[4]. Gjaflaug: nothing further is known of this aunt of Guthrun, or of the many relatives whom she has lost. Very likely she is an invention of the poet’s, for it seems improbable that otherwise all further trace of her should have been lost. Line 4 has been marked by many editors as spurious.
[5]. Some editors assume the loss of a line, after either line 1 or line 3. I prefer to believe that here and in stanza 10 the poet knew exactly what he was doing, and that both stanzas are correct.
[6]. Herborg: neither she nor her sorrows are elsewhere mentioned, [[414]]nor is it clear what a “queen of the Huns” is doing in Gunnar’s home, but the word “Hun” has little definiteness of meaning in the poems, and is frequently applied to Sigurth himself (cf. note on stanza 24). Herborg appears from stanza 11 to have been the foster-mother of Gollrond, Guthrun’s sister. Lines 5–7 may be interpolations, or may form a separate stanza.
[7]. Lines 1 and 2 stand in reversed order in the manuscript; I have followed Gering’s conjectural transposition.
[9]. Herborg implies that the queen’s jealousy was not altogether misplaced. [[415]]
[10]. Cf. stanza 5 and note. The manuscript abbreviates to first letters.
[11]. Gollrond: not elsewhere mentioned. Line 4 looks like an interpolation replacing a line previously lost.
[12]. The manuscript indicates line 3 as the beginning of a stanza, and some editors have attempted to follow this arrangement.
[14]. Many editors assume the loss of a line from this stanza. [[416]]
[15]. The word here translated “tresses” is sheer guesswork. The detail of the geese is taken from Sigurtharkvitha en skamma, 29, line 3 here being identical with line 4 of that stanza.