Herv Lv 9VIII (Heiðr 26)/8 — roðnum ‘with decorated’
Hervarðr, Hjörvarðr, Hrani, Angantýr,
vek ek yðr alla undir viðar rótum,
hjálmi ok með brynju, hvössu sverði,
rönd ok með reiði, roðnum geiri.
Hervarðr, Hjörvarðr, Hrani, Angantýr, ek vek yðr alla undir rótum viðar, hjálmi ok með brynju, hvössu sverði, rönd ok með reiði, roðnum geiri.
Hervarðr, Hjǫrvarðr, Hrani, Angantýr, I wake you all under the roots of the tree, with helmet and with mail-shirt, with sharp sword, with shield and with war-gear, with decorated spear.
notes
[8] roðnum ‘decorated’: Probably a variant form, required for alliteration, of hroðinn, p. p. of hrjóða, rather than roðinn ‘reddened, smeared with blood, bleeding’ (p. p. of rjóða). Cf. LP (1860): hrjóða. Hrjóða usually means ‘clear, empty (of ships)’, but could apparently also imply ‘decorate, adorn, paint’, cf. réð hrjóða ‘painted’ ÞjóðA Magnfl 18/5II (and see Note there); hroðit sigli, probably ‘adorned brooch’ Sigsk 49/6 (NK 215); and the cpd gullroðinn ‘gilt’ (see Fritzner: gullroðinn). Cf. also the Old English p. p. hroden ‘adorned’, e.g. hroden hildecumbor ‘adorned battle-banner’, Beowulf l. 1022 (Beowulf 2008, 36). Though it is conventional in Old Norse poetry to describe weapons reddened with blood, the meaning ‘decorated’ accords better with Heiðr 37/5, where Hervǫr is described with grafinn geirr ‘graven spear’, and makes better sense, since at this point in the saga she has not recently been involved in fighting or battle.