Hergunnr Lv 1VIII (HjǪ 15)/3 — munum ‘will’
Tölum ek treysti at tala við höfþingja,
þó munum vér lítit, þat er til vegar horfir.
Skulum til skála skunda göngu
ok menn mildungs merkja á seyði.
Ek treysti tölum at tala við höfþingja, þó munum vér lítit, þat er horfir til vegar. Skulum skunda göngu til skála ok merkja menn mildungs á seyði.
I trust in my powers of speech to talk with chieftains, yet we [I] will [do] little that leads to honour. We shall speed our course to the hall and observe the prince’s men on the fire.
readings
[3] munum: ‘numum’ ÍBR5ˣ
notes
[3] munum vér ‘we [I] will [do]’: Ms. ÍBR5ˣ reads the verb as numum, which is probably to be understood as a metathesised version of munum ‘we will’, though a main verb has to be supplied silently in this interpretation. Kock (NN §2615) takes issue with the implicit assumption in Skj B that vér ‘we’ bears alliteration, as well as with the slightly emended numum of ÍBR5ˣ to námum ‘we learnt’, which gives the sense ‘yet I have learnt [only] a little of what pertains to honour’, that is, by litotes, Hergunnr will not play by the rules of martial combat though she can chat up warriors well enough. Kock emends ll. 3-4 to read: þó vinnum vér lítit | þats til vegar horfir, ‘though we [I] bring about little that leads to honour’.
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- | ||