Bjbp Jóms 2I/4 — hand ‘hands’
Hendir enn sem aðra
óteitan mik sútar;
mér hefr harm á hendi
handfǫgr kona bundit.
Þó emk óð at auka
œrit gjarn at hváru;
mjǫk emk at mér orðinn
ógæfr of fǫr vífa.
Óteitan sútar hendir mik enn sem aðra; handfǫgr kona hefr bundit harm á hendi mér. Þó emk at hváru œrit gjarn at auka óð; emk orðinn mjǫk ógæfr at mér of fǫr vífa.
The joylessness of grief grips me still, as others; a woman with beautiful hands has bound sorrow to me. Yet I am nonetheless sufficiently eager to increase poetry; I myself have become very unlucky regarding the ways of women.
readings
[4] hand‑: ‘ha[…]’ R, ‘hardl’ 65ˣ, ‘ha[…]’ RCP, hand RFJ
notes
[4] handfǫgr ‘with beautiful hands’: Finnur Jónsson (Skj A) and Carl af Petersens (Jvs 1879) note that hand- has been corrected from harm ‘sorrow’ but this is no longer clear in the ms. The cpd adj. is also found, again qualifying kona ‘woman’, in KormǪ Lv 63/4V (Korm 84). The vocabulary relating to hands in the helmingr (this cpd, and hendir ‘grips’, l. 1, á hendi mér ‘to me’, l. 3) emphasises the woman’s hold on the poet.