Eskál Lv 2a^I

Sœkjum jarl, þanns auka
ulfs verð þorir sverðum;
hlǫðum við borð á barða
baugskjǫldum Sigvalda.
Drepr eigi sá sveigir
sárlinns, es gram finnum,
— rǫnd berum út á andra
Endils — við mér hendi.

Sœkjum jarl, þanns þorir auka {verð ulfs} sverðum; hlǫðum baugskjǫldum við borð á barða Sigvalda. {Sá sveigir {sárlinns}} drepr eigi hendi við mér, es finnum gram; berum rǫnd út á {andra Endils}

Let us visit the jarl who dares to increase {the wolf’s food} [CORPSES] with swords; let us load shields with bosses onto the side of Sigvaldi’s ship. {That wielder {of the wound-snake}} [SWORD > WARRIOR] will not push me away with his hand, when we [I] visit the ruler; let us carry shields out aboard {the skis of Endill <sea-king>} [SHIPS]

Mss: 291(34r), 7(36v), Flat(25ra), 510(59r) (Jvs); M(95va-b), 453ˣ(83v), 462ˣ(98r) (Eg)

Readings: [1] þanns auka: þann auki 453ˣ, 462ˣ    [2] ulfs: ulf 510;    verð: so all others, verðr 291;    þorir sverðum: þar er sverði 453ˣ, 462ˣ    [3] hlǫðum: hlaupum 510, skipum M, skiptum 453ˣ, 462ˣ;    við borð á: vér borð á 7, borðróinn M, borðum 453ˣ, 462ˣ    [4] ‑skjǫldum: mildum 510    [5] Drepr: drept 510;    eigi: om. M, er 453ˣ, 462ˣ;    sá: svá 7;    sveigir: so all others, ‘sv[...]gir’ 291    [6] es: af 510;    gram: so all others, grams 291    [7] rǫnd: rand Flat    [8] Endils: endis 510;    mér: so all others, meirr 291

Editions: Skj AI, 132, Skj BI, 124, Skald I, 69-70, NN §414; Fms 11, 128, Jvs 1879, 72, Jvs 1882, 110, Jvs 1962, 33, Jvs 1969, 179, 215-6, Flat 1860-8, I, 188; Eg 1886-8, 291, ÍF 2, 271, Eg 2001, 152, Eg 2003, 164-5, Eg 2006, 150.

Context: See also Introduction, and Context to Lv 1a. In the 291 version of Jvs, after Einarr has spoken Lv 1a, he tests Hákon jarl by making as if to run from his ship. When he reaches the landing stage, he speaks this second stanza, directing it to Sigvaldi. Afterwards the jarl calls him back and secures Einarr’s loyalty with his gift of magically tinkling scales. In the A-redaction of Eg, by contrast, Lv 2b^V (Eg 125) follows directly on Lv 1b^V (Eg 124) with the prose link Ok enn kvað hann ‘And again he declared’. The C-redaction does not have Lv 1b^V (Eg 124), so that the stanza’s reference to the rival patron, Sigvaldi, is unexplained.

Notes: [All]: This stanza is recorded in four mss of Jvs and in the C- as well as the A-redaction of Eg. — [3]: Here M has the quite different skipum borðróinn barða ‘let us line (Sigvaldi’s) ship, rowed from the sides (with shields with bosses)’. Both versions are viable, as far as sense is concerned. M’s version is very similar to Bragi Þórr 4/1-2^III Ok borðróins barða | brautar hringr inn ljóti ... ‘And the ugly ring of the road of the ship, rowed from the sides [SEA > = Miðgarðsormr] …’. The collocation of borðróinn ‘rowed from the side, side-rowed’ with barði ‘ship’ does not occur anywhere else in skaldic verse and both Lie (1952) and Olsen (1962a, 51-2) have considered Einarr (or whoever was responsible for the M text) deliberately echoed Bragi’s lines, Lie also comparing ll. 7-8 á andra Endils ‘on board the skis of Endill <sea-king> [SHIPS]’ with Bragi Þórr 2/3^III á ǫndri Eynæfis ‘on the ski of Eynæfir <sea-king> [SHIP]’. Barði is frequently the name of a ship, rather than a common noun for ‘ship’, as it appears to be here (cf. Jesch 2001a, 136-7). Mss 453ˣ and 462ˣ have skiptum ‘let us divide, share out’, instead of M’s skipum ‘let us arrange, place in line’ (on the ship’s side). — [7]: The line is identical to Þorm Lv 15/7^V. 

