Hergunnr Lv 2VIII (HjǪ 18)/8 — suðræni ‘southern’
Held ek upp hrömmum; hér máttu, jöfurr, líta
hendr Hergunnar; hefi ek negl óskorna.
Rifna mun þín ólpa, ef vit, jöfurr, finnumz;
þér skal ei kyrt klappa, konungr inn suðræni.
Ek held upp hrömmum; hér máttu líta, jöfurr, hendr Hergunnar; ek hefi óskorna negl. Ólpa þín mun rifna, ef vit finnumz, jöfurr; skal ei klappa þér kyrt, inn suðræni konungr.
I hold up my paws; here you can see, prince, Hergunnr’s hands; I have uncut nails. Your cloak will be ripped if we two meet, prince; you will not be stroked gently, southern king.
notes
[8] inn suðræni konungr ‘southern king’: The adj. suðrœnn ‘southern’ is used frequently in Old Norse eddic poetry to refer to characters from the legend of the Niflungar and to other heroic figures (cf. LP: suðrœnn) and those associations may be intended here. In the saga, the geographical location of Hjálmþér’s kingdom is only vaguely indicated. His father Ingi is said to be king of Man(n)heimar ‘Worlds of humans’, a name used elsewhere in Old Norse only in Yng (ÍF 26, 21-2) to refer to Sweden, where the Yngling dynasty established itself, in contrast to the earthly home of the euhemerised Norse gods. In support of this interpretation, Snorri quotes Eyv Hál 2I, where in l. 6 the phrase í manheimum occurs, though its meaning has been debated, and may have nothing to do with humanity in general; see Note to this stanza in SkP I. The name Manheimar occurs in HjǪ 29/2. In his introduction to HjǪ 1720 and in the edition’s title, Johan Fredrich Peringskiöld equates Manheim (he spells it ‘Mannahem’) with Sweden, following Olaus Rudbeck’s equation (Rudbeck 1679-1702) of Manheim/Sweden, in his Atland eller Manheim, with the lost Atlantis of classical antiquity.