Anon Nkt 6II/2 — eiga ‘to possess’
* Hann þat eitt
eiga vildit,
es * langfeðr
leifðu hônum.
Svá vas ríkr
ræsir Sygna
ok ágjarn
við auðgefendr,
at allt land
Elfar á milli
ok Finnmerkr
fylkir átti.
Náði hann
fyr Nóregi
ǫllum fyrst
einn at ráða.
* Hann vildit eiga þat eitt, es * langfeðr leifðu hônum. Ræsir Sygna vas svá ríkr ok ágjarn við auðgefendr, at fylkir átti allt land á milli Elfar ok Finnmerkr. Hann náði fyrst at ráða einn fyr ǫllum Nóregi.
He did not only want to possess that which his ancestors had left him. The ruler of the Sygnir [NORWEGIAN KING = Haraldr] was so powerful and aggressive toward wealth-givers [GENEROUS MEN], that the leader possessed all the land between the Götaälv and Finnmark. He was the first to rule alone over all of Norway.
readings
[2] eiga vildit: eiga vildi Flat
notes
[1-2] * hann þat eitt eiga vildit ‘he not only wanted to have that’: In the present edn, the negative enclitic particle -t has been added to the auxiliary (hence vildit ‘did not want’) to provide the deleted negation eigi ‘not’ (for a similar emendation, see st. 18/1). The pron. hann ‘he’ is treated as a connective to allow for bound-cl. w. o. (see Gade 2005). The Flat reading (eigi hann þat eitt | eiga vildi, lit. ‘not he that one thing to have wanted’) is metrically impossible in both kviðuháttr and fornyrðislag. Skj B and Skald emend to eigi eitt | eiga vildi (lit. ‘not one thing to have wanted’), which violates the w. o. in independent clauses (the verb must come in syntactic positions 1 or 2) and necessitates another emendation in l. 3.
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- | ||