KrákÁsl Lv 11VIII (RagnSon 1) (Kráka/Áslaug)/2 — hálsum ‘the heights’
Sitja veiðivitjar
vals á borgar hálsum;
böl er, þat er hefr um hafnat
hrafn Sigurðar nafni.
Blási nýtinjótar
nás í spán at hánum;
ofsnemma lét Óðinn
álf valmeyjar deyja.
Veiðivitjar vals sitja á hálsum borgar; böl er, þat er hrafn hefr um hafnat nafni Sigurðar. Blási nýtinjótar nás í spán at hánum; Óðinn lét álf valmeyjar deyja ofsnemma.
Hunting-visitors of the slain [RAVENS] sit on the heights of the fortress; it is a misfortune that the raven has forsaken the name of Sigurðr. Let the devourers of the dead [RAVENS/EAGLES] whistle for him; Óðinn caused the elf of the carnage-maiden [VALKYRIE > WARRIOR] to die too early.
notes
[2] á hálsum borgar ‘on the heights of the fortress’: The basic sense of háls is ‘neck’ (of a human or animal), but it also has the transferred sense of ‘hill, ridge, mountain pass’, describing a feature of the landscape (Fritzner, ONP: hals). Finnur Jónsson appears to have understood the word in the latter sense (på borgens höje ‘on the hills of the fortress’), in Hb 1892-6, as does the present ed.; in Skj B, however, Finnur emends borgar ‘of the fortress, rampart’ (LP: borg) to bragna, gen. of m. pl. bragnar ‘men’, and translates ‘on the necks of men’, evidently understanding the ravens to be perched on the bodies of the slain. Kock (NN §1469A) suggests either ‘fortress’ or ‘mountain’ for borg as its meaning in the present instance. The translation ‘the heights of the fortress’ is adopted here with an admission that this leaves unexplained which fortress (or (fortified) mountain?) is in question. The prose context in RagnSon gives no help on this point.