[26]. The manuscript marks line 3, and not line 1, as beginning a stanza. Of the race of the gods: the reference here is apparently to Jormunrek, but in the Volsungasaga the advice to kill Hamther and Sorli with stones, since iron will not wound them (cf. note on stanza 11), comes from Othin, who enters the hall as an old man with one eye. [[554]]
[27]. In the manuscript this stanza is introduced by the same line as stanza 25: “Then did Hamther speak forth, | the haughty of heart,” but the speaker in this case must be Sorli and not Hamther. Some editors, however, give lines 1–2 to Hamther and lines 3–4 to Sorli. Bag: i.e., Hamther’s mouth; cf. note on stanza 11. The manuscript indicates line 3 as beginning a new stanza.
[28]. Most editors regard stanzas 28–30 as a speech by Hamther, but the manuscript does not indicate the speaker, and some editors assign one or two of the stanzas to Sorli. Lines 1–2 are quoted in the Volsungasaga. The manuscript does not indicate line 1 as beginning a stanza. Erp: Hamther means that while the two brothers had succeeded only in wounding Jormunrek, Erp, if he had been with them, would have killed him. Lines 3–4 may be a later interpolation. Norns: the fates; the word used in the original means the goddesses of ill fortune. [[555]]
[29]. This is almost certainly an interpolated Ljothahattr stanza, though some editors have tried to expand it into the Fornyrthislag form. Hounds of the Norns: wolves.
[30]. Some editors assume a gap after this stanza.
[31]. Apparently a fragment of a stanza from the “old” Hamthesmol to which the annotator’s concluding prose note refers. Some editors assume the loss of two lines after line 2.
[Prose]. Regarding the “old” Hamthesmol, cf. Guthrunarhvot, introductory note. [[557]]
PRONOUNCING INDEX OF PROPER NAMES
Introductory Note