Bǫlv Hardr 1II/7 — it ‘the’
Mildingr, straukt of mækis
munn, es lézt af gunni;
holds vannt hrafn of fylldan
hrás; þaut vargr í ási.
En, gramr — né frák fremra
friðskerði þér verða —
austr vast ár it næsta,
ǫrðuglyndr, í Gǫrðum.
Mildingr, straukt of munn mækis, es lézt af gunni; vannt of fylldan hrafn hrás holds; vargr þaut í ási. En, ǫrðuglyndr gramr, it næsta ár vast austr í Gǫrðum; né frák friðskerði verða fremra þér.
Generous one, you wiped the sword’s mouth when you had finished the fight; you filled the raven with raw flesh; the wolf howled on the hill. And, resolute ruler, the following year you were east in Russia; I never heard of a peace-diminisher [WARRIOR] becoming more distinguished than you.
readings
[7] ár it næsta: r in næstu H, Hr
notes
[7] it næsta ár ‘the following year’: Most of the Hkr mss and Fsk give the reading it næsta ár vast austr í Gǫrðum ‘the following year you were east in Russia’. That information is, however, somewhat at odds with the prose, because Haraldr spent several years with Jaroslav. Some of the ÓH mss (and E, J2ˣ) try to remedy that by replacing vast ‘were’ with komt ‘came’: it næsta ár komt austr í Garða ‘the following year you came east to Russia’. The H-Hr variant r in næstu ‘the following years’ is in keeping with the prose.
grammar
Pronouns and determiners: Definite article
The definite article is normally suffixed to nouns, except in some cases where it is used with an adjective. If the noun form ends in a vowel, the 'i' in the article is dropped. If the noun form ends in 'um', the 'm' and 'i' are both dropped. E.g. hesta (acc. pl.) > hestana (acc. pl. definite); hestum (dat. pl.) > hestunum (dat. pl. definite)
| masc. | fem. | neut. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| sing. | N A G D | inn inn ins inum | in ina innar inni | it it ins inu |
| pl. | N A G D | inir ina inna inum | inar inar inna inum | in in inna inum |