Anon Krm 23^VIII

Hjuggu vér með hjörvi.
Hitt tel ek jafnt, at gangi
at samtogi sverða
sveinn í móti einum.
Hrøkkvi ei þegn fyrir þegni;
þat var drengs aðal lengi;
æ skal ástvinr meyja
einarðr í dyn sverða.

Hjuggu vér með hjörvi. Hitt tel ek jafnt, at sveinn gangi í móti einum at {samtogi sverða}. Hrøkkvi ei þegn fyrir þegni; þat var lengi aðal drengs; {ástvinr meyja} skal æ einarðr í {dyn sverða}.

We hewed with the sword. This I consider fair, that one lad should go against another at {the drawing together of swords} [BATTLE]. One warrior should not give way to another; that was always the nature of a hero; {the dear friend of maidens} [LOVER] should always be resolute in {the din of swords} [BATTLE].

Mss: R702ˣ(31r), 147(108v) (ll. 1-2), 147(103r) (ll. 2-10), 6ˣ(90v) (Ragn); LR(220-221), R693ˣ(15v)

Readings: [1] Hjuggu vér með hjörvi: abbrev. as ‘H. v. m. h’ R702ˣ, abbrev. as ‘H(’) v(’) m(’)d hiorui’(?) 147(108v), Hjuggum vér með hjörvi 6ˣ, LR, R693ˣ    [3] samtogi: ‘sam(togi)’(?) 147(103r), ‘samtoger’ LR, ‘samtoga’ R693ˣ    [4] sveinn í móti einum: ‘sueinn at moti einum’ 147(103r), ‘Sveirn j mote sveine’ 6ˣ, ‘Sueinum i móte einum’ R693ˣ    [5] Hrøkkvi ei þegn fyrir þegni: ‘hraucki þegn fyrir [...]gni’ 147(103r), Hrøkkvat þegn fyrir þegni 6ˣ    [6] þat var drengs aðal lengi: ‘þad er drengs adal (leng)[...]’(?) 147(103r)    [7] æ: ‘[…]’ 147(103r), ey 6ˣ;    skal ástvinr meyja: ‘skal [...] astvi(n)ur meyiar’(?) 147(103r)    [8] einarðr: öndverðr 147(103r), einharðr 6ˣ;    í dyn sverða: ‘j dyz suerd[...]’ 147(103r)

Editions: Skj AI, 647, Skj BI, 654, Skald I, 320; Rafn 1826, 20-1, 142, Pfeiffer 1860, 126, CPB II, 344, Wisén 1886-9, I, 65, Krm 1891, 228, Finnur Jónsson 1893b, 90, Finnur Jónsson 1905, 156; Ragn 1906-8, 188.

