Where exactly does Tófa fit into the Saga of Týrfingr, is she the same individual as Sváva?

Question

The wikipedia page for Tófa states shes is the Wife of Angantyr and mother of Hervor:

Tófa (Tófu) is the wife of Angantyr and mother of Hervor in Norse mythology. She is mentioned only once the Poetic Edda, in Hervararkviða. The Poetic Edda is part of the Tyrfing Cycle of Old Norse legends.

Tófu is mentioned only once, in the legendary saga of Hervor's Waking of Angantyr: 1

Vaki, Angantýr! || vekr þik Hervǫr, eingadóttir || ykkr Tófu!

Awaken, Angantyr! It is Hervor who awakens you, your only daughter by Tófa!

And cites The Waking of Angantýr (Early Indo-European Texts, Old Norse by Todd B. Krause and Jonathan Slocum) (via archive.org).

However in the sample of 'Two Sagas of Mythical Heroes: Hervor and Heidrek and Hrólf Kraki and His Champions' edited by Jackson Crawford that I read on Google Books, I saw these family trees:

and

.

But that does not tie up with wikipedia.

What's more is that in Jackson Crawford's reading of The Waking of Angantýr on YouTube he seems to say 'Sváva'.

Is 'Tófa' the same individual as 'Sváva' with a different pronunciation or spelling, or are they different tellings of the same story as I've heard hinted about the two Sagas?

Answer 1

Summary

There are two manuscript sources for the saga of Hervör and Heithrek:

1. Manuscript H, part of the Hauksbók, held by the National and University Library of Iceland, shelfmark AM 544. Hervör’s mother is called Tofa just once.
2. Manuscript R, held by the Royal Danish Library, shelfmark MS 2845. Hervör’s mother is called Svafa throughout.

Manuscript H

In the description of Angantyr’s marriage and Hervör’s birth, Earl Bjartmar’s daughter is unnamed:

Voru þeir heima um vetrinn; ok um várit bjuggust þeir heiman, ok fóru fyrst til Bjartmars jarls, ok tóku þeir veizlu. Ok um kveldit beiddist Angantýr, at jarl gipti hann dóttur sína; ok þetta sem annat, var gert eptir þeirra vilja, at brúðlaup var gjört; ok síðan bjuggust Arngríms synir brott. […]

Nú er þat til at taka, at dóttir Bjarmars jarls fæddi meybarn, ok þótti flestum ráð, at út væri borit, ok sögðu, at eigi mundi konu skap hafa, ef föður-frændum yrði líkt; jarl lét ausa vatni ok uppfæða, ok kallaði Hervöru, ok sagði, at eigi var þá aldauða ætt Arngríms suna, ef hún lifði.

_{Hervarar Saga og Heiðreks. ‘Manuscript H’, in Hauksbók (c. 1300). Folios 73r and 73v.}

They spent the winter at home, and in the spring made ready to start, going first to Earl Bjartmar, where a feast was made for them. And during the evening Angantyr asked the Earl for the hand of his daughter and in this as in the rest they got their wish. The wedding took place, and afterwards the sons of Arngrim prepared to set out. […]

The story goes on to say that a girl was born to the daughter of Earl Bjartmar. Everyone advised exposing the child, saying that if she resembled her father’s kinsmen she would not have a womanly disposition. The Earl, however, had her sprinkled with water; and he brought her up, and called her Hervör, saying that the line of Arngrim’s sons would not be extinguished if she were left alive.

_{Nora Kershaw (1921). ‘The Saga of Hervör and Heithrek’. In Stories and Ballads of the Far Past, pp. 92–93. Cambridge University Press.}

But a couple of pages later, the saga quotes a poem, the Hervararkviða (the “Incantation of Hervör”), in which Hervör approaches the burial mound of her father Angantyr to take the magical sword Tyrfing, and here Hervör’s mother is named:

_{Hervararkviða, lines 29–32. ‘Manuscript H’, in Hauksbók (c. 1300). Folio 74r.}

Vaki þú Angantýr! Vekr þik Hervær
einga-dóttir ykkor Tófo.
Sel-þú mer or haugi hvassan mæki,
þann-es Svafr-lama slógo Dvergar!

_{Hervararkviða lines 29–32. In Gudbrand Vigfusson & F. York Powell (1883). Corpus Poeticum Boreale: the Poetry of the Old Northern Tongue from the Earliest Times to the Thirteenth Century, p. 164. Oxford: Clarendon Press.}

Awaken, Angantyr, hearken to me!
The only daughter of Tofa and thee
                Is here and bids thee awake!
Give me from out the barrow's shade
The keen-edged sword which the dwarfs once made
                For Svafrlami's sake.

_{Kershaw, p. 96.}

Manuscript R

I have not been able to find a scan or facsimile of manuscript R, so I am relying on the 1671 transcription by Olaus Verelius. In this manuscript Hervör’s mother is named Svafa:

Jarl er nefadr Biartmar, han ried firir Aldeioborg, oc þò han bæri ey hærra tignarnafn, þà var han ey orkiare enn marger Kongar. Hañ atti Dottur eina barna er Suafa hiet: hun var skorungr mikill oc nu roskin. Þàr attu Andgryms Synner fòr um: Nu snua þeir bræder þangat, oc er Biartmar spir ril ferda þeirra, giorer han þegar veistlu i mori þeim. Sem þeir hafa dualist þar, Sagdi Angantyr ad Jarl villdi gipta honom Dottur sina? Biartmar jatar þvy, oc bædi þaug: Er nu snuit til mikillrar veitslu: oc ad þeisari veitslu eru þaug leidd i eina reckiu, Angantyr oc Svafa, dotter Biartmars Jarls. […]

Svafa dotter Biartmars Jarls òl barn; þad var meybarn: þad var margra vilie, ad ey væra uppfætt, oc kauludu ey mundi konuskap, ef faudur frændum yrdi likt. Oc seiger Suafa suo ad vera mætti, ad af henni kiæmi storar ætter; oc være Andgryms syner suo stodader: oc liet meinni nafn giefa, oc hiet Hervor.

_{Olaus Verelius (1671). Hervarar Saga, pp. 66–67. Uppsala: Henricus Curio.}

In this version, Hervör’s incantation is given as follows:

Vaknadu Angantyr, vekur þig Hervor
Einka dotter yckar Suafu:
Sel þu mer ur hauge harden mækir,
þan er Suafulama slogu duergar.

_{Verelius, p. 91.}

The other Svava

There is another Svava in the saga of Hervör and Heithrek, but she is King Eylimi’s daughter, not Earl Bjartmar’s, and she married Helgi, not Angantyr. This is a common feature of the sagas, that the same names repeat in successive generations, so some care is needed to avoid getting confused!