RvHbreiðm Hl 33III/8 — kunni ‘he knew how’
Óli fœddi aldinn ara;
allvítt kveðk hans snilli fara;
eigi frák hann armlog spara;
auði gœddi drengi snara.
Víða hygg ek bragna bera
buðlungs nafn, þess’s saddi Gera;
hraustan spurðak vísa vera;
vôpnum kunni benjar skera.
Óli fœddi aldinn ara; kveðk snilli hans fara allvítt; eigi frák hann spara armlog; gœddi snara drengi auði. Víða hygg ek bragna bera nafn buðlungs, þess’s saddi Gera; spurðak vísa vera hraustan; kunni skera benjar vôpnum.
Óli fed the ancient eagle; I say that his prowess travels very widely; I did not hear that he spared the arm-flame [GOLD]; he enriched valiant warriors with wealth. Far and wide I believe men carry the name of the hero who sated Geri <wolf>; I heard that the ruler was courageous; he knew how to cut wounds with weapons.
readings
[8] kunni: kunni hann papp25ˣ, R683ˣ
notes
[4, 8] gœddi; kunni ‘he enriched; he knew’: In both lines, the pers. pron. hann ‘he’, which makes the lines hypermetrical, has been omitted in keeping with the standard process of normalisation in the present edn.
grammar
Verbs: Preterite-present verbs
The present tense of these verbs is like the past tense of strong verbs, and their past tense is weak.
| eiga | mega | kunna | skulu | munu | muna | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| indic. pres. | sing. pl. | 1st 2nd 3rd 1st 2nd 3rd | á átt á eigum eiguð eigu | má mátt má megum meguð megu | kann kannt kann kunnum kunnuð kunnu | skal skalt skal skulum skuluð skulu | mun munt mun munum munuð munu | man mant man munum munið muna |
| indic. past stem subj. pres. stem subj. past stem | átt- eig- ætt- | mátt- meg- mætt- | kunn- kunn- kynn- | skyld- skyl- skyld- | mund- myn- mynd- | mund- mun- mynd- | ||