Hubert Seelow (ed.) 2017, ‘Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka 73 (Hrókr inn svarti, Hrókskviða 23)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 361.
Þá mun reyna ok raun gefa,
ef vit Sveinn komum saman í rómu,
hvárir í vígi verða hæfri,
Hámundar burr eða Haka þegnar.
Þá mun reyna ok raun gefa, ef vit Sveinn komum saman í rómu, hvárir verða hæfri í vígi, {Hámundar burr} eða þegnar Haka.
Then it will be experienced and put to the test, if Sveinn and I clash in battle, who will prove to be more courageous in fighting, {the son of Hámundr} [= Hrókr inn svarti] or Haki’s men.
Mss: 2845(38v) (Hálf)
Editions: Skj AII, 268, Skj BII, 291, Skald II, 153; Hálf 1864, 38, Hálf 1909, 129, FSGJ 2, 130-1, Hálf 1981, 196; Edd. Min. 48.
Notes: [All]: According to the prose text (Hálf 1981, ch. 10, 190), King Sveinn inn sigrsæli ‘the Victorious’ asked King Haki for the hand of his daughter Brynhildr, but Haki refused him. Sveinn then swore an oath that he would kill both the man who married Brynhildr and her father as well. Heðinn, a jarl of King Haki, then put himself forward as a suitor, together with his son Vifill. Haki promised Brynhildr to Vifill on condition that he defended the country against Sveinn. — [3] vit Sveinn ‘Sveinn and I’: The ms. has here ‘uid sueín’, which can be understood as við Svein ‘against Sveinn’ or as vit Sveinn ‘Sveinn and I’ (with vit the 2nd pers. dual nom. pers. pron.). In the former reading, the syntax ef komum saman við Svein í rómu ‘if we come together against Sveinn in battle’ requires an otherwise unattested koma saman við e-n, so some eds (Skj B, Skald) have adopted the second alternative, which is also adopted here. — [5] hvárir ‘who’: I.e. ‘which of the two parties’.
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