Hjálm Lv 8^VIII (Ǫrv 18)

Dragðu mér af hendi         hring inn rauða,
færðu inni ungu         Ingibjörgu.
Sá mun henni         hugfastr tregi,
er ek eigi kem         til Uppsala.

Dragðu af hendi mér hring inn rauða, færðu inni ungu Ingibjörgu. Sá tregi mun henni hugfastr, er ek kem eigi til Uppsala.

Take from my arm the red-gold ring, bear it to the young Ingibjǫrg. That grief will [be] fixed in her mind, when I do not come to Uppsala.

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

Readings: [1] Dragðu (‘drag þu’): Drag 173ˣ    [3] færðu: ok fær 343a;    inni: minni R715ˣ, hann 173ˣ;    ungu: ungri 173ˣ    [6] hugfastr: hjartnæmr 343a, fastnæmr 471, 173ˣ    [7] er ek eigi kem: ef hon síðan R715ˣ, 343a, er vit síðan 344a, at hon síðan 471, 173ˣ    [8] til Uppsala: mik sér aldri R715ˣ, ‘siaumst alldergi’ 344a, mik sér aldrigi 343a, sér mik aldri 173ˣ

Editions: Skj AII, 293-4, Skj BII, 314, Skald II, 167; Ǫrv 1888, 104, Ǫrv 1892, 58, FSGJ 2, 259-60; Heiðr 1924, 13, 101, Heiðr 1960, 9; Edd. Min. 51, 52.

Context: In the Heiðr ms. 2845 this stanza follows from Ǫrv 17 without intervening prose. In R715ˣ the order of Ǫrv 18 and 19 is reversed (see Note to [All] below). In the Ǫrv mss, Ǫrv 18 follows Hjálm Lv 5 (Ǫrv 15) in a long sequence of eight stanzas without any intervening prose.

Notes: [All]: Many previous eds have argued that 2845’s order of the sts Hjálm Lv 8 (Ǫrv 18) and Lv 9 (Ǫrv 19) – the order presented here and in Skj and Skald – is less good than the order of R715ˣ, where they are reversed (cf. Heiðr 1924, lxviii; Heiðr 1960, 9 n. 2, 74-5). While one can argue that Hjálmarr’s gesture of taking off his arm-ring and asking the hearer to take it to Ingibjǫrg suggests his end is fast approaching, and while Lv 9 seems to revert to an earlier stage of his life when he left the court and undertook viking adventures, each of the stanzas is in fact self-contained and they could be combined in various ways. As Lönnroth (1971, 12) has pointed out, there is no narrative development in Hjálmarr’s death-song, just an intensification of its melodramatic mood. — [3-4] inni ungu Ingibjörgu ‘to the young Ingibjǫrg’: The same epithet is found with Ingibjörg’s name in Hjálm Lv 12/1-2 (Ǫrv 22). Ingibjörg is mentioned by name in the prose of the Hb and R715ˣ versions of Heiðr (but not by name in 2845), as the daughter of King Yngvi of Uppsala (Hb and R715ˣ) or Ingjaldr king of the Svíar (2845 and some Ǫrv mss), for whose hand Hjálmarr and one of the berserk brothers (Hjǫrvarðr or Angantýr) are rivals. For a discussion of the possible textual relations between all versions of this wooing story, see Heiðr 1924, lxv-lxvi. It is interesting that, although the prose of Ǫrv downplays the wooing story, certainly as motivation for the fight on Samsø, there are more stanzas related to this theme in Ǫrv mss than there are in Heiðr. — [6] hugfastr ‘fixed in her mind’: The variant hjartnæmr ‘heart-touching’ (so 343a) is acceptable, but 471’s and 173ˣ’s fastnæmr ‘firm, trusty, grasping’ does not alliterate. It seems to have been attracted to this stanza from Hjálm Lv 12/6 (Ǫrv 22). — [7-8]: Here R715ˣ and the Ǫrv mss offer a very different reading from that of 2845. A comparison with Hjálm Lv 12 (Ǫrv 22), which neither 2845 nor R715ˣ have, makes it clear that the last couplet of Lv 8 is a variant on the last couplet of Lv 12, and that the whole of the second helmingr of Lv 12 offers a variant of the second helmingr of Lv 8 in the version of the Ǫrv mss. — [8] til Uppsala ‘to Uppsala’: The p. n. Uppsalir lit. ‘Upland Halls’ is mentioned in poetry only here, in Vík 30/4 (Gautr 38), and in Þjóð Yt 13/2^I. Recent archaeological excavation has uncovered the remains of a large hall next to the church site at Gamla Uppsala ‘Old Uppsala’, which indicate that this place was probably the seat of the kings of the pre-Christian kingdom of central Sweden, and this corroborates the p. n. evidence that indicates that names in salr are associated with royal or aristocratic contexts (Brink 1996a, 255-8).

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
3. FSGJ = Guðni Jónsson, ed. 1954. Fornaldar sögur norðurlanda. 4 vols. [Reykjavík]: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan.
4. 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.
5. Heiðr 1924 = Jón Helgason, ed. 1924. Heiðreks saga. Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks konungs. SUGNL 48. Copenhagen: Jørgensen.
6. Ǫrv 1888 = Boer, R. C., ed. 1888. Ǫrvar-Odds saga. Leiden: Brill.
7. Brink, Stefan. 1996a. ‘Political and Social Structures in Early Scandinavia [1]: A Settlement-historical Pre-study of the Central Place’. Tor. Journal of Archaeology 28, 235-81.
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. Lönnroth, Lars. 1971. ‘Hjálmar’s Death-Song and the Delivery of Eddic Poetry’. Speculum 46, 1-20. Rpt. with postscript in Lönnroth 2011, 191-218.
10. Ǫrv 1892 = Boer, R. C., ed. 1892a. Ǫrvar-Odds saga. Altnordische Saga-Bibliothek 2. Halle: Niemayer.
11. Internal references
12. 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 27 April 2024)
13. 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 27 April 2024)
14. Edith Marold (ed.) 2012, ‘Þjóðólfr ór Hvini, Ynglingatal 13’ 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. 29.
15. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Gautreks saga 38 (Starkaðr gamli Stórvirksson, Víkarsbálkr 30)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 281.
16. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Ǫrvar-Odds saga 15 (Hjálmarr inn hugumstóri, Lausavísur 5)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 828.
17. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Ǫrvar-Odds saga 17 (Hjálmarr inn hugumstóri, Lausavísur 7)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 831.
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 22 (Hjálmarr inn hugumstóri, Lausavísur 12)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 837.