(also known as The title is used especially in reference to those parts of the which are quoted in the . See Pétursson (1998), I.460f.) is the conventional title given to a section of the Poetic Edda text in .
It follows without interruption, and it relates the meeting of Sigurðr with the valkyrie Brynhildr, here identified as ("driver to victory"). Its content consists mostly of verses concerned with runic magic and general wisdom literature, presented as advice given by Sigrdrífa to Sigurd. The metre is differing throughout the poem. Most staves are wrote in ljóðaháttr, but there are also some in and a few in galdralag.
The end is in the lost part of the manuscript but it has been substituted from younger paper manuscripts. The describes the scene and contains some of the poem.
Name The compound means "driver to victory" occurs both as a common noun, a synonym of , and as a proper name of the valkyrie named Hild or Brynhild in the Prose Edda. H. Reichert, "Sigrdrifa (Brynhildr)" in: McConnell et al. (eds.), The Nibelungen Tradition: An Encyclopedia, Routledge (2013), p. 119. H. Reichert, "Zum Sigrdrífa-Brünhild-Problem" in: Mayrhofer et al. (eds.), Antiquitates Indogermanicae (FS Güntert), Innsbruck (1974), 251–265. (or "victory-urger", "inciter to victory"Orchard (1997:194). Simek (2007:284).) It occurs only in (stanza 44) and in stanza 4 of the . In , it could be a common noun, a synonym of valkyrie, while in it is explicitly used as the name of the valkyrie whose name is given as or in the Prose Edda. Bellows (1936) emphasizes that is an epithet of Brynhildr (and not a "second Valkyrie")."Even its customary title is an absurd error. The mistake made by the annotator in thinking that the epithet "sigrdrifa", rightly applied to Brynhild as a "bringer of victory", was a proper name has already been explained and commented on (note on Fafnismol, 44). Even if the collection of stanzas were in any real sense a poem, which it emphatically is not, it is certainly not the "Ballad of Sigrdrifa" which it is commonly called. "Ballad of Brynhild" would be a sufficiently suitable title, and I have here brought the established name "Sigrdrifumol" into accord with this by translating the epithet instead of treating it as a proper name". "Victory-bringer: the word thus translated is in the original 'sigrdrifa.' The compiler of the collection, not being familiar with this word, assumed that it was a proper name, and in the prose following stanza 4 of the Sigrdrifumol he specifically states that this was the Valkyrie's name. Editors, until recently, have followed him in this error, failing to recognize that "sigrdrifa" was simply an epithet for Brynhild. It is from this blunder that the so-called Sigrdrifumol takes its name. Brynhild's dual personality as a Valkyrie and as the daughter of Buthli has made plenty of trouble, but the addition of a second Valkyrie in the person of the supposed "Sigrdrifa" has made still more". (Bellows 1936)
Contents The follows the without break, and editors are not unanimous in where they set the title. Its state of preservation is the most chaotic in the Eddaic collection. Its end has been lost in the Great Lacuna of the . The text is cut off after the first line of stanza 29, but this stanza has been completed, and eight others have been added, on the evidence of the much later testimony of paper manuscripts.
The poem appears to be a compilation of originally unrelated poems. However, this state of the poem appears to have been available to the author of the , which cites from eighteen of its stanzas.
The basis of the text appears to be a poem dealing with Sigurd's finding of Brynhild, but only five stanzas (2-4, 20-21) deal with this narrative directly. Stanza 1 is probably taken from another poem about Sigurd and Brynhild. Many critics have argued that it is taken from the same original poem as stanzas 6-10 of .
In stanzas 6-12, Brynhild teaches Sigurd the magic use of the runes. To this has been added similar passages on rune-lore from unrelated sources, stanzas 5 and 13-19. This passage is the most prolific source about historical runic magic which has been preserved.
Finally, beginning with stanza 22 and running until the end of the preserved text is a set of counsels comparable to those in . This passage is probably an accretion unrelated to the Brynhild fragment, and it contains in turn a number of what are likely interpolations to the original text.
The valkyrie's drinking-speech The first three stanzas are spoken by Sigrdrífa after she has been awoken by Sigurd (stanza 1 in Bellows 1936 corresponds to the final stanza 45 of Fáfnismál in the edition of Jonsson 1905).
What is labelled as stanza 4 by Bellows (1936) is actually placed right after stanza 2, introduced only by ("she said"), marking it as the reply of the valkyrie to Sigmund's identification of himself in the second half of stanza 1.
The following two stanzas are introduced as follows:
"Sigurth sat beside her and asked her name. She took a horn full of mead and gave him a memory-draught."
