Gestumbl Heiðr 6^VIII (Heiðr 53)

Hverr er sá inn mikli,         er mörgu ræðr,
        ok horfir til heljar hálfr?
*Öldum bergr         en við jörð sakaz,
        ef hann hefir sér vel traustan vin.
Heiðrekr konungr,         hyggðu at gátu.

Hverr er sá inn mikli, er ræðr mörgu, ok horfir hálfr til heljar? Bergr *öldum en sakaz við jörð, ef hann hefir sér vel traustan vin. Heiðrekr konungr, hyggðu at gátu.

Who is that, the great one, who governs much, and half [of him] turns to Hel? He protects men but contends with the earth, if he has for himself a well-trusted friend. King Heiðrekr, think about the riddle.

Mss: 2845(72r), R715ˣ(28v) (ll. 1-6), 281ˣ(99r), 597bˣ(49v), 203ˣ(106ra) (Heiðr)

Readings: [1] sá: om. R715ˣ    [3] ok: om. 203ˣ;    horfir: horfir corrected from hverfir in the margin in another hand 597bˣ    [4] *Öldum: hölðum 2845, 281ˣ, 597bˣ, 203ˣ, ýtum R715ˣ;    bergr: heitir bergr R715ˣ, hann bergr 281ˣ, 597bˣ, 203ˣ    [5] en: so all others, ok 2845;    við: so all others, om. 2845;    jörð: jörðu R715ˣ, hjörð 281ˣ, 597bˣ, ‘suo᷎rd’ 203ˣ;    sakaz: ‘salast’ R715ˣ    [6] hann: om. R715ˣ;    sér: ‘[…]’ R715ˣ    [7-8] abbrev. as ‘h k̄’ 2845, abbrev. as ‘heidr: k: higg ad’ 281ˣ, abbrev. as ‘h: Kongur h: þu ad etc’ corrected from ‘h: Kongur h: þu etc’ in the margin in another hand 597bˣ, abbrev. as ‘h. k. h. þ. a. Gatu’ 203ˣ

Editions: Skj AII, 225-6, Skj BII, 244, Skald II, 127, NN §2361; Heiðr 1672, 148, FSN 1, 480, Heiðr 1873, 239-40, 341, Heiðr 1924, 61-2, 78, 136, FSGJ 2, 47, Heiðr 1960, 41-2; Edd. Min. 108.

Notes: [All]: Heiðrekr’s response is (Heiðr 1960, 42): þat er akkeri með góðum streng; ef fleinn hans er í grunni, þá bergr þat ‘that is an anchor with a good rope; if his fluke is in the bed [of the sea etc.], then it is safe’. The H redaction has a longer explanation and adds (Heiðr 1924, 62): En mjǫk undrumz ek orðfimi þína ok vitrleik ‘But I wonder greatly at your word-skill and wisdom’. — [3] til heljar ‘to Hel’: See Note to Heiðr 32/1. Here in the sense ‘to the realm of the dead’ (LP:1. hel, Hel 1), i.e. the fluke (ON fleinn) fastens into the bed of a body of water (grunnr in the prose solution) pointing downwards. Cf. Gestumbl Heiðr 8/4-5 (Heiðr 55), which describes a leek pointing á helvega ‘towards the roads to Hel’ with its head. — [4]: Cf. Gestumbl Heiðr 27/4 (Heiðr 74). — [4] *öldum ‘men’: All the mss have a word meaning ‘men’ here, ýtum in the case of R715ˣ and hölðum in all the others, which lacks alliteration with the following line. Mss 281ˣ and 597bˣ achieve the alliteration with hjörð ‘herd’ for jörð in l. 5, but this makes little sense. Most eds, as here, emend to öldum. Cf. Hym 22/2 (NK 92): sá er ǫldom bergr ‘that one who protects men’, referring to the god Þórr in his fight with Miðgarðsormr. Kock retains hǫlðum and emends jörð to hjarl ‘land’ (Skald; NN §2361), which produces the desired meaning but is without ms. justification.

References

1. Bibliography
2. FSN = Rafn, Carl Christian, ed. 1829-30. Fornaldar sögur nordrlanda. 3 vols. Copenhagen: Popp.
3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. NK = Neckel, Gustav and Hans Kuhn (1899), eds. 1983. Edda: Die Lieder des Codex Regius nebst verwandten Denkmälern. 2 vols. I: Text. 5th edn. Heidelberg: Winter.
6. Heiðr 1672 = Verelius, Olaus, ed. 1672. Hervarar Saga på Gammel Gotska. Uppsala: Curio.
7. FSGJ = Guðni Jónsson, ed. 1954. Fornaldar sögur norðurlanda. 4 vols. [Reykjavík]: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan.
8. 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.
9. Heiðr 1924 = Jón Helgason, ed. 1924. Heiðreks saga. Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks konungs. SUGNL 48. Copenhagen: Jørgensen.
10. Heiðr 1960 = Tolkien, Christopher, ed. and trans. 1960. Saga Heiðreks konungs ins vitra / The Saga of King Heidrek the Wise. Nelson Icelandic Texts. London etc.: Nelson.
11. Heiðr 1873 = Bugge, Sophus, ed. 1873. Hervarar saga ok Heidreks. Det Norske oldskriftselskabs samlinger 17. Christiania (Oslo): Brøgger.
12. Internal references
13. Hannah Burrows (ed.) 2017, ‘Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks 79 (Gestumblindi, Heiðreks gátur 32)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 446.
14. Hannah Burrows (ed.) 2017, ‘Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks 74 (Gestumblindi, Heiðreks gátur 27)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 441.
15. Hannah Burrows (ed.) 2017, ‘Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks 55 (Gestumblindi, Heiðreks gátur 8)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 417.
16. Not published: do not cite ()