Hjálm Lv 7^VIII (Ǫrv 17)

Hvarf ek frá hvítri         hlaðs bið-Gunni
á Agnafit         útanverðri.
Saga mun sannaz,         sú er hon sagði mér,
at aptr koma         eigi mundak.

Ek hvarf frá {hvítri bið-Gunni hlaðs} á útanverðri Agnafit. Saga mun sannaz, sú er hon sagði mér, at mundak eigi koma aptr.

I went away from {the white waiting-Gunnr <valkyrie> of lace-work} [WOMAN] on the outer part of Agnafit. The saying will come true, that she told to me, that I would not come back.

Mss: 2845(64r), R715ˣ(10v) (Heiðr); 344a(17v), 343a(68v), 471(75r), 173ˣ(36v-37r) (Ǫrv)

Readings: [1] Hvarf ek frá hvítri: ‘Leidder enn hrita’ R715ˣ, ‘Heidi en huita’ 344a, Leiddi mik en hvíta 343a, 471, beiddi mik en hvíta 173ˣ    [2] hlaðs bið‑Gunni: ‘hlads bed gungi’ 2845, hilmis dóttir R715ˣ, 344a, 343a, 471, 173ˣ    [3] Agnafit: so R715ˣ, 343a, 471, 173ˣ, ‘agnna fit’ corrected from ‘agaa fit’ 2845, ‘agdna fit’ 344a    [4] útanverðri: útanverðs R715ˣ, útanverða 344a, 343a, 471, 173ˣ    [6] sú: om. 344a    [7, 8] at aptr koma eigi mundak: at ek mundi koma aptr eigi R715ˣ, at ek aptr koma eigi munda ek 344a, at ek aptr koma eigi mundi 343a, at aptr koma ei munda ek 173ˣ

Editions: Skj AII, 293, Skj BII, 313-14, Skald II, 167; Ǫrv 1888, 105-6, Ǫrv 1892, 59, FSGJ 2, 258; Heiðr 1924, 13, 100, Heiðr 1960, 8-9; Edd. Min. 50, 52.

Context: In both the Heiðr mss 2845 and R715ˣ, this stanza follows from Ǫrv 16 without intervening prose. In the Ǫrv mss, it follows Hjálmarr Lv 11 (Ǫrv 21) and Lv 9 (Ǫrv 19), without any prose intervention between these stanzas.

Notes: [All]: In this stanza the first couplet of 2845’s text differs from all the others, as R715ˣ and the Ǫrv mss share the same text, though it is garbled in parts. The majority version reads: Leiddi mik en hvíta | hilmis dóttir … ‘The ruler’s white daughter led me …’, the reference presumably being to the Swedish king’s daughter, Ingibjǫrg, who is mentioned in Ǫrv 18/4. In spite of its minority status, 2845’s version of the first couplet is probably an authentic variant, although it is necessary to emend two letters in bið-Gunni ‘waiting-Gunnr <valkyrie> [WOMAN]’ to produce an acceptable woman-kenning; cf. bið- as a characterising verbal element in, e.g. Hfr Hákdr 5/4^III biðkvǫn Þriðja ‘the waiting wife of Þriði <= Óðinn> [= Jǫrð (jǫrð ‘earth’)]’. It is true that this is the only kenning in Hjálmarr’s death-song, but there is no reason to reject it, as kennings occur from time to time in the poetry in this saga and in other fornaldarsögur. — [3-4] á útanverðri Agnafit ‘on the outer part of Agnafit’: The p. n. Agnafit appears only here in poetry. It refers to the flat, low-lying stretch of coast along the mouth of Lake Mälaren, near the site of modern Stockholm. Snorri Sturluson in Yng (ÍF 26, 38) derives the name from that of the Swedish king Agni, whom Snorri, following Þjóð Yt 9^I, records as having been strangled with a necklace by his wife Skjálf and later burnt at Agnafit. In the 2845 version of this stanza, the adj. útanverðr ‘outward, outer part of’ is f. dat. sg. (dat. of place), whereas in the Ǫrv versions it is ‑verða, f. acc. sg. (of motion) after leiddi ‘[she] led [me] to the outer part of Agnafit’.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
3. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
4. FSGJ = Guðni Jónsson, ed. 1954. Fornaldar sögur norðurlanda. 4 vols. [Reykjavík]: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan.
5. 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.
6. Heiðr 1924 = Jón Helgason, ed. 1924. Heiðreks saga. Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks konungs. SUGNL 48. Copenhagen: Jørgensen.
7. Ǫrv 1888 = Boer, R. C., ed. 1888. Ǫrvar-Odds saga. Leiden: Brill.
8. 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.
9. Ǫrv 1892 = Boer, R. C., ed. 1892a. Ǫrvar-Odds saga. Altnordische Saga-Bibliothek 2. Halle: Niemayer.
10. Internal references
11. 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 25 April 2024)
12. 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Ǫrvar-Odds saga’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 804. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=35> (accessed 25 April 2024)
13. (forthcoming), ‘ Heimskringla, Ynglinga saga’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=158> (accessed 25 April 2024)
15. Kate Heslop (ed.) 2017, ‘Hallfreðr vandræðaskáld Óttarsson, Hákonardrápa 5’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 219.
16. Edith Marold (ed.) 2012, ‘Þjóðólfr ór Hvini, Ynglingatal 9’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 22.
17. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Ǫrvar-Odds saga 16 (Hjálmarr inn hugumstóri, Lausavísur 6)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 829.
18. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Ǫrvar-Odds saga 18 (Hjálmarr inn hugumstóri, Lausavísur 8)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 832.
19. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Ǫrvar-Odds saga 19 (Hjálmarr inn hugumstóri, Lausavísur 9)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 833.
20. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Ǫrvar-Odds saga 21 (Hjálmarr inn hugumstóri, Lausavísur 11)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 836.