KrákÁsl Lv 10VIII (Ragn 31)/2 — hund ‘a great’
KrákÁsl Lv 10VIII (Ragn 31)Höfðum lét of hrundit
hundmörgum gramr undir,
at feigum bör fólka
fingi eldr yfir syngja.
Hvat skyli beð enn betra
böðheggr und sik leggja?
Olli d*ýrr við orðstír
allvaldr jö*furs falli.
Gramr lét hundmörgum höfðum of hrundit undir, at eldr fingi syngja yfir feigum bör fólka. Hvat skyli böðheggr leggja und sik enn betra beð? D*ýrr allvaldr olli falli jö*furs við orðstír.
The leader allowed a great many heads to be thrust under him, so that fire would have a chance to sing over the doomed tree of battles [WARRIOR]. How could a battle-tree [WARRIOR] place beneath himself an even better bed? The mighty ruler caused a prince’s death with renown.
readings
[2] hund‑: hodd 1824b
notes
[2] hundmörgum ‘a great many’: Örnólfur Thorsson (Ragn 1985) treats the two-word reading of the ms. (hodd mörgum) as a cpd word hoddmörgum. This reading attributes to hodd ‘hoard, treasure’ the same meaning as hund-, though there is no support in the poetic corpus for such a sense. All other eds emend to hundmörgum, i.e. dat. pl. of hundmargr ‘very many’, a word which is well attested elsewhere in poetry (LP: hundmargr), and which, with its first element hund-, probably related to hundrað ‘hundred’ (ÍO: 1 hund-; cf. CVC: hundrað), is certainly appropriate in the context. This element provides the line with aðalhending.