Anon Krm 13^VIII

Hjuggu vér með hjörvi.
Heldum Lakkar tjöldum
hátt at Hildar leiki
fyrir Hjaðningavági.
Sjá knáttu þá seggir,
er sundruðum skjöldu
at hræsíldar hjaldri,
hjálm slitnaðan gotna.
Varat, sem bjarta brúði
í bing hjá sér leggja.

Hjuggu vér með hjörvi. Heldum {tjöldum Lakkar} hátt at {leiki Hildar} fyrir Hjaðningavági. Seggir knáttu þá sjá hjálm gotna slitnaðan, er sundruðum skjöldu at hjaldri {hræsíldar}. Varat, sem leggja bjarta brúði í bing hjá sér.

We hewed with the sword. We held high {the canopies of Hlǫkk <valkyrie>} [SHIELDS] in {the game of Hildr <valkyrie>} [BATTLE] off Hjaðningavágr. Men could then see [many a] helmet of warriors broken when we sundered shields in the conflict {of the corpse-herring} [SPEAR]. It was not like placing a fair maiden in a bed beside one.

Mss: 1824b(80r), 147(108r-v), 6ˣ(88v) (Ragn); R702ˣ(30r), LR(210-211), R693ˣ(10v)

Readings: [1] Hjuggu vér með hjörvi: abbrev. as ‘Hiug ˉ ver. m. h᷎.’ 1824b, abbrev. as ‘(H’) v(’) m(’) h(’)’ (?) 147, Hjuggum vér með hjörvi 6ˣ, LR, R693ˣ, abbrev. as ‘H v. m. h.’ R702ˣ    [2] Heldum: ‘[…]lldum’ 147;    Lakkar: ‘hlack[…]’ 147;    tjöldum: ‘(tiolldum)’(?) 147    [3] hátt at: ‘h[…]tt at’ 147;    at: ‘[…]’ 147;    Hildar: ‘hildur’ LR;    leiki: ‘[…]’ 147    [4] fyrir: ‘(fyrir)’(?) 147;    Hjaðninga‑ (‘hiadninga’): so R702ˣ, LR, R693ˣ, ‘hednínga’ 1824b, ‘(h)[…]ninga’(?) 147, ‘Hedninga’ with ‘Hjadninga W.’ in margin 6ˣ;    ‑vági: ‘vogi’ 147    [5] Sjá: ‘[…]a’ 147;    knáttu: ‘m(a)ttu’(?) 147, máttu R702ˣ, R693ˣ, ‘maettu’ LR;    seggir: so 6ˣ, R702ˣ, LR, R693ˣ, ‘sekgír’ 1824b, ‘(se)gir’(?) 147    [6] sundruðum: ‘sundrudum’ with ‘suerd rifo W’ in margin 6ˣ, sverð rifu R702ˣ, LR, R693ˣ;    skjöldu: skjöldum 147    [7] at: so 6ˣ, R702ˣ, LR, R693ˣ, ‘a[…]’ 1824b;    hræsíldar (‘hræsilldar’): so R702ˣ, R693ˣ, ‘hresilna’ 1824b, ‘(llt uar) eíns’(?) 147, ‘hresilna’ with ‘hraesilldur’ in margin 6ˣ, ‘hraesilldur’ LR;    hjaldri: at gæta 147    [8] hjálm slitnaðan: ‘hialm slitnadar’ 1824b, ‘fyri […] pru(n)a’(?) 147, ‘hialm slitnadar’ with ‘slitnadann W.’ in margin 6ˣ, ‘hialmsitnadann’ with l placed between s and i above line R702ˣ, ‘hialm slitnad ann’ LR, ‘hialm slit nad ann’ R693ˣ;    gotna: sólar 147    [10] leggja: legði 147

Editions: Skj AI, 645, Skj BI, 652, Skald I, 318; Rafn 1826, 12-13, 121-3, Pfeiffer 1860, 125, CPB II, 342, Wisén 1886-9, I, 64, Krm 1891, 226, Finnur Jónsson 1893b, 88, Finnur Jónsson 1905, 154; Ragn 1906-8, 187.

