s, dat. -; -ir): one of the people
lemill ‘crippler’
(not checked:)
lemill (noun m.)
[4] lemill: ‘s(?)emill’ 203ˣ, lemill corrected from ‘lemin’ in the hand of JR R715ˣ
orða ‘of words’
(not checked:)
orð (noun n.; °-s; -): word
tefill ‘hinderer’
(not checked:)
tefill (noun m.)
ok ‘and’
(not checked:)
3. ok (conj.): and, but; also
orða ‘of words’
(not checked:)
orð (noun n.; °-s; -): word
[6] orða: so 2845, 281ˣ, 597bˣ, 203ˣ, ok orða Hb, R715ˣ
upphefill ‘instigator’
(not checked:)
upphefill (noun m.)
notes
[6] upphefill ‘instigator’: A hap. leg., from upphefja, lit. ‘raise up’.
hyggðu ‘think’
(not checked:)
2. hyggja (verb): think, consider
at ‘about’
(not checked:)
3. at (prep.): at, to
gátu ‘the riddle’
(not checked:)
gáta (noun f.)
Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses
See Introduction to Heiðr 48-85. Hb elaborates on the setting (Heiðr 1924, 56): Var síðan stóll settr undir Gestumblinda, ok hugðu menn gótt til at heyra þar vitrleg orð ‘Then a stool was set under Gestumblindi, and men thought it good to hear wise words there’.
Heiðrekr’s response reads (Heiðr 1960, 33): Fœri honum mungát! Þat lemr margra vit, ok margir eru þá margmálgari, er mungát ferr á, en sumum vefsk tungan, svá at ekki verðr at orði ‘Bring him ale! That cripples the wit of many, and many are more talkative, when ale goes in, but with some the tongue becomes tied, so that no words come to them’. It is probably significant that the first riddle concerns ale, which ‘seems to be a requirement for a wisdom performance’ (Lindow 2007b, 299) and is also consumed by Óðinn at the beginning of Grí and Vafþr. — [1]: Ms. R715ˣ reads hafa vil ek dag, emended to hafa vil eg i dag ‘I wish to have today’ by Verelius (Heiðr 1672, 143). This is likely a misreading of vildak (Heiðr 1924, 130 n. 2), probably patterned on í gær ‘yesterday’ in l. 2. — [2]: Similar to Gestumbl Heiðr 3/2 (Heiðr 50). — [4-5]: These lines lack alliteration, though they have end-rhyme which carries on into l. 6. Kock emends lýða ‘of people’ to óða ‘of minds’, noting (NN §792) that this corresponds semantically with Heiðrekr’s prose response: þat lemr margra vit ‘that paralyses the wit of many’. He also suggests in NN that ýta ‘of men’ would produce satisfactory alliteration and a similar meaning to the ms. readings, but without the correspondence with the prose. These are purely conjectural suggestions, however. Lemill ‘crippler’ and tefill ‘hinderer’ are hap. leg., from lemja ‘thrash, beat, disable’ and tefja ‘hinder’ respectively.
Stanza/chapter/text segment
Use the buttons at the top of the page to navigate between stanzas in a poem.
Information tab
- text: if the stanza has been published, the edited text of the stanza and translation are here; if it hasn't been published an old edition (usually Skj) is given for reference
- sources: a list of the manuscripts or inscriptions containing this stanza, with page and line references and links (eye button) to images where available, and transcription where available
- readings: a list of variant manuscript readings of words in the main text
- editions and texts: a list of editions of the stanza with links to the bibliography; and a list of prose works in which the stanza occurs, allowing you to navigate within the prose context
- notes and context: notes not linked to individual words are given here, along with the account of the prose context for the stanza, where relevant
Interactive tab
The text and translation are given here, with buttons to toggle whether the text is shown in the verse order or prose word order. Clicking on indiviudal words gives dictionary links, variant readings, kennings and notes, where relevant.
Full text tab
This is the text of the edition in a similar format to how the edition appears in the printed volumes.
Chapter/text segment
This view is also used for chapters and other text segments. Not all the headings shown are relevant to such sections.