Anon Krm 4VIII/2 — kvánar ‘The woman’
Hjuggu vér með hjörvi.
Heðins kvánar varð auðit,
þá er vér Helsingja heimtum
til heimsala Óðins.
Lögðum upp í Ívu;
oddr náði þá bíta;
öll var unda gjálfri
á sú roðin heitu.
Grenjaði brandr við brynjur
bensildr; klufuz skildir.
Hjuggu vér með hjörvi. Kvánar Heðins varð auðit, þá er vér heimtum Helsingja til heimsala Óðins. Lögðum upp í Ívu; þá náði oddr bíta; öll sú á var roðin heitu gjálfri unda. Brandr grenjaði við brynjur, bensildr; skildir klufuz.
We hewed with the sword. The woman of Heðinn <legendary hero> [= Hildr (hildr ‘battle’)] was at hand when we brought the people of Hälsingland to the dwellings of Óðinn <god> [= Valhǫll]. We proceeded up the Ífa <river>; then the sword-point managed to bite; that whole river was reddened by a hot surge of wounds [BLOOD]. The sword roared on coats of mail, [as did] wound-herrings [ARROWS/SPEARS]; shields were cloven.
readings
[2] Heðins kvánar: so R702ˣ, LR, R693ˣ, ‘heidíns kvanarr’ 1824b, ‘Heidnis kvanar’ with ‘Hiedins’ in margin 6ˣ
notes
[2] kvánar Heðins ‘the woman of Heðinn <legendary hero> [= Hildr (hildr ‘battle’)]’: The allusion is to Hildr, the legendary instigator of the everlasting fight between her abductor, Heðinn Hjarrandason, and her father Hǫgni; the story of the fight, known as Hjaðningavíg ‘the battle of Heðinn’s followers’, is told in Skm (SnE 1998, I, 72), and is alluded to in RvHbreiðm Hl 45-6III and elsewhere (see Chesnutt 1968, 130-1; cf. also Gizsv Lv/6I and Hfr ErfÓl 24/4I). Cf. Note to st. 10/7 and first Note to st. 13/4 below. The name Hildr also occurs as a valkyrie-name and as a poetic common noun for ‘battle’. Through the device ofljóst, lit. ‘excessively clear’, the kenning for Hildr is to be understood here as ‘battle’.
kennings
- Kvánar Heðins — The woman of Heðinn <legendary hero> [= Hildr]
grammar
case: gen.