Hjþ Lv 2VIII (HjǪ 3)/8 — Hrauðungs ‘of Hrauðungr’
Hver er sú dóttir, er um nótt miðja
flanar ok flöktir með fíls hala?
Ólík þykki mér þú öðrum vífum,
eða hvaðan kom Hrauðungs mær?
Hver er sú dóttir, er flanar ok flöktir um miðja nótt með hala fíls? Þú þykki mér ólík öðrum vífum, eða hvaðan kom mær Hrauðungs?
Who is that daughter who flits and flutters about in the middle of the night with an elephant’s tail? You seem to me unlike other women, and where did the girl of Hrauðungr <giant> [GIANTESS] come from?
readings
[8] Hrauðungs: ‘hraudinns’ 109a IIIˣ, ‘hundnis’ papp6ˣ, ‘hraudvijs’ ÍBR5ˣ
notes
[8] Hrauðungs ‘of Hrauðungr’: This is an emendation taking account of the various ms. forms, which could be understood in at least two other ways: a) as the pers. n. Hrauðnis ‘of Hrauðnir’ or b) as the adj. hundvíss ‘very wise’, qualifying mær ‘girl’, assuming the scribe of papp6ˣ read ‘-uis’ as ‘-nis’. The latter, an adj. often collocated with the word jǫtunn ‘giant’, is the reading adopted by FSN. If either Hrauðungs or Hrauðnis is adopted, the phrase Hrauðungs or Hrauðnis mær becomes a giantess-kenning, as both proper names Hrauðungr and Hrauðnir are recorded as giant names. Hrauðnir is a sea-king in Þul Sækonunga 2/8III and a giant in Þul Jǫtna I 1/6III, while Hrauðungr is a sea-king in Þul Sækonunga 3/1III and a giant in Þul Jǫtna II 3/3III. The name Hrauðungr also appears in the prose preface to Grí as the name of the king whom Óðinn visits in disguise and it refers to a giant again in Hyndl 26/4. What is probably the same name appears in another stanza of HjǪ, 16/6, where 109a IIIˣ has the form ‘hraudings’. Skj B, Skald and FSGJ all have Hrauðungs and this form has also been adopted here, although the other possibilities are also plausible. The case for Hrauðnir is boosted considerably by the fact that this name occurs a number of times as the name of a giant in Hjálmþérsrímur II, 17, 21; IV, 26; X, 25 (Finnur Jónsson 1905-22, II, 182).
kennings
- mær Hrauðungs? — the girl of Hrauðungr <giant> [GIANTESS]