Vellauðgan fór vallar
viggbeitir þá Meita
— einráð var það eyðis
armlinns — gyðing finna.
Beiddi blára odda......
brak-Njörðr …
hodda láns af hánum
hugprúðr og fiesnúðar.
Meita vallar viggbeitir fór þá finna vellauðgan gyðing; það var einráð eyðis armlinns. Hugprúðr blára odda brak-Njörðr beiddi láns hodda og fiesnúðar af hánum.
The steerer of the horse of Meiti’s <sea-king> plain [(lit. ‘horse-steerer of Meiti’s plain’) SEA > SHIP > SEAFARER] then went to find a Jew rich in gold; that was the resolution of the destroyer of the arm-serpent [RING > GENEROUS MAN]. The noble Njǫrðr <god> of the crash of dark spear-points [(lit. ‘crash-Njǫrðr of dark spear-points’) BATTLE > WARRIOR] asked for a loan of gold and for the favour of money from him.
[1] fór: so 399a‑bˣ, BFJ, ‘[...]r’ B, ‘(gǫ)r’(?) BRydberg
[1] vellauðgan fór: The ms. is badly damaged, and only ‘Vell…d…r’ can be read with any degree of certainty. The 399a-bˣ copyist was sure of Vellauðgan fór, and this reading has been taken as the basis of the reconstruction here. Vellauðgan is taken as m. acc. sg. of vellauðigr (adj.) ‘well-stocked in gold, rich’, which is construed with m. acc. sg. gyðing ‘Jew’ (l. 4). The same adj. occurs in KormǪ Lv 35/4V. Finnur Jónsson reads ‘Vellbiodr’ in Skj A, but in Skj B reconstructs the first word as m. sg. nom. adj. vellsnauður ‘poorly off for gold’, which he construes with the man-kenning viggbeitir Meita vallar ‘steerer of the horse of Meiti’s plain’ (ll. 1, 2). Kock (NN §2981) again objects to Finnur’s use of the desyllabified -ur in his reconstruction (see Note to 5/5), and emends to the synonymous vella snauðr ‘needy in respect of gold’, in an attempt to regularise the metre. Both emendations are unnecessary, however, since the 399a-bˣ reading makes both semantic and metrical sense.
Verbs: Strong Verbs
The stem of the subjunctive pl. is i-mutation of the indicative pl..
lúka ‘shut, end’
Indicative | Subjunctive | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Present | Past | Present | Past | ||
Active voice | |||||
sing. | 1 2 3 | lýk lýkr lýkr | lauk laukt lauk | lúka lúkir lúki | lyka lykir lyki |
pl. | 1 2 3 | lúkum lúkið lúka | lukum lukuð luku | lúkim lúkið lúki | lykim lykið lyki |
infinitive pres. part. past part. | lúka lúkandi lúkinn, lúkin, lúkit | ||||
Middle voice | |||||
sing. | 1 2 3 | lýkumk lýksk lýksk | laukumk laukzk lauksk | lúkumk lúkisk lúkisk | lykumk lykisk lykisk |
pl. | 1 2 3 | lúkumk lúkizk lúkask | lukumk lukuzk lukusk | lúkimk lúkizk lúkisk | lykimk lykizk lykisk |
infinitive pres. part. past part. | lúkask lúkandisk lúkizk |