Þorm Lv 24I/3 — setrs ‘of the seat’
Emka rjóðr, en rauðum
ræðr grǫnn Skǫgul manni
hauka setrs in hvíta;
hyggr fár of mik sáran.
Hitt veldr mér, at meldrar
morðvenjanda Fenju
djúp ok danskra vápna
Dags hríðar spor svíða.
Emka rjóðr, en grǫnn Skǫgul in hvíta setrs hauka ræðr rauðum manni; fár hyggr of mik sáran. Hitt veldr mér, at djúp spor hríðar Dags ok danskra vápna svíða morðvenjanda meldrar Fenju.
I am not ruddy, but the slender, white Skǫgul <valkyrie> of the seat of hawks [ARM > WOMAN] gives orders to a red [blood-stained] man; few think about me, wounded. This is the cause to me [of my pallor], that the deep tracks of the blizzard of Dagr <legendary king> and of Danish weapons [BATTLE > WOUNDS] cause pain to the killing-accustomed one of the flour of Fenja <giantess> [GOLD > GENEROUS MAN = Þormóðr].
readings
[3] hauka setrs: so 61, 325VII, Flat, Tóm, Kˣ, 142ˣ, 566aˣ, DG8, hauklátrs Holm2, 972ˣ, hauka látrs J2ˣ, 321ˣ, Holm4, 325V, Bb, ‘hꜹkal atrz’ 73aˣ
notes
[3] setrs hauka ‘of the seat of hawks [ARM]’: It is probably best, with Skj B and Skald, to prefer this reading to the variant látrs hauka ‘nest of hawks’, since it is attested in all three textual traditions, while the latter is found only in some mss of ÓH. Moreover, it is paralleled in Sigmund Lv 1/1V (Nj 15), while látr ‘lair’, or here ‘nest’, is otherwise used almost exclusively in kennings for ‘gold’. It should be noted, however, that the reading adopted here produces a rhyme setrs : hvíta, and nowhere else does Þormóðr rhyme a short vowel and a long one in an open syllable. But that perhaps explains why the reading was altered in some mss of ÓH.
kennings
- setrs hauka — of the seat of hawks [ARM]
- grǫnn Skǫgul in hvíta setrs hauka — the slender, white Skǫgul <valkyrie> of the seat of hawks [WOMAN]
grammar
case: gen.