Notes: [All]: In 147(108v, l. 25) the first two words of st. 1/9, Stakk ek ‘I thrust’, appear in abbreviated form between the present stanza and st. 22, see first Note to st. 1/9-10. — [All]: With the possible exception of 147, in which there is illegible text immediately following l. 8 of st. 23 (see st. 16, Note to [All] above), the mss leave little doubt that this is an eight-line stanza. Previous eds have treated it as such apart from Rafn (1826) and the eds of CPB. — [3] at samtogi sverða ‘at the drawing together of swords [BATTLE]’: Exactly the same line is at OStór 11/3 and Egill Lv 41/7^V (Eg 71); cf. de Vries (1964-7, II, 40 n. 68). The implication of samtog is ‘a mutually hostile drawing of swords’. — [4] einum ‘another’: This is the m. dat. sg. of einn ‘one’, here used substantivally in the sense of ‘another one’. This reading has been adopted in previous eds from Finnur Jónsson (1893b) onwards, while 6ˣ’s sveini, which produces two alliterating staves in an even line, was adopted by earlier eds up to and including Wisén (1886-9). — [5]: The repetition in this line’s penultimate syllable of þegn ‘warrior’, occurring earlier in the line, appears to be an example of samhending or samhenda, i.e. ‘coincidental rhyme’ (so Faulkes in SnE 2007, 137), i.e. rhyme falling on the same syllable as the alliteration and in cases of full rhyme producing identical syllables. Other examples are found in RvHbreiðm Hl 57-8^III and SnSt Ht 46-8^III; see further SnE 2007, 52. — [7]: This line exemplifies the consonantless internal half-rhyme (skothending: here on <æ> and <ey>) that may occur in lines in which the vowel or diphthong in the cadence is followed by a glide, <j> or <v>; see Kuhn (1983, 78) and cf. the Note to st. 3/9-10, above. — [7] ástvinr meyja ‘the dear friend of maidens [LOVER]’: This is one of the three cases, listed by Meissner 351 as unique in skaldic poetry, of kennings meaning ‘lover’ or ‘beloved’ being used where warrior-kennings would be expected, the other two being the kennings in st. 20/3, 4 (see Note there). It is possible that these three kennings may reflect the influence of the medieval conception of the hero as a knight who does service on behalf of women. As indicated above, the argument of st. 20 seems to be that the lover or beloved of women should be in no doubt about the contrast between fighting in battle and consorting with women. There is hardly a hint of this contrast in the present stanza, however, so that the kenning meaning ‘lover’ makes a stranger impression here than those in st. 20. The word ástvinr occurs in the pl. in the neutral sense ‘dear friends’ in Egill St 7/4^V (Eg 78), and in the sg. as the base-word in a ruler-kenning (‘beloved friend of people’) in Mark Eirdr 21^II; it also occurs not infrequently in Christian religious contexts, see LP: ástvinr; Gamlkan Has 47/4^VII and Note; and Anon Lil 37/5^VII and Note.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
3. Meissner = Meissner, Rudolf. 1921. Die Kenningar der Skalden: Ein Beitrag zur skaldischen Poetik. Rheinische Beiträge und Hülfsbücher zur germanischen Philologie und Volkskunde 1. Bonn and Leipzig: Schroeder. Rpt. 1984. Hildesheim etc.: Olms.
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. Vries, Jan de. 1964-7. Altnordische Literaturgeschichte. 2 vols. 2nd edn. Grundriss der germanischen Philologie 15-16. Berlin: de Gruyter.
7. Wisén, Theodor, ed. 1886-9. Carmina Norrœnæ: Ex reliquiis vetustioris norrœnæ poësis selecta, recognita, commentariis et glossario instructa. 2 vols. Lund: Ohlsson.
8. Finnur Jónsson. 1893b. Carmina Norrœna: Rettet Tekst. Copenhagen: Nielsen & Lydiche.
9. Kuhn, Hans (1899). 1983. Das Dróttkvætt. Heidelberg: Winter.
10. Pfeiffer, Friedrich. 1860. Altnordisches Lesebuch. Leipzig: T. O. Weigel.
11. SnE 2007 = Snorri Sturluson. 2007. Edda: Háttatal. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
12. Ragn 1906-8 = Olsen 1906-8, 111-222.
13. Finnur Jónsson. 1905. ‘Krákumál’. Oversigt over det Kgl. Danske videnskabernes selskabs forhandlinger 1905, 151-83.
14. Krm 1891 = 2nd edn (pp. 225-8) of Krm as ed. in Valdimar Ásmundarson 1885-9, I.
15. 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.
16. Internal references
17. Margaret Clunies Ross (forthcoming), ‘ Egill Skallagrímsson, Sonatorrek’ in Margaret Clunies Ross, Kari Ellen Gade and Tarrin Wills (eds), Poetry in Sagas of Icelanders. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 5. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1166> (accessed 19 April 2024)
18. Martin Chase 2007, ‘ Anonymous, Lilja’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 544-677. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1185> (accessed 19 April 2024)
19. Katrina Attwood 2007, ‘ Gamli kanóki, Harmsól’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 70-132. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1196> (accessed 19 April 2024)
20. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2022, ‘Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar 78 (Egill Skallagrímsson, Sonatorrek 7)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross, Kari Ellen Gade and Tarrin Wills (eds), Poetry in Sagas of Icelanders. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 5. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 305.
21. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2022, ‘Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar 71 (Egill Skallagrímsson, Lausavísur 41)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross, Kari Ellen Gade and Tarrin Wills (eds), Poetry in Sagas of Icelanders. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 5. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 291.
22. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Rǫgnvaldr jarl and Hallr Þórarinsson, Háttalykill 57’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1066.
23. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Snorri Sturluson, Háttatal 44’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1153.
24. Peter Jorgensen (ed.) 2017, ‘Orms þáttr Stórólfssonar 11 (Ásbjǫrn, Ævikviða 8)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 614.