References

1. Bibliography
2. Fms = Sveinbjörn Egilsson et al., eds. 1825-37. Fornmanna sögur eptir gömlum handritum útgefnar að tilhlutun hins norræna fornfræða fèlags. 12 vols. Copenhagen: Popp.
3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. Jesch, Judith. 2001a. Ships and Men in the Late Viking Age: The Vocabulary of Runic Inscriptions and Skaldic Verse. Woodbridge: Boydell.
6. Eg 2003 = Bjarni Einarsson, ed. 2003. Egils saga. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
7. Flat 1860-8 = Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and C. R. Unger, eds. 1860-8. Flateyjarbók. En samling af norske konge-sagaer med indskudte mindre fortællinger om begivenheder i og udenfor Norge samt annaler. 3 vols. Christiania (Oslo): Malling.
8. Lie, Hallvard. 1952. ‘Skaldestil-studier’. MM, 1-92. Rpt. in Lie 1982, 109-200.
9. ÍF 2 = Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar. Ed. Sigurður Nordal. 1933.
10. Eg 1886-8 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1886-8. Egils saga Skallagrímssonar tilligemed Egils större kvad. SUGNL 17. Copenhagen: Møller & Thomsen.
11. Eg 2001 = Bjarni Einarsson, ed. 2001. Egils saga Skallagrímssonar. I. A-redaktionen. EA A 19. Copenhagen: Reitzel.
12. Eg 2006 = Chesnutt, Michael, ed. 2006. Egils saga Skallagrímssonar. III. C-redaktionen. EA A 21. Copenhagen: Reitzel.
13. Jvs 1879 = Petersens, Carl af, ed. 1879. Jómsvíkinga saga (efter Cod. AM. 510, 4:to) samt Jómsvíkinga drápa. Lund: Gleerup.
14. Jvs 1882 = Petersens, Carl af, ed. 1882. Jómsvíkinga saga efter Arnamagnæanska handskriften No. 291 4:to i diplomatariskt aftryck. SUGNL 7. Copenhagen: Berling.
15. Jvs 1962 = Blake, N. F., ed. and trans. 1962. The Saga of the Jomsvikings. London etc.: Nelson.
16. Jvs 1969 = Ólafur Halldórsson, ed. 1969a. Jómsvíkinga saga. AM 291 4to. Reykjavík: Prentsmiðja Jóns Helgasonar HF.
17. Olsen, Magnus. 1962a. Edda- og Skaldekvad. Forarbeider til kommentar. VI. Eyvindr Skáldaspillir, Glúmr Geirason, Einarr Skálaglamm. Avhandlingar utgitt av Det Norske Videnskaps-Akademi i Oslo II. Hist.-filos. kl. new ser. 4. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.
18. Internal references
19. 2022, ‘ Anonymous, Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar’ in Margaret Clunies Ross, Kari Ellen Gade and Tarrin Wills (eds), Poetry in Sagas of Icelanders. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 5. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 162-389. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=14> (accessed 16 April 2024)
20. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Jómsvíkinga saga’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=51> (accessed 16 April 2024)
21. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Bragi inn gamli Boddason, Þórr’s fishing 2’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 48.
22. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Bragi inn gamli Boddason, Þórr’s fishing 4’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 50.
23. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2022, ‘Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar 12 (Egill Skallagrímsson, Lausavísur 8)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross, Kari Ellen Gade and Tarrin Wills (eds), Poetry in Sagas of Icelanders. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 5. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 185.
24. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2022, ‘Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar 124 (Einarr skálaglamm Helgason, Lausavísur in Egils saga 1b)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross, Kari Ellen Gade and Tarrin Wills (eds), Poetry in Sagas of Icelanders. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 5. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 372.
25. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2022, ‘Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar 125 (Einarr skálaglamm Helgason, Lausavísur in Egils saga 2b)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross, Kari Ellen Gade and Tarrin Wills (eds), Poetry in Sagas of Icelanders. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 5. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 374.
26. R. D. Fulk (ed.) 2012, ‘Þormóðr Kolbrúnarskáld, Lausavísur 15’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 826.