Gestumbl Heiðr 25VIII (Heiðr 72)
Hannah Burrows (ed.) 2017, ‘Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks 72 (Gestumblindi, Heiðreks gátur 25)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 438.
Fara ‘travelling’
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fara (verb; ferr, fór, fóru, farinn): go, travel
ek ‘I’
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ek (pron.; °mín, dat. mér, acc. mik): I, me
[1] ek sá: so 597bˣ, A, W, ‘ek søg’ 2845, sá ek 281ˣ, er ek sá R715ˣ
notes
[1] ek sá ‘I saw’: See Note to Heiðr 48/1-2 above.
sá ‘saw’
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2. sjá (verb): see
[1] ek sá: so 597bˣ, A, W, ‘ek søg’ 2845, sá ek 281ˣ, er ek sá R715ˣ
notes
[1] ek sá ‘I saw’: See Note to Heiðr 48/1-2 above.
foldar ‘of the earth’
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fold (noun f.): land
notes
[2] moldbúa foldar ‘a soil-dweller <snake> of the earth’: Moldbúi ‘soil-dweller’ is also found in Harð 8/3V, where it refers to a revenant inhabiting a mound, but cf. heiðbúi ‘heath-dweller’ and steinbúi ‘soil-dweller’ as snake-heiti in Þul Orma 3/4, 5III. Foldar ‘of the earth’ seems somewhat redundant in meaning. The phrase is kenning-like in structure but cannot be fitted into any known kenning pattern. The referent is taken as a stone rather than a snake in the U redaction: see Note to [All] above.
mold ‘a soil’
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mold (noun f.; °-ar, dat. -u; -ir): earth, soil < moldbúi (noun m.)
notes
[2] moldbúa foldar ‘a soil-dweller <snake> of the earth’: Moldbúi ‘soil-dweller’ is also found in Harð 8/3V, where it refers to a revenant inhabiting a mound, but cf. heiðbúi ‘heath-dweller’ and steinbúi ‘soil-dweller’ as snake-heiti in Þul Orma 3/4, 5III. Foldar ‘of the earth’ seems somewhat redundant in meaning. The phrase is kenning-like in structure but cannot be fitted into any known kenning pattern. The referent is taken as a stone rather than a snake in the U redaction: see Note to [All] above.
búa ‘dweller’
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1. búi (noun m.; °-a; -ar): dweller, inhabitant < moldbúi (noun m.)
[2] ‑búa: ‘‑kűa’ 281ˣ
notes
[2] moldbúa foldar ‘a soil-dweller <snake> of the earth’: Moldbúi ‘soil-dweller’ is also found in Harð 8/3V, where it refers to a revenant inhabiting a mound, but cf. heiðbúi ‘heath-dweller’ and steinbúi ‘soil-dweller’ as snake-heiti in Þul Orma 3/4, 5III. Foldar ‘of the earth’ seems somewhat redundant in meaning. The phrase is kenning-like in structure but cannot be fitted into any known kenning pattern. The referent is taken as a stone rather than a snake in the U redaction: see Note to [All] above.
á ‘’
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3. á (prep.): on, at
sat ‘sat’
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setja (verb): place, set, establish
[3] sat nár: so A, sat naðr 2845, 281ˣ, W, sat maðr 597bˣ, ‘satnadar’ R715ˣ
nár ‘a corpse’
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nár (noun m.; °-s; -ir): corpse
[3] sat nár: so A, sat naðr 2845, 281ˣ, W, sat maðr 597bˣ, ‘satnadar’ R715ˣ
á ‘on’
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3. á (prep.): on, at
blindr ‘a blind thing’
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blindr (adj.; °compar. -ari): blind
blindum ‘on a blind thing’
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blindr (adj.; °compar. -ari): blind
brim ‘the surf’
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brim (noun n.): surf < brimleið (noun f.)
[5] brim‑: brim‑ corrected from brun‑ in the margin in another hand 597bˣ, ‘Bun‑’ with bein‑ written above in another hand R715ˣ
kennings
brimleiðar;‘the surf-way; ’
= SEA
the surf-way; → SEA
notes
[5] brimleiðar ‘the surf-way [SEA]’: All mss read ‑reiðar ‘chariot’; this cpd, a ship-kenning, is found in Sturl Hrafn 3/6II (and see Note), but makes no sense in the present context. Skj B and Skald also emend to ‑leiðar ‘way’, which cpd is found, with tmesis, in Sigv Knútdr 8/7, 8I. Edd. Min., FSGJ, Heiðr 1873 (253 and 358 n.) and Heiðr 1960 (37 and n. 3) retain ‑reiðar, the latter two citing the Old English poetic word brimrād ‘sea-road’ as a possible influence for the sense ‘sea’, which has to be what is meant. OE brimrād is only found in two instances in Andreas (ll. 1259 and 1585) (DOE), though there are other compounds in ‑rād with similar meaning, e.g. hranrād ‘whale-road, i.e. sea’, swanrād ‘swan-road, i.e. sea’ (DOE Corpus). The word reið ‘rode’ in l. 4 and the horse-imagery may have influenced the copying here.
leiðar ‘way’
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leið (noun f.; °-ar, dat. -u/-; -ir/-ar): path, way < brimleið (noun f.)
