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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Heiðrekr Heiðr 1VIII (Heiðr 85)

Hannah Burrows (ed.) 2017, ‘Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks 85 (Heiðrekr, Heiðreks gátur 1)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 452.

HeiðrekrHeiðreks gátur1

text and translation

Undr ok argskap         ok alla bleyði!
En engi vissi         þín þau orð
útan þú einn,         ill vættr ok örm.

Undr ok argskap ok alla bleyði! En engi vissi þau orð þín útan þú einn, ill ok örm vættr.
 
‘Shame and depravity and all cowardice! But no one knew those words of yours except you alone, evil and wretched creature.

notes and context

Heiðrekr’s response to Gestumblindi’s unanswerable final question.

Edd. Min. does not treat this response as poetry, but all lines except l. 4 are metrical, though l. 6 has two alliterating staves. — Mss 2845 and R715ˣ have the prose response (Heiðr 1960, 44), Þat veiztu einn, rǫg vættr! ‘You alone know that, depraved creature!’. Cf. Lok 57/1, 59/1, 61/1, 63/1 Þegi þú, rǫg vættr! ‘Be silent, depraved creature!’. On the implications of the word ragr (and argskapr ‘depravity’ in l. 1) see Meulengracht Sørensen (1983, 18-20). — [3]: Kock (Skald, NN) rearranges to En engi þau | þín orð vissi ‘but no one knows those words of yours’ and so restores alliteration to the line.

readings

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.

editions and texts

Skj: Anonyme digte og vers [XIII], D. 5. Heiðreks gátur 38: AII, 228, BII, 247, Skald II, 128, NN §2364; FSN 1, 487, Heiðr 1873, 263, Heiðr 1924, 83; Edd. Min. 120.

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