FriðÞ Lv 6VIII (Frið 6)/5 — mun ‘will’
Helgi veldr, at hrannir
hrímfaxaðar vaxa;
er ei, sem bjarta brúði
í Baldrshaga kyssim.
Ólíkt mun mér unna
Ingibjörg eða þengill;
heldr vilda ek hennar
hæfi at minni gæfu.
Helgi veldr, at hrímfaxaðar hrannir vaxa; er ei, sem kyssim bjarta brúði í Baldrshaga. Ingibjörg eða þengill mun unna mér ólíkt; ek vilda heldr hæfi hennar at gæfu minni.
Helgi is causing the rime-maned waves to grow; it is not as though we [I] were kissing the radiant woman in Baldrshagi. Ingibjǫrg and the king will love me differently; I would rather her situation [was] to my advantage.
notes
[5-6] Ingibjörg eða þengill mun unna mér ólíkt ‘Ingibjǫrg and the king will love me differently’: This remark is a kind of litotes, to signal Friðþjófr’s awareness that the king (presumably Helgi is meant though it is possible that the allusion is to King Hringr, Ingibjǫrg’s intended) does not love him at all, though Ingibjǫrg does. The conj. eða (l. 6) must be understood here as meaning ‘and’ rather than its usual sense ‘or’.
grammar
Verbs: Preterite-present verbs
The present tense of these verbs is like the past tense of strong verbs, and their past tense is weak.
| eiga | mega | kunna | skulu | munu | muna | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| indic. pres. | sing. pl. | 1st 2nd 3rd 1st 2nd 3rd | á átt á eigum eiguð eigu | má mátt má megum meguð megu | kann kannt kann kunnum kunnuð kunnu | skal skalt skal skulum skuluð skulu | mun munt mun munum munuð munu | man mant man munum munið muna |
| indic. past stem subj. pres. stem subj. past stem | átt- eig- ætt- | mátt- meg- mætt- | kunn- kunn- kynn- | skyld- skyl- skyld- | mund- myn- mynd- | mund- mun- mynd- | ||