Anon Vitn 11VII/5 — hirtir ‘Chastiser’
Vitjar veglig sæta
virktafríð um síðir
sinn elskuga sannan,
— svá spyrr — er var fyrri:
‘Hví vartu svá, hirtir,
hverflyndr, að við fyndumz,
mjög reynir þú, manna,
mín, unnustu þína.’
Veglig, virktafríð sæta vitjar um síðir sannan elskuga sinn, er var fyrri; spyrr svá: ‘Hirtir manna, hví vartu svá hverflyndr mín, að við fyndumz? Þú reynir unnustu þína mjög.’
The magnificent, very beautiful woman finally visits her true lover, the one who was [her lover] before; she asks thus: ‘Chastiser of men [RULER], why were you so fickle to me concerning the fact that we two should meet? You test your beloved very much.’
notes
[5, 7] hirtir manna ‘chastiser of men [RULER]’: The kenning may have been used here to denote the man’s high rank in society. Skald emends to hirtir meina, translated as beivrare av odåd ‘inciter of misdeeds’ (see NN §2858). Schottmann (1973, 128) suggests hirðir menja ‘keeper of necklaces [GENEROUS MAN]’, which forces the emendation of vartu ‘were you’ to varðu ‘did you become’. The kenning clearly refers to the man, and Finnur Jónsson takes it as such in Skj B (mænds styrer ‘ruler of men’), although in LP: hirtir he construes it as a kenning for God.
kennings
- ‘Hirtir manna, — ‘Chastiser of men, [RULER]
grammar
case: nom.