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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Rloð Lv 1VIII (Ragn 1)/8 — smjúga ‘in creeping’

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].

readings

[8] smjúga: so 147, ‘smiughí’ 1824b, ‘smiughu’ 762ˣ

notes

[5, 8] bíði … smjúga ‘succeeds … in creeping’: For bíða + inf. in the sense ‘succeed in, manage to’, Olsen (Ragn 1906-8, 195) refers to Hávm 41/6 (NK 23): ef þat bíðr at verða vel ‘if things are going to work out’. The absence in the present instance of the inf. marker at (‘to’ + inf.) may be noted, cf. Note to 23/5-6, below. Bíði is subj. following nema ‘unless’.

grammar

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