[5] ‑leiðar: reiðar all
kennings
brimleiðar;‘the surf-way; ’
= SEA
the surf-way; → SEA
notes
[5] brimleiðar ‘the surf-way [SEA]’: All mss read ‑reiðar ‘chariot’; this cpd, a ship-kenning, is found in Sturl Hrafn 3/6II (and see Note), but makes no sense in the present context. Skj B and Skald also emend to ‑leiðar ‘way’, which cpd is found, with tmesis, in Sigv Knútdr 8/7, 8I. Edd. Min., FSGJ, Heiðr 1873 (253 and 358 n.) and Heiðr 1960 (37 and n. 3) retain ‑reiðar, the latter two citing the Old English poetic word brimrād ‘sea-road’ as a possible influence for the sense ‘sea’, which has to be what is meant. OE brimrād is only found in two instances in Andreas (ll. 1259 and 1585) (DOE), though there are other compounds in ‑rād with similar meaning, e.g. hranrād ‘whale-road, i.e. sea’, swanrād ‘swan-road, i.e. sea’ (DOE Corpus). The word reið ‘rode’ in l. 4 and the horse-imagery may have influenced the copying here.
til ‘to’
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til (prep.): to
[5] til: ‘ofda’ with góð hestr written above in another hand R715ˣ
andar ‘breath’
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2. ǫnd (noun f.; °andar, dat. ǫnd/ǫndu; andir): soul, breath
vanr ‘lacking in’
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2. vanr (adj.): lacking
[6] vanr: vani 281ˣ, 597bˣ, vani apparently corrected from ‘var̄’ in another hand R715ˣ
Heiðrekr ‘Heiðrekr’
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Heiðrekr (noun m.): Heiðrekr
[7-8] abbrev. as ‘h k’ 2845, abbrev. as ‘heid: kr’ 281ˣ, abbrev. as ‘h K:’ 597bˣ
konungr ‘King’
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konungr (noun m.; °dat. -i, -s; -ar): king
[7-8] abbrev. as ‘h k’ 2845, abbrev. as ‘heid: kr’ 281ˣ, abbrev. as ‘h K:’ 597bˣ
hyggðu ‘think’
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2. hyggja (verb): think, consider
[7-8] abbrev. as ‘h k’ 2845, abbrev. as ‘heid: kr’ 281ˣ, abbrev. as ‘h K:’ 597bˣ
at ‘about’
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3. at (prep.): at, to
[7-8] abbrev. as ‘h k’ 2845, abbrev. as ‘heid: kr’ 281ˣ, abbrev. as ‘h K:’ 597bˣ
gátu ‘the riddle’
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gáta (noun f.)
[7-8] abbrev. as ‘h k’ 2845, abbrev. as ‘heid: kr’ 281ˣ, abbrev. as ‘h K:’ 597bˣ
Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses
In the H redaction, before propounding this riddle, Gestumblindi says, in response to Heiðrekr’s comment after the previous riddle (see Heiðr 72, Note to [All]) (Heiðr 1924, 73): tregr em ek þess, en þó væntir mik, at þar komi nú skjótt ‘I am reluctant for that [i.e. submitting to the judgement of the counsellors], but yet I expect that it will now come quickly’. In TGT, ll. 1-3 illustrate the figure of enigma, defined (TGT 1884, 114): Enigma ær myrkt sen vm leynda liking | lvtanna, sem her ‘Enigma is obscure sense on account of the hidden likeness of things, as here’. Following quotation of the riddle we are told (ibid.): þæskonar figvrv kǫllvm ver gátv, ok ær hon iafnan sett í skalldskap ‘this kind of figure we call gáta [‘riddle’], and it is always rendered in poetry’.
Heiðrekr’s response is (Heiðr 1960, 37): þar fanntu hest dauðan á ísjaka ok orm dauðan á hestinum, ok rak þat allt saman eptir ánni ‘there you found a dead horse on an ice-floe and a dead snake on the horse, and all together that drifted along the river’ (the ms. reads ǫrn ‘eagle’ for orm ‘snake’, but this is clearly an error). The H redaction reaches the same solution in more words, but both appear to overinterpret the riddle: the jór ‘steed’ is the ice-floe, the means of conveyance for the moldbúi foldar ‘soil-dweller of the earth’, rather than a literal dead horse, and so ‘a dead serpent on an ice-floe’ solves the riddle by itself (Heiðr 1873, 358 n.). The U redaction offers (Heiðr 1924, 137): þar fanstu stein; hann mun hafa leigid i isiaka; steirn er molldbui; þetta muntu hafa rekid [emended to sied reka in Heiðr 1672, 150] allt samann a vatni; þar voru badir blindir og daudir ‘There you found a stone; it must have lain on an ice-floe; a stone is a soil-dweller; this you must have driven [‘seen driven’ with Verelius’ emendation] all together on the water; there were both the blind and the dead’. Though disappointingly mundane compared to the other redactions, this alternative admittedly addresses the description provided in the riddle. — [3]: All mss have two instances of á ‘on’ in this line; the first is likely pleonastic. No other eds have emended or commented on the problem.
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