Arn Hardr 15II/3 — s
Myrkts, hverr meira orkar,
mér, alls greppr né sérat,
— harðrs í heimi orðinn
hrafngrennir — þrek jǫfnum.
Ert gat óslætt hjarta
(eljunfims) und himni
mest (hefr mildingr kostat
minni hvers grams vinnur).
Myrkts mér, alls greppr né sérat, hverr orkar meira, jǫfnum þrek; harðr hrafngrennir [e]s orðinn í heimi. Gat mest ert, óslætt hjarta und himni; mildingr hefr kostat minni vinnur hvers eljunfims grams.
It is dark to me, for the poet does not see it, who will achieve more, equal feats of strength; the harsh raven-feeder [WARRIOR] has departed this world. He was endowed with the boldest, keenest heart under heaven; the gracious one has put to the test the lesser deeds of every mettlesome lord.
readings
[3] harðrs í heimi (‘harþr er iheimi’): ‘hardr vr heim’ Hr
notes
[3] [e]s orðinn í heimi ‘has departed this world’: (a) The sense is clearly that Haraldr has died, but [e]s orðinn could either mean ‘has died’, or else ‘is lost by death’, cf. Hfr ErfÓl 26/1, 4I hefk orðinn goðfǫður ‘I have lost [my] godfather’ (and see Dronke 1969, 121, note to Am 21/4). Kock (NN §1934A) sees the utterance as a reprise of the description of Haraldr’s fall in battle (sts 11-13), and Andersson and Gade (2000, 274) translate ‘has fallen in this world’. (b) Harðrs í heimi orðinn hrafngrennir, if taken in its more straightforward sense, ‘the raven-feeder has become harsh in the world’, would appear a strange statement to make of one already dead, but it is not impossible, in view of the use of the perfect tense in ll. 7-8. (c) Skj B reads ór heimi ‘from the world’, but this is only the reading of the generally unreliable Hr.
grammar
Irregular verbs: vera (to be)
| indic. | subj. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| pres. | past | pres. | past | ||
| sing. pl. | 1 2 3 1 2 3 | em ert er erum eruð eru | var vart var várum váruð váru | sé sér sé sém séð sé | væra værir væri værim værið væri |
| imperative past part. | ver, verið verit | ||||