Ásmk Lv 4^VIII (Ásm 10)

Þá kom inn hári         Hildibrandr,
Húnakappi;         hann var mér ómakr.
Ok ek markaða         meðan á hánum
herkumbl harðlig         fyr hjálm neðan.

Þá kom inn hári Hildibrandr Húnakappi; hann var mér ómakr. Ok ek markaða meðan á hánum {harðlig herkumbl} fyr hjálm neðan.

Then came the grey-haired Hildibrandr, champion of the Huns; he was not easy for me to deal with. And meanwhile I marked on him {hard war tokens} [WOUNDS] beneath his helmet.

Mss: 7(43r) (Ásm)

Editions: Skj AII, 322, Skj BII, 342, Skald II, 184; Peringskiöld 1722, 23 (ch. 10), FSN 2, 487 (ch. 10), Detter 1891, 100, FSGJ 1, 408 (ch. 10) (Ásm); CPB I, 192, Halvorsen 1951, 20; Edd. Min. 87.

Context: According to the saga, after Hildibrandr hears that Ásmundr has disposed of the eleven men, he flies into a berserk rage, and sets out for the River Rhine to meet him.

Notes: [2] Hildibrandr: The line as it stands in the ms. is hypometrical, but if excrescent ‑u- were added in Hildibrand[u]r, the metre would be restored. — [3] Húnakappi ‘champion of the Huns’: According to Skj A, the final <i> of this word is absent, but it appears legible to this ed. — [4] ómakr ‘not easy to deal with’: Lit. ‘unequal’; cf. makara ‘more equal, more agreeable’, KormǪ Lv 9/5^V (Korm 9). — [6] meðan ‘meanwhile’: Emended by Skj B and Skald to mæki ‘with a sword’. — [7-8]: The wording here is grimly playful. The cpd herkumbl usually refers to a token or mark on a helmet and can also be a heiti for helmet; see Þul Hjálms 2/2^III, Hálf 9/3. A herkuml beneath the helmet, however, is in the wrong place and hence is a wound to the face.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj A = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15a. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. A: Tekst efter håndskrifterne. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1967. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
3. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
4. FSN = Rafn, Carl Christian, ed. 1829-30. Fornaldar sögur nordrlanda. 3 vols. Copenhagen: Popp.
5. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
6. 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.
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. Detter, Ferdinand, ed. 1891. Zwei Fornaldarsögur (Hrólfssaga Gautrekssonar und Ásmundarsaga kappabana) nach Cod. Holm. 7, 4to. Halle: Niemeyer.
10. Halvorsen, Eyvind Fjeld. 1951. ‘On the Sources of the Ásmundarsaga kappabana’. Studia Norvegica 2, 1-57.
11. Peringskiöld, Johann, ed. 1722. Saugu Asmundar, er kallaður er Kappabani. Stockholm: Horrn.
12. Internal references
13. 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Ásmundar saga kappabana’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 15. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=65> (accessed 25 April 2024)
14. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Hjálms heiti 2’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 830.
15. Edith Marold (ed.) 2022, ‘Kormáks saga 9 (Kormákr Ǫgmundarson, Lausavísur 9)’ 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. 1044.
16. Hubert Seelow (ed.) 2017, ‘Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka 9 (Marmennill, Lausavísur 4)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 312.