THE COMPARATIVe VǪLUSPÁ
Stanzas 43-45
Joseph S. Hopkins for Mimisbrunnr.info, August 2022
The present page consists of an entry of Mimisbrunnr.info’s The Comparative Vǫluspá. The Mimisbrunnr.info team designed The Comparative Vǫluspá as a resource to assist in the study of both the poem and its English language translations. You can read about the project’s approach and goals here.
The Comparative Vǫluspá features six public domain English editions of Vǫluspá presented in reverse chronological order, specifically those of Lee M. Hollander (first edition, 1928), Henry Adams Bellows (1923), Olive Bray (1908), Guðbrandur Vigfússon and York Powell (1883), Benjamin Thorpe (1866), and Sharon Turner (1836). We precede these with Gustav Neckel’s 1914 Old Norse edition of the poem, which is also in the public domain in the United States, and which we’ve used as a basis for the project’s stanza order.
Please note that if this is your first encounter with the poem, The Comparative Vǫluspá can serve as an introduction, but you stand to benefit from Carolyne Larrington’s revised edition (2014) as your foundation. Not only do Larrington’s notes reflect contemporary scholarship but her revised edition contains two separate translations of the poem from two notably different manuscripts of the poem. Translators often combine these manuscripts and this can lead to significant confusion for non-specialists.
STANZA 43:
Gól um ásom
x. Neckel’s Old Norse edition, 1914:
Gól um ásom Gullinkambi,
sá vekr hǫlða at Herifǫðrs;
en annarr gelr fyr iǫrð neðan,
sótrauðr hani, at sǫlom Heliar.
Crowed o'er the gods Gullinkambi;
wakes he the heroes with Herian who dwell;
another crows the earth beneath
in the halls of Hel, of hue dark red.
Then to the gods crowed Gollinkambi,
He wakes the heroes in Othin's hall;
And beneath the earth does another crow,
The rust-red bird at the bars of Hel.
Crows o’er the gods the Golden-combed;
he wakes the heroes in War-father’s dwellings;
and crows yet another beneath the earth,
a dark red cock in the halls of Hel.
c. Guðbrandur Vigfússon & York Powell, 1883:
The cock Gold-comb is crowing to the Anses,
waking the warriors of the Father of Hosts.
Another cock, Sooty-red, crows under the earth
in the halls of Hell.
Crowed o'er the Æsir Gullinkambi,
which wakens heroes with the sire of hosts;
but another crows beneath the earth,
a soot-red cock, in the halls of Hel.
a. Turner, 1836:
The golden-haired bird
sang with the Asæ.
He roused the heroes with Herfadur.
But another crowed below the earth,
The yellow cock in the palace of Hela.
STANZA 44:
Geyr Garmr miǫk
x. Neckel’s Old Norse edition, 1914:
Geyr Garmr miǫk fyr Gnipahelli:
festr mun slitna, en freki renna.
Fiǫlð veit hon frœða, fram sé ek lengra
um ragna rǫk, rǫmm, sigtíva.
Garm bays loudly before Gnipa cave,
tears him free Fenrir and fares to battle.
The fates I fathom, yet father I see:
of the mighty gods the engulfing doom.
Now Garm howls loud before Gnipahellir,
The fetters will burst, and the wolf run free;
Much do I know, and more can see
Of the fate of the gods, the mighty in fight.
d. Bray, 1908:
Loud bays Garm before Gaping-Hel;
the bond shall be broken the Wolf run free.
Hidden things I know; still onward I see
the great Doom of the Powers, the gods of war.
c. Guðbrandur Vigfússon & York Powell, 1883:
Fiercely Garm shall [the hell-hound]
bay before the cave of the Rock,
the chain shall snap and the Wolf range free!
Tales-a-many the Sibyl can tell. I see farther in the future,
the mighty Doom of the blessed Gods.
Trembles Yggdrasil's ash yet standing;
groans that aged tree, and the jötun* is loosed.
Loud bays Garm before the Gnupa-cave,
his bonds he rends asunder; and the wolf runs.
Garmur barked horribly
Before the cave of Gnipa.
The chains will be broken:
Freco wish rush out,
Wise she knows many things.
But I see beyond,
From the twilight of the Deities,
The fierce Sigtiva.
STANZA 45:
Brœðr muno beriaz
x. Neckel’s Old Norse edition, 1914:
Brœðr muno beriaz ok at bǫnom verðaz,
muno systrungar sifiom spilla;
hart er í heimi, hórdómr mikill,
skeggǫld, skálmǫld, skildir ro klofnir,
vingǫld, vargǫld, áðr verǫld steypiz;
mun engi maðr Oðrom þyrma.
Brothers will battle to bloody end,
and sisters' sons their sib betray;
woe's in the world, much wantonness;
[axe-age, sword-age— sundered are shields—
wind-age, wolf-age, ere the worlds crumbles;]
will the spear of no man spare his brother.
Brothers shall fight and fell each other,
And sisters' sons shall kinship stain;
Hard is it on earth, with mighty whoredom;
Axe-time, sword-time, shields are sundered,
Wind-time, wolf-time, ere the world falls;
Nor ever shall men each other spare.
d. Bray, 1908:
Brothers shall fight and be as murderers;
sisters’ children shall stain their kinship.
‘Tis ill with the world; comes fearful whoredom,
a Sword age, Axe age, —shields are cloven,
a Wind age, Wolf age, ere the world sinks.
Never shall man then spare another.
c. Guðbrandur Vigfússon & York Powell, 1883:
Brothers shall fight and slay one another,
kinsfolk shall break the bonds of kindred.
It shall go hard with the world: much of whoredom,
an age of axes, an age of swords, shields shall be cloven,
an age of storm, an age of wolves, ere the world falls in ruin.
Hard is it in the world, great whoredom,
an axe age, a sword age, shields shall be cloven,
a wind age, a wolf age, ere the world sinks.
Brethren will fight and slay each other;
Kindred will spurn their consanguinity;
Hard will be the world:
Many the adulteries.
A bearded age: an age of swords:
Shields will be cloven.
An age of winds; an age of wolves.
Till the world shall perish
There will not be one that will spare another.