Henry Adams Bellows stated in his commentary that stanzas 2-4 are "as fine as anything in Old Norse poetry" and these three stanzas constituted the basis of much of the third act in Richard Wagner's opera Siegfried. This fragment is one of the few direct invocations of the Norse gods which have been preserved, and it is sometimes dubbed a "pagan prayer".Steinsland & Meulengracht 1998:72
The first two stanzas are given below in close transcription (Bugge 1867), in normalized Old Norse (Finnur Jónsson 1932) and in the translations by Thorpe (1866) and of Bellows (1936): Heill dagr heilir dags synir heil nott oc nipt oreiþom gom litiþ ocr þinig oc gefit sitiondom sigr
Heilir ęsir heilar asynior heil sia in fiolnyta fold mal oc manvit gefit ocr męrom tveim oc lęcnishendr meþan lifom (ed. Bugge 1867)Sophus Bugge, Sæmundar Edda (1867). Cursive type indicates expansions from scribal abbreviations.(ed. Finnur Jónsson 1932)Finnur Jonsson (1932), De gamle Eddadigte, digitalized at heimskringla.orgHail Dag, Hail Dag's sons, Hail Nat and Nipt! Look down upon us With benevolent eyes And give victory to the sitting!
Hail Asas, Hail Asynjes, Hail bounteous earth! Words and wisdom give to us noble twain, and healing hands in life! (Thorpe 1866)Benjamin Thorpe (trans.), Rasmus B. Anderson (ed.), The Elder Eddas of Saemund Sigufsson, Norroena Society (1906).Hail, day! Hail, sons of day! And night and her daughterBellow's translation "her daughter" is based on the interpretation of the text as referring to Jörd. Sophus Bugge (1867) has argued against this interpretation, as the Earth is addressed directly in the following stanza. The literal meaning of is "female relative" more generally and may refer to a sister, daughter or sister's daughter. The translation by Benjamin Thorpe renders the word as a proper name, as Nipt. now! Look on us here with loving eyes, That waiting we victory win.
Hail to the gods! Ye goddesses, hail, And all the generous earth! Give to us wisdom and goodly speech, And healing hands, life-long. (Bellows 1936)Henry Adams Bellows, The Poetic Edda (1936)
Runic stanzas Stanzas 5-18 concern runic magic, explaining the use of runes in various contexts.
In stanza 5, Sigrdrífa brings Sigurd ale which she has charmed with runes:
Stanza 6 advises to carve "victory runes" on the sword hilt, presumably referring to the t rune named for Tyr:Enoksen, Lars Magnar. Runor: Historia, tydning, tolkning (1998)
The following stanzas address "Ale-runes" (7), "birth-runes" (8), "wave-runes" (9), "branch-runes" (10), "speech-runes" (11), "thought-runes" (12). Stanzas 13-14 appear to have been taken from a poem about the finding of the runes by Odin. Stanzas 15-17 are again from an unrelated poem, but still about the topic of runes. The same holds for stanzas 18-19, which return to the mythological acquisition of the runes, and the passing of their knowledge to the æsir, elves, vanir and mortal men.
Gnomic stanzas Stanzas 20-21 are again in the setting of the frame narrative, with Brynhild asking Sigurd to make a choice. They serve as introduction for the remaining part of the text, stanzas 22-37 (of which, however, only 22-28 and the first line of 29 are preserved in ), which are gnomic in nature. Like , the text consists of numbered counsels, running from one to eleven. The "unnumbered" stanzas 25, 27, 30, 34 and 36 are considered interpolations by Bellows (1936).
Editions and translations
Benjamin Thorpe (trans.), The Edda Of Sæmund The Learned, 1866 online copy, at northvegr.org Sophus Bugge, Sæmundar Edda, 1867 (edition of the manuscript text) online copy Henry Adams Bellows (1936) (translation and commentary) online copy, at sacred-texts.com Guðni Jónsson, Eddukvæði: Sæmundar-Edda, 1949 (edition with normalized spelling)online copy W. H. Auden and P. B. Taylor (trans.), The Elder Edda: A Selection, 1969
References
Jansson, Sven B. F. (Foote, Peter; transl.)(1987). Runes in Sweden. Steinsland, G. & Meulengracht Sørensen, P. (1998): Människor och makter i vikingarnas värld. Einar G. Pétursson, Hvenær týndist kverið úr Konungsbók Eddukvæða? , Gripla 6 (1984), 265-291 Einar G. Pétursson, Eddurit Jóns Guðmundssonar lærða: Samantektir um skilning á Eddu og Að fornu í þeirri gömlu norrænu kölluðust rúnir bæði ristingar og skrifelsi: Þættir úr fræðasögu 17. aldar, Stofnun Árna Magnússonar á Íslandi, Rit 46 (1998), vol I, pp. 402–40: introduction to Jón's commentary on the poem Brynhildarljóð (Sígrdrífumál) in Völsunga saga; vol. II, 95-102: the text of the commentary.