Anon (Vǫls) 5VIII (Vǫls 25)/4 — hnípaði ‘drooped with grief’
Út gekk Sigurðr annspjalli frá,
hollvinr lofða, ok hnípaði,
svá at ganga nam gunnarfúsum
sundr of síður serkr járnofinn.
Sigurðr gekk út frá annspjalli, hollvinr lofða, ok hnípaði, svá at járnofinn serkr nam ganga sundr of síður gunnarfúsum.
Sigurðr went out from that conversation, the loyal friend of men, and drooped with grief, so that the iron-woven mail-shirt broke asunder at the sides of the battle-keen man.
notes
[4] hnípaði ‘drooped with grief’: Most eds, following an original suggestion by Björner (cf. NK 323 n.), have emended the ms.’s hnípaði to hnipnaði, on the grounds that the verb hnípa ‘let one’s head hang, be downcast, sad or sorrowful’ is unlikely to have a 3rd pers. pret. sg. form hnípaði. While it is true that the 3rd pers. sg. pret. hnípti has been recorded several times both in prose and poetry (cf. ONP: hnípa; Anon Óldr 25/5I), one cannot entirely rule out an alternate form hnípaði. The closely related verb hnipna, with the same meaning, occurs only in poetry of the Codex Regius dealing with the Volsung legends, and only in the 3rd pers. sg. pret. hnipnaði (so Sigsk 13/2, Guðr II 7/1 (both instances of Gunnarr) and Guðr II 5/5 of the horse Grani). Hnipna is not listed in ONP.