Notes: [All]: In 147 (108v, l. 1), ll. 9-10 of st. 1 (apart from the final word of l. 10) appear in abbreviated form between the present stanza and st. 14. — [2] Lakkar ‘of Hlǫkk <valkyrie>’: The Old Norwegian spelling Lakkar (cf. first Note to st. 2/10, above), adopted in previous eds from and including Finnur Jónsson (1893b) onwards, is needed to avoid double alliteration in an even line. — [4] fyrir Hjaðningavági ‘off Hjaðningavágr’: According to LP: Hjaðningavágr, the location of this place, lit. ‘the bay of Heðinn’s followers’, is uncertain, men rimeligvis tænkt i vesten ‘but probably thought of as in the west’, which presumably means somewhere west of mainland Scandinavia, i.e. somewhere in the British Isles. The location in the present instance is almost certainly somewhere in the Orkneys, since according to one version of the legend of the Hjaðningavíg ‘the battle of Heðinn’s followers’, as related in Skm (SnE 1998, I, 72) (cf. st. 4, first Note to l. 2 and st. 10, Note to l. 7), it is to the Orkneys, and specifically to the island of Hoy (ON Háey), that Hǫgni pursues Heðinn, the abductor of his daughter Hildr, and where the everlasting fight between Hǫgni and Heðinn, instigated by Hildr, takes place. The frequency in Krm, always in a battle-context, of the noun hildr (sts 10/2, 13/3, 14/7, 21/4, 26/4), whether understood as a pers. n. or as a common noun meaning ‘battle’, the oblique reference to Hildr in the kenning kván Heðins ‘woman of Heðinn’ in st. 4/2, and the occurrence of the name Hǫgni in the armour-kenning in st. 10/7, all suggest that the legend of the Hjaðningavíg was known to the poet of Krm, and that it is indeed a location in the Orkneys that is envisaged here. Less likely is the apparent suggestion in CPB (CPB II, 342) of the Baltic island of Heðinsey (Hiddensee), another possible location of the everlasting battle, mentioned e.g. in Saxo’s Gesta Danorum (Saxo 2015, I, v. 9. 1, pp. 330-3), cf. Vǫls ch. 9 (Vǫls 1965, 15-16). — [4] Hjaðninga-: Lit. ‘of Heðinn’s followers’. This form, adopted by all eds from and including Wisén (1886-9) onwards (whether as a separate word or a cpd element), is clearly preferable to the aberrant forms Héðninga, Heðninga adopted by earlier eds; cf. ONP: *héðningr. — [6] hræsíldar ‘of the corpse-herring [SWORD]’: So Finnur Jónsson (1905; Skj B) and Kock (Skald); Wisén (1886-9) has gen. pl. hræsílda ‘of corpse-herrings’. Rafn (1826), Pfeiffer (1860), the eds of CPB, Krm 1891 and Finnur Jónsson (1893b), on the other hand, read hræsílna ‘of corpse-sand-eels (?)’, evidently seeing ‑sílna as gen. pl. of a n. noun síla, thought of as synonymous with síl n. ‘sand-eel’, mentioned in Þul Fiska 2/2^III; see LP: hræsíld. — [7-8]: In 147 (108r-v), ll. 7-8 of st. 8 appear to be repeated here, as ‘[…](llt uar) eíns at gæta (?) fyri […] pru(n)a solar’ in place of ll. 7-8 of the present stanza as preserved in all other mss. See Note to st. 8/7-8. — [9-10]: These lines, with their contrast of the hardships of warlike activity with the pleasures of women’s company, are echoed in sts 18/5-6 and 20/5-6, 9-10, below. For parallels elsewhere in the skaldic corpus, see Introduction. On the failure by early translators of Krm to recognise the negative particle ‑at in this instance (as well as those in sts 14, 18 and 20), thus presenting the contrast in question as a comparison, see also Introduction.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. LP = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1931. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis: Ordbog over det norsk-islandske skjaldesprog oprindelig forfattet af Sveinbjörn Egilsson. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Møller.
5. 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.
6. Wisén, Theodor, ed. 1886-9. Carmina Norrœnæ: Ex reliquiis vetustioris norrœnæ poësis selecta, recognita, commentariis et glossario instructa. 2 vols. Lund: Ohlsson.
7. Finnur Jónsson. 1893b. Carmina Norrœna: Rettet Tekst. Copenhagen: Nielsen & Lydiche.
8. ONP = Degnbol, Helle et al., eds. 1989-. A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose / Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog. 1-. Copenhagen: The Arnamagnæan Commission.
9. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
10. Pfeiffer, Friedrich. 1860. Altnordisches Lesebuch. Leipzig: T. O. Weigel.
11. Vǫls 1965 = Finch, R. G., ed. and trans. 1965. The Saga of the Volsungs. London: Nelson.
12. Vǫls = Vǫlsunga saga.
13. Ragn 1906-8 = Olsen 1906-8, 111-222.
14. Finnur Jónsson. 1905. ‘Krákumál’. Oversigt over det Kgl. Danske videnskabernes selskabs forhandlinger 1905, 151-83.
15. Krm 1891 = 2nd edn (pp. 225-8) of Krm as ed. in Valdimar Ásmundarson 1885-9, I.
16. Saxo 2015 = Friis-Jensen, Karsten, ed. 2015. Saxo Grammaticus: Gesta Danorum: The History of the Danes. Trans. Peter Fisher. Oxford Medieval Texts. 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon.
17. Rafn, Carl Christian, ed. 1826. Krakas Maal eller Kvad om Kong Ragnar Lodbroks Krigsbedrifter og Heltedød efter en gammel Skindbog og flere hidtil ubenyttede Haandskrifter med dansk, latinsk og fransk oversættelse, forskjellige Læsemaader, samt kritiske og philologiske Anmærkninger. Copenhagen: Jens Hostrup Schultz; London: John and Arthur Arch.
18. Internal references
19. (forthcoming), ‘ Snorri Sturluson, Skáldskaparmál’ 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=112> (accessed 19 April 2024)
20. Rory McTurk 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Krákumál’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 706. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1020> (accessed 19 April 2024)
21. Elena Gurevich 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Fiska heiti’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 852. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=3206> (accessed 19 April 2024)
22. Not published: do not cite ()