Hróksv Hrkv 11^VIII (Hálf 61)

Höfðum vér allir         inn efra hlut,
hvar sem Hildar …         hlífar knúði.
Einn vissa ek         jafnsnjallan gram,
Sigurð konung         at sölum Gjúka.

Vér höfðum allir inn efra hlut, hvar sem {… Hildar} knúði hlífar. Ek vissa einn jafnsnjallan gram, Sigurð konung at sölum Gjúka.

We all had the better share wherever {… of Hildr } [BATTLE?] struck shields. I knew only one prince to have been equally valiant, King Sigurðr at Gjúki’s halls.

Mss: 2845(38r) (Hálf)

Editions: Skj AII, 266, Skj BII, 288, Skald II, 151, NN §2383; Hálf 1864, 34, Hálf 1909, 124, FSGJ 2, 127, Hálf 1981, 134, 193; Edd. Min. 45-6.

Notes: [1-2] vér höfðum allir inn efra hlut ‘we all had the better share’: That is, ‘we all gained victory’. — [3-4]: The problem with these lines concerns the probable kenning that underlies them. Because hlíf (l. 4) itself means ‘shield’ it cannot be construed with Hildar (l. 3) to give a shield-kenning. Most eds have therefore supposed that another word, forming a kenning with Hildar ‘of Hildr’, must have dropped out of l. 3, even though there is no lacuna in the ms. The following suggestions have been made: Hálfr 1864: hvars Hildar él | Hálfr knúði (but this is unmetrical); Edd. Min.: hvar sem Hildar hlynr | hlífar knúði; Skj B: hvars Hildar él | hlífar knúði; Skald: hvar er Hildar hríð | hlífar knúði. The following kennings have been proposed: él Hildar ‘the storm of Hildr <valkyrie> [BATTLE]’; hlynr Hildar ‘the maple of Hildr <valkyrie> [WARRIOR]’ and hríð Hildar ‘the storm of Hildr <valkyrie> [BATTLE]’. A sword-kenning like ‘fire (eldr, bál) of Hildr’ is also a possibility. — [7-8] Sigurð konung at sölum Gjúka ‘King Sigurðr at Gjúki’s halls’: A reference to the legend of Sigurðr Fáfnisbani ‘Slayer of Fáfnir’ and his stay at the court of King Gjúki, where he formed a bond of blood-brotherhood with Gjúki’s son Gunnarr and wooed his daughter Guðrún, as told in Vǫls and several poems of the Poetic Edda. — [8] at sölum Gjúka ‘at Gjúki’s halls’: Cf. Gríp 43/4 (NK 170) í sǫlom Giúca ‘in Gjúki’s halls’.

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. 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. FSGJ = Guðni Jónsson, ed. 1954. Fornaldar sögur norðurlanda. 4 vols. [Reykjavík]: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan.
7. 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.
8. Vǫls = Vǫlsunga saga.
9. Hálf 1981 = Seelow, Hubert, ed. 1981. Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka. RSÁM 20. Reykjavík: Stofnun Árna Magnússonar.
10. Hálf 1864 = Bugge, Sophus, ed. 1864. Saga af Hálfi ok Hálfsrekkum. Norrøne Skrifter af sagnhistorisk Indhold 1. Christiania (Oslo): Det Nordiske Oldskriftselskab.
11. Hálf 1909 = Andrews, A. Le Roy, ed. 1909. Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka. ASB 14. Halle: Niemeyer.
12. Internal references
13. Not published: do not cite ()