Hjþ Lv 3^VIII (HjǪ 5)

Hræðilig muntu þykkja         hölða liði,
        þótt þú oss í sinni sér.
Engan várn seggja         þú svíkja munt,
vösk vinkona,         Vör in harðleita.

Muntu þykkja liði hölða hræðilig, þótt þú sér oss í sinni. Þú munt svíkja engan várn seggja, vösk vinkona, Vör in harðleita.

You will seem dreadful to the company of heroes, even though you may be of help to us. You will deceive not one of our men, valiant woman-friend, the hard-faced Vör <goddess>.

Mss: 109a IIIˣ(267v), papp6ˣ(48v), ÍBR5ˣ(88) (HjǪ)

Readings: [2] liði: mengi corrected from ‘liði’ above the line in another hand papp6ˣ    [3] þótt: þó papp6ˣ;    sér (‘siert’): so ÍBR5ˣ, ‘sitier’ 109a IIIˣ, ‘sitier’ with sert added above oss in another hand papp6ˣ    [7] Vör in: munt 109a IIIˣ, ÍBR5ˣ, ‘vør hin’ corrected from ‘mun’ above the line in another hand papp6ˣ;    ‑leita: so corrected from ‘‑letra’ in another hand papp6ˣ, ‘‑letra’ 109a IIIˣ, ÍBR5ˣ

Editions: Skj AII, 334, Skj BII, 354, Skald II, 191; HjǪ 1720, 28, FSN 3, 474, FSGJ 4, 199, HjǪ 1970, 25, 83, 138-9.

Context: This stanza follows straight on from HjǪ 4, and is introduced with hann kvað ‘he said’.

Notes: [All]: This stanza, like HjǪ 4, is in ljóðaháttr, but it contains an extra line (l. 7) which is loosely connected to the rest of the stanza and is present in all mss. It is omitted by many eds, including Skj B (but not Skj A), Skald and FSGJ. — [3] þótt þú sér oss í sinni ‘even though you may be of help to us’: The line echoes the preceding stanza, HjǪ 4/3. The expression vera e-m í sinni means ‘follow’ in the sense of ‘support, be of help to sby’. — [4] várn ‘our’: Skj B and Skald omit this poss. adj., which is hypermetrical. — [7]: This edn, following a suggestion of Kari Ellen Gade, adopts papp6ˣ’s emended reading of this line, which, as its stands in all mss, is too short and lacks double alliteration. The first two words ‘vør hin’ of papp6ˣ’s correction are understood to be respectively the goddess-name Vǫr (see SnE 2005, 29) and the f. nom. sg. of the def. art. (h)in.

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. FSGJ = Guðni Jónsson, ed. 1954. Fornaldar sögur norðurlanda. 4 vols. [Reykjavík]: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan.
7. SnE 2005 = Snorri Sturluson. 2005. Edda: Prologue and Gylfaginning. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
8. HjǪ 1720 = Peringskiöld, Johann, ed. 1720. Hialmters och Olvers saga, Handlande om trenne Konungar i Manahem eller Sverige, Inge, Hialmter, och Inge, samt Olver Jarl och om theras uthresor til Grekeland och Arabien. Stockholm: Horn.
9. HjǪ 1970 = Harris, Richard L., ed. 1970. ‘Hjálmþérs saga: A Scientific Edition’. Ph.D. thesis. University of Iowa.
10. Internal references
11. Richard L. Harris (ed.) 2017, ‘Hjálmþés saga ok Ǫlvis 4 (Vargeisa/Álfsól, Lausavísur 1)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 497.