ÍvRagn Lv 1VIII (Ragn 22)/7 — á* ‘have’
Hafið ofrhuga ærinn
ok áræði bæði;
þess mundi þá þurfa,
at þrá mikit fylgði.
Bera munuð mik fyr bragna
beinlausan fram verða;
þó á* ek hönd til hefnda,
at ek hváriga nýta.
Hafið bæði ærinn ofrhuga ok áræði; þess mundi þá þurfa, at mikit þrá fylgði. Munuð verða bera mik beinlausan fram fyr bragna; þó á* ek hönd til hefnda, at ek nýta hváriga.
You have both sufficient foolhardiness and daring; this would then be needed, that great perseverance should accompany [them]. You will have to carry me, boneless, before the men; I’ll have a hand in the pursuit of vengeance, even though I use neither of them.
readings
[7] þó á* ek hönd: ‘þo at ek haund’ 1824b, ‘[…] haund’ 147, þó gat ek hönd Hb
notes
[7-8] þó á* ek hönd til hefnda, at ek nýta hváriga ‘I’ll have a hand in the pursuit of vengeance, even though I use neither of them’: There seems no need to follow the eds cited above with reference to man/mun (as opposed to munuð) in l. 5 in adopting here the Hb reading gat ek ‘I (have) obtained’; the emended 1824b reading á* ek ‘I(’ll) have’, adopted by Örnólfur Thorsson (Ragn 1985), gives better sense. On the other hand the Hb reading hefnda, retained by all previous eds apart from Rafn (FSN) seems preferable to 1824b’s ‘hręfa’ (= hræva, gen. pl. of hræ n. ‘corpse’ (?)). Whether the reading á* ek (1824b) or gat ek (Hb) is adopted, a metaphorical interpretation of hönd ‘hand’ seems required; Finnur Jónsson (Hb 1892-6, 462), followed here by Olsen (Ragn 1906-8, 210), translates gat ek hönd til hefnda as: jeg har fået en hånd til hævn (჻ ånd og kløgt) ‘I have obtained a hand for purposes of vengeance (i.e. spirit and ingenuity)’.
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- | ||