Íslenzk tunga - 01.01.1964, Page 50

48
ANTHONY FAULKES
derive from some Icelandic or Danish tradition about Eiríkr Spaki indepen-
dent of Saxo, but I have found no trace of it elsewhere.
'"59 Igiolld & Ydgiolld: Plurale neut. Mulcta tetrice luenda. Havamal: 111 yd-
giolld, liet eg hana haffa, hennar sara sæffa: Malam mulctationem feci
eam obtinere, sui acerbi animi. Ygiolld occurrit etiam in Saxone. Um Refs-
bætur, id est, mulctam pro satellite Refo Norvagis solvenda.
This refers to a passage at the end of Historia Danica VIII, in the story of
Gotricus and Refo. I do not know of any Icelandic version of this story.29
Further, the entry under Byckabrogd (p. 23), containing the much-
discussed quotation concerning one Höttr which has defied all at-
tempts to discover its source, is very likely part of a note on the name
Bicco in Historia Danica VIII, 156:
»23 Byckabrogd: Bycconis stratagemata: Bycco erat neqvam ille facinorosus &
calumniator, qvi Reginam Danicam & socios plures insidiis interemit. Is
alio nomine Hóttur vocatus. Inde Adagium: Ad koma ódrum fyrer Hattar
nejf: Aliqvem in offensam nefarii trudere. Hottur meiddi alla med marck-
legnum sem komu honum fyrer naser: Nam Hótterus cunctos furca (mark-
legg vocatal!]) læsit, qvi ei sunt facti obviam. Inde etiam, ad bregda
under sig bickiunne, pro perverti & pergræcari.
The words Reginam Danicam connect this Bycco witli the character in His-
toria Danica rather than the Bikki of the Elder Edda. As for Höttr, it has
been pointed out that the only man of this name in Old Norse literature is the
weakling in Hrólfs Saga Kraka. Einar Ólafur Sveinsson has discovered
another hero of this name in late paper MSS of the same saga in the National
Library in Reykjavík (Skírnir CXXVIII (1954), 215—216), but even this
personage scarcely answcrs to the description in SLR. It seems that all traces
of this Höttr in Old Norse have now vanished. It is perhaps likely tliat it was
the name of an evil counsellor in some oral folk-tale which was never written
down, who was identified by Brynjólfur (or whoever wrote the note) with
the similar character in the Ilistoria. (See p. 124 below for references to other
discussions of this entry).
Additions to the Glossary from the Letter of Jón Magnús-
SON. There are two entries which have been added to the glossary
which in DG 55 are found in an appendix near the end of the manu-
20 The quotation from Hávamál, which was not necessarily part of the note
to the passage in Saxo, is discussed below (p. 105).