Bjbp Jóms 38^I

Skeið, frák, valt at verði
Vagn með sína þegna;
ǫll váru þá þeira
þunn skip hroðin ǫnnur.
Upp náðu þar eigi
ǫðlings menn at ganga;
ofan réðu þeir ǫfga
Eireks vini keyra.

Frák, at Vagn verði skeið valt með þegna sína; ǫll ǫnnur þunn skip þeira váru þá hroðin. Menn ǫðlings náðu eigi at ganga upp þar; þeir réðu keyra ǫfga vini Eireks ofan.

I have heard that Vagn defended the warship continuously with his men; all their other narrow ships were then cleared. The prince’s [Eiríkr jarl’s] men could not board there; they [the Jómsvíkingar] managed to drive back the friends of Eiríkr from above.

Mss: R(54r); 61(20rb), 53(16vb), 54(16vb), Bb(27ra-b) (ÓT)

Readings: [1] valt: víst all others;    verði: varði 53, 54    [4] skip: ‑skiput 53, 54, Bb    [5] náðu: náði 61, námu 53;    eigi: þeygi all others    [6] ǫðlings: þengils all others;    menn: maðr 61;    ganga: renna 53, 54, Bb    [7] réðu: urðu Bb;    ǫfga: ýgja 61, 53, yggja 54, Bb    [8] vini: menn at all others

Editions: Skj AII, 8-9, Skj BII, 8-9, Skald II, 5; Fms 11, 173-4, Fms 12, 45, Jvs 1879, 116-17; Fms 1, 179, Fms 12, 246, ÓT 1958-2000, I, 195 (ch. 90), Ólafur Halldórsson 2000, 31, 82. 

Context: Búi, badly wounded and facing defeat, has jumped overboard, and many of his men follow rather than asking for a truce. Eiríkr jarl manoeuvres his ship alongside Vagn’s and there is a tough fight. For a long time Eiríkr does not manage to board Vagn’s ship. 

Notes: [1] valt ‘continuously’: (a) The R reading valt is an adv. with the same sense as ávalt: ‘continually, always’: see LP: valt and 4. valr, where derivation from the adj. valr ‘round, in a circle’ is suggested, though see also AEW: ávalt for alternative derivations of ávalt. Fms 12, 246 glosses valt here as ágætliga ‘splendidly’ and Skj B as stadig ‘continuously, steadily’. (b) The ÓT reading víst ‘for certain, certainly’ modifies frák ‘I have heard’ or verði ‘defended’. — [1] verði (3rd pers. sg. pret. subj.) ‘defended’: Both this and the indic. variant varði, both from the weak verb verja ‘defend’, are possible following frák at ‘I have heard that’. — [5] eigi ‘not’: The ÓT variant þeygi ‘yet not’ is equally acceptable. — [5, 6] ganga upp ‘board’: The variant renna ‘to run’ in 53, 54 and Bb makes little difference to the sense, but it produces aðalhending on menn, which is not usual in Jóms. — [6] ǫðlings ‘the prince’s [Eiríkr jarl’s]’: The ÓT variant þengils ‘prince’s’ is more or less synonymous. Þengils alliterates with the ÓT reading þeygi, while ǫðlings alliterates with the R reading eigi. — [7] ǫfga ‘back’: The force of the word is adverbial, though grammatically it is m. acc. pl. of the adj. ǫfugr ‘backwards’, hence literally ǫfga vini Eireks ‘the retreating friends of Eiríkr’. The ÓT variant ýgja is the m. acc. pl. form of ýgr ‘fierce, fearsome’. — [8] vini ‘the friends’: The ÓT variant menn at is also possible, since menn ‘men’ is equivalent to vini ‘friends’ and at is optional when ráða ‘determine, manage’ is used as an auxiliary with an inf., here keyra ‘drive’ (see LP: ráða 12).

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
3. Fms = Sveinbjörn Egilsson et al., eds. 1825-37. Fornmanna sögur eptir gömlum handritum útgefnar að tilhlutun hins norræna fornfræða fèlags. 12 vols. Copenhagen: Popp.
4. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. AEW = Vries, Jan de. 1962. Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 2nd rev. edn. Rpt. 1977. Leiden: Brill.
6. LP = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1931. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis: Ordbog over det norsk-islandske skjaldesprog oprindelig forfattet af Sveinbjörn Egilsson. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Møller.
7. ÓT 1958-2000 = Ólafur Halldórsson, ed. 1958-2000. Saga Óláfs Tryggvasonar en mesta. 3 vols. EA A 1-3. Copenhagen: Munksgaard (Reitzel).
8. Jvs 1879 = Petersens, Carl af, ed. 1879. Jómsvíkinga saga (efter Cod. AM. 510, 4:to) samt Jómsvíkinga drápa. Lund: Gleerup.
9. Ólafur Halldórsson. 2000a. Danish Kings and the Jomsvikings in the Greatest Saga of Óláfr Tryggvason. London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
10. Internal references
11. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta’ 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=60> (accessed 28 April 2024)
12. Emily Lethbridge 2012, ‘ Bjarni byskup Kolbeinsson, Jómsvíkingadrápa’ 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. 954. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1122> (accessed 28 April 2024)