Framarr Lv 2VIII (Ket 35)/5 — víg ‘slaughter’
Veifir þú vængjum; vápnum mun ek þér heita;
vafrar þú nú, víðflögull, sem vitir mik feigan.
Villr ertu, vígstari; vit munum sigr hafa;
hverf þú at Hængi; hann skal nú deyja.
Þú veifir vængjum; ek mun heita þér vápnum; þú vafrar nú, víðflögull, sem vitir mik feigan. Ertu villr, vígstari; vit munum hafa sigr; hverf þú at Hængi; hann skal nú deyja.
You flap your wings; I will promise you weapons; you hover about now, wide-flying one <eagle>, as if you knew me [to be] doomed. You are confused, slaughter-starling [RAVEN/EAGLE]; we two will have the victory; turn to Hœngr (‘Salmon’), he must now die.
readings
[5] víg‑: so papp32ˣ, víf‑ 343a, 471
notes
[5] vígstari ‘slaughter-starling [RAVEN/EAGLE]’: It is unclear whether papp32ˣ has this form (‘vÿgstare’ as Valgerður Erna Þorvaldsdóttir transcribed it for this edn) or vígfari (‘Wygffare’ as Anderson transcribed it, cf. 1990, 301). Other mss have víg- but not -stari, or -stari but not víg-. Most previous eds, who do not mention papp32ˣ, have the form vígstari, although it does not appear as a cpd in the mss they mention. They doubtless regard it as an emendation (cf. Edd Min. 150: vígstari, marked with an † to indicate that it is not found in any mss., Edd. Min. 134). The cpd vígstari would be a kenning for an eagle or raven of a conventional type (Meissner 117-23). The reading of 343a and 471 vífstari ‘woman-starling’ makes no sense in this context. Konráð Gíslason (Nj 1875-89, II, 510 n.; cf. Edd. Min. 150) suggested emendation to vígskári ‘battle-gull’, but emendation is not necessary here.
kennings
- vígstari; — slaughter-starling; [RAVEN/EAGLE]