Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Poems, Bjarkamál in fornu 1’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 497.
Dagrs upp kominn; dynja hana fjaðrar;
máls vílmǫgum at vinna erfiði.
Vaki æ ok vaki, vina hǫfuð,
allir inir œztu Aðils of sinnar.
Dagrs upp kominn; fjaðrar hana dynja; máls {vílmǫgum} at vinna erfiði. Vaki æ ok vaki, hǫfuð vina, allir inir œztu of sinnar Aðils.
‘Day has broken; the rooster’s feathers rustle; it is time for the sons of toil [SERVANTS] to get to work. Wake now and wake, friends, all the noblest companions of Aðils. ’
King Óláfr awakens early while his men are still asleep and asks for his skald, Þormóðr, who is close by. The king asks Þormóðr to recite a poem to them (‘Tel þú oss kvæði nǫkkut’ ÍF 27, 361). The skald sits up and recites sts 1 and 2 very loudly so that the whole army can hear him. The two stanzas are said to be the beginning (upphaf) of Bjarkamál in fornu.
The stanza is somewhat similar to lines near the opening of the Old English heroic fragment The Fight at Finnsburg, ll. 10-12 (Beowulf 2008, 283): Ac onwacniġeað nū, | wīġend mīne, | habbað ēowre linda, | hicgeaþ on ellen, | winnað on orde, | wesað on mōde! ‘But awaken now, my warriors, take hold of your shields, think of valour, fight in the vanguard, be courageous!’. — The stanza’s first helmingr evokes the sounds and activities of domesticity, with roosters crowing and servants starting the day’s work, while the second helmingr changes the focus to the warrior band who are still at rest and are urged by the speaker to get up and prepare for battle.
Text is based on reconstruction from the base text and variant apparatus and may contain alternative spellings and other normalisations not visible in the manuscript text. Transcriptions may not have been checked and should not be cited.
Dagrs upp kominn;
dynja hana fjaðrar;
máls vílmǫgum
at vinna erfiði.
Vaki æ ok vaki,
vina hǫfuð,
allir inir œztu
Aðils um sinnar.
Dagr er up comiɴ | dynia hana fiaðrar | mal er vil mogum | at viɴa erfiþi | vaki æ ok vaki | vina hø̨fuð | allir enir o᷎zto || aðils vm siɴar.
(HA)
Dagrs upp kominn;
dynja hana fjaðrar;
máls vílmǫgum
at vinna erfiði.
Vaki ok á vaki,
vina hǫfuð,
allir inir œztu
Aðils of sinnar.
Dagrs upp kominn;
dynja hana fjaðrar;
máls vílmǫgum
at vinna erfiði.
Vaki ok æ vaki,
vina hǫfuð,
allir inir ágæztu
Aðils ok sinnar.
Dagrs upp kominn;
dynja hana fjaðrar;
máls vílmǫgum
at vinna erfiði.
Vaki ok æ vaki,
vina hǫfuð,
allir inir œztu
Aðils of sinnar.
Dagrs upp kominn;
dynja hana fjaðrar;
máls víkingum
vinna erfiði.
Vaki æ ok vaki,
vina hǫfuð,
allir inir œztu
Aðils of sinnar.
Dagrs upp kominn;
dynja †han[…] fjaðrar† ;
máls vílmǫgum
at vinna erfiði.
Vaki ok æ vaki,
vina hǫfuð,
allir inir †[…]†
Aðils of sinna.
Dagrs upp kominn;
dynja †hana hanafjadrir† ;
máls vílmǫgum
at vekja erfiði.
Vaki ok æ vaki,
vina hǫfuð,
allir inir œztu
Aðils of sinnar.
Dagrs upp kominn;
dynja hana fjaðrar;
máls vílmǫgum
at vekja erfiði.
Vaki ok æ vaki,
vina hǫfuð,
allir inir œztu
Aðils of sinnar.
Dagrs upp kominn;
dynja hana fjaðrar;
máls vílmǫgum
at †vækia ærbiðe†.
Vaki ok vaki,
vina hǫfuð,
allir inir œztu
Aðils of sína.
Dagrs upp kominn;
dynja hana fjaðrar;
máls vílmǫgum
at †veikia erfvidí†.
Vaki ok vak,
vina hǫfuð,
allir inir œztu
†adlis† ok svía.
Dagrs upp kominn;
dynja hana fjaðrar;
máls víkingum at vaka
ok vinna †erfuide†.
Vaki ok vaki,
vina hǫfuð,
allir inir œztu
Aðils ok svía.
Dagrs upp kominn;
dynja hana †fíadrir†;
máls víkingum
at vinna erfiði.
Vaki ok vaki,
vina hǫfuð,
allir inir œztu
Aðils ok svía.
Dagrs upp kominn;
dynja hana fjaðrar;
máls vílmǫgum
ok vinna erfiði.
Vaki ok vaki,
vina hǫfuð,
allir inir œztu
Aðils ok sinnar.
Dagr er uppkominn | dynia hana fiaþrir (þrar) | mal er vil mo᷎ginn (vikingum) | at vekia erfiþi (unna vinna) | vaki oc æ vaki (v. oc v.) | vina hofut | allir hinir æzstu (agæztu) | Aðils of sinnar. (oc)
(TW)
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