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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Rloð Lv 1VIII (Ragn 1)/1 — lífi ‘the life’

Hætt hefi ek leyfðu lífi,
litfögr kona, — vetra
vá ek at foldar fiski
fimtán gamall — mínu.
Hafa skal ek böl, nema bíði
bráðráðinn mér dauði
heiðar lax til hjarta
hringlegnum vel smjúga.

Ek hefi hætt leyfðu lífi mínu, litfögr kona; fimtán vetra gamall vá ek at fiski foldar. Ek skal hafa böl, nema dauði, bráðráðinn mér, bíði smjúga vel til hjarta hringlegnum lax heiðar.

I have risked the life allotted to me, fair-complexioned woman; at the age of fifteen I attacked the fish of the earth [SNAKE]. I shall encounter disaster, unless the death imminently destined for me succeeds in creeping to the heart of the ring-coiled salmon of the heath [SNAKE].

notes

[1-4] leyfðu lífi mínu ‘the life allotted to me’: I.e. ‘my allotted life’. Kock’s understanding of the p. p. leyfðu ‘allowed, allotted’ (NN §2366) is preferred here to Finnur Jónsson’s ‘(my) praised (life)’ (mit lovpriste liv, Skj B). Not only is the meaning chosen here well attested elsewhere, as Kock shows; Ragnarr’s heroic career, of which the slaying of Þóra’s serpent is only the beginning, can hardly be assumed at this stage to have accumulated much praise.

grammar

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