Hfr Hákdr 5III/4 — bið ‘waiting’
Sannyrðum spenr sverða
snarr þiggjandi viggjar
barrhaddaða byrjar
biðkvôn und sik Þriðja.
Snarr þiggjandi viggjar byrjar spenr barrhaddaða biðkvôn Þriðja und sik sannyrðum sverða.
The swift receiver of the horse of the breeze [SHIP > SEAFARER] draws under himself the foliage-haired waiting wife of Þriði <= Óðinn> [= Jǫrð (jǫrð ‘earth’)] by means of true words of swords [BATTLE].
readings
[4] bið‑: so U, bif‑ all others
notes
[4] biðkvôn ‘waiting wife’: Óðinn may have abandoned his wife Jǫrð for the goddess Frigg, although this is not stated explicitly in Old Norse sources. The skald apparently pictures Jǫrð as awaiting (in vain) Óðinn’s return, and thus all the more ripe for Hákon to seduce. Bið- could alternatively be from biðja ‘woo, court, propose to’ rather than bíða ‘wait’, as Kock (NN §§1911B, 1955) argues. The phrase would then mean ‘wooed woman’, and suggest that Hákon actively desires Jǫrð/Norway. There are no other Old Norse compounds with bið- from biðja as the first element, however, but compounds with bið- from bíða are rather common. Bifkvôn ‘trembling wife’, the reading of R, spoils the hending with Þriðja; Faulkes’s (SnE 1998, I, 158) suggestion that it refers to a volcanic landscape is attractive but as he admits, applies better to Iceland than to Norway.
kennings
- barrhaddaða biðkvôn Þriðja — the foliage-haired waiting wife of Þriði <= Óðinn> [= Jǫrð (jǫrð ‘earth’)]