AngH Lv 2^VIII (Heiðr 95)

Bresta mun fyrr, bróðir,         in blikhvíta lind,
ok kaldr geirr         koma við annan,
ok margr gumi         í gras hníga,
en ek mun Humlung         hálfan láta,
eða Tyrfing         í tvau deila.

Fyrr mun in blikhvíta lind bresta, bróðir, ok kaldr geirr koma við annan, ok margr gumi hníga í gras, en ek mun láta hálfan Humlung, eða deila Tyrfing í tvau.

The white-gleaming shield will break, brother, and the cold spear clash with another, and many a man sink into the grass, before I will allow the Humlungr (‘descendant of Humli’) half, or divide Tyrfingr in two.

Mss: 2845(73v) (ll. 1-2, 5-10), 203ˣ(110r) (ll. 1-6, 9-10, 7-8), R715ˣ(31v-32r) (ll. 1-6, 9-10, 7-8) (Heiðr)

Readings: [1] Bresta: Bera corrected from ‘Bressa’ in the margin in another hand 203ˣ;    fyrr: for 2845, ‘áðr’ with strikethrough in another hand 203ˣ, áðr R715ˣ    [2] in blikhvíta lind: lind in blikhvíta 2845, minn blikhvíta hönd 203ˣ, ‘iij blikr huita lind’ R715ˣ    [3] kaldr: kaldar 203ˣ;    geirr: geir 203ˣ, R715ˣ    [4] annan: annat 203ˣ    [5] gumi: gumi corrected from gunni in the margin in another hand 203ˣ, gunni R715ˣ    [7] en: om. 2845, áðr en 203ˣ, áðr er R715ˣ;    ek: om. 203ˣ, R715ˣ;    mun: þér 203ˣ, R715ˣ;    Humlung: Humlungr 203ˣ, R715ˣ    [8] láta: arf gefak corrected from ‘arf gefa’ in another hand 203ˣ, arf gefa R715ˣ    [9] eða: om. R715ˣ    [10] tvau: ‘tau’ 2845, ‘midt’ 203ˣ, ‘tuennra’ R715ˣ;    deila: ‘deilik’ corrected from deili in another hand 203ˣ, deili R715ˣ

Editions: Skj AII, 252, Skj BII, 271-2, Skald II, 142; Heiðr 1672, 162, FSN 1, 493-4, Heiðr 1873, 270-1, Heiðr 1924, 88, 144, FSGJ 2, 56, Heiðr 1960, 49 (Heiðr); Edd. Min. 3-4, NK 304, ÍF Edd. II, 420, 422.

Context: In R Angantýr tells Hlǫðr he has no right to the land and is acting unjustly. In U the stanza is introduced simply, Angantýr kvað ‘Angantýr said’.

Notes: [All]: This stanza poses various problems for, and has seen various attempts at, reconstruction. See Notes below. — [1] fyrr ‘before’: Skj, Skald, FSN, Heiðr 1873 and Edd. Min. omit, though all mss have a word here. Fyrr can, however, be accommodated in a line of Type A* (málaháttr). The emendation (2845 has ‘for’) was suggested by Suhm and Stefán Björnsson in their 1785 edn of the R text (based on ms. 345; Heiðr 1785, 190) and, probably independently, by Jón Helgason (Heiðr 1924, 88 n. 4). — [2-3]: Omitted in 2845; Skj and Skald insert these lines after the present ll. 5-6, but no ms. has this reading. — [2]: Ms. 2845’s word order gives alliteration on the wrong syllable. Ms. R715ˣ doubtless reflects the word order presented here, with its ‘iij’ in the place of in ‘the’ likely a misreading of the minims. Blikhvíta ‘white-gleaming’ is a hap. leg., but white or bright shields are a common motif in the corpus. See Note to Heiðr 63/6. — [3] kaldr geirr ‘the cold spear’: Tolkien (Heiðr 1960, 49 n. 3) compares Beowulf ll. 3021-2 (Beowulf 2008, 103) gār morgenceald ‘morning-cold spear’. — [5-6]: Edd. Min. places these lines in square brackets, but they appear in all mss. — [7-10]: None of the mss’ readings work perfectly as they stand, but the insertion of en to go with fyrr l.1 (= fyrr en ‘before’) from 203ˣ and the emendation of ms. ‘tau’, with the line break after the ‘t’, to tvau ‘two’ are the only changes necessary to 2845’s reading, and that is presented here. Skj B and FSGJ also follow this order, though the former places ll. 7-8 in square brackets, while Skald omits them altogether. Both begin l. 9 áðr ek ‘before I’. The U redaction reverses the order of the last two long-lines, but also presents variants, both compared to the R redaction and between the two U mss. Ms. 203ˣ gives the better reading: áðr en Tyrfing | í mið [ms, ‘midt’, ‘tuenn ra’ R715ˣ] deilak, | eða þér, Humlungr, | hálfan arf gefak ‘before I divide Tyrfingr in the middle, or I give to you, Humlungr, half the inheritance’. The enclitic 1st pers. pronouns could well have been in the original stanza, but are editorial in the ms. NK and Heiðr 1960 follow U, emending mið ‘middle’ to tvau ‘two’, while Edd. Min. follows the order of U, but picks and chooses variants from 2845 to produce a composite reading. — [7] Humlung ‘the Humlungr (“descendant of Humli”)’: I.e. Hlǫðr. Humli was his mother’s father. — [9] Tyrfing ‘Tyrfingr’: See Notes to Angantýr Lv 2/3 (Heiðr 30) and Þul Sverða 7/6^III.

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. FSN = Rafn, Carl Christian, ed. 1829-30. Fornaldar sögur nordrlanda. 3 vols. Copenhagen: Popp.
4. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 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. Heiðr 1672 = Verelius, Olaus, ed. 1672. Hervarar Saga på Gammel Gotska. Uppsala: Curio.
7. Beowulf 2008 = Fulk, Robert D., Robert E. Bjork and John D. Niles, eds. 2008. Klaeber’s Beowulf and the Fight at Finnsburg. 4th rev. edn of Beowulf and the Fight at Finnsburg, ed. Fr. Klaeber. Toronto, Buffalo and London: University of Toronto Press.
8. FSGJ = Guðni Jónsson, ed. 1954. Fornaldar sögur norðurlanda. 4 vols. [Reykjavík]: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan.
9. Heiðr 1924 = Jón Helgason, ed. 1924. Heiðreks saga. Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks konungs. SUGNL 48. Copenhagen: Jørgensen.
10. Heiðr 1960 = Tolkien, Christopher, ed. and trans. 1960. Saga Heiðreks konungs ins vitra / The Saga of King Heidrek the Wise. Nelson Icelandic Texts. London etc.: Nelson.
11. Heiðr 1785 = Stefán Björnsson and P. F. Suhm, eds. 1785. Hervararsaga ok Heidrekskongs. Hafniæ (Copenhagen): Stein.
12. Heiðr 1873 = Bugge, Sophus, ed. 1873. Hervarar saga ok Heidreks. Det Norske oldskriftselskabs samlinger 17. Christiania (Oslo): Brøgger.
13. Internal references
14. 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 367. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=23> (accessed 20 April 2024)
15. Hannah Burrows (ed.) 2017, ‘Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks 77 (Gestumblindi, Heiðreks gátur 30)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 444.
16. Hannah Burrows (ed.) 2017, ‘Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks 63 (Gestumblindi, Heiðreks gátur 16)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 426.
17. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Sverða heiti 7’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 802.
18. Not published: do not cite ()