Rv Lv 18II/1 — ólum ‘we entertained’
Muna munk jól, þaus ólum
austr gjaldkera hraustum,
Ullr, at Egða fjǫllum,
undleygs, með Sǫlmundi.
Nú gerik enn of ǫnnur
jafnglaðr, sem vask þaðra,
sverðs at sunnanverðum
svarm kastala barmi.
Ullr undleygs, munk muna jól, þaus ólum austr at Egða fjǫllum með Sǫlmundi, hraustum gjaldkera. Nú, jafnglaðr, sem vask þaðra, gerik enn of ǫnnur svarm sverðs at sunnanverðum barmi kastala.
Ullr <god> of the wound-flame [SWORD > WARRIOR], I will remember the Christmases when we entertained in the east beside Agder’s mountains with Sǫlmundr, the valorous steward. Now, just as glad as I was there, I make, once again, throughout another [Christmas], a swarm of the sword [BATTLE] at the southern perimeter of the castle.
readings
[1] ólum: ‘ǫlumz’ R702ˣ
notes
[1] ólum ‘we entertained’: While Kock NN §1155 maintains that there is no expression ala jól (and prefers the R702ˣ variant), Finnbogi Guðmundsson (ÍF 34) claims that it means ‘to feed a person during Christmas’. Contrary to Kock’s idea that Rǫgnvaldr is remembering the Christmases when he enjoyed his kinsman’s hospitality, an active verb seems to be required both by the prep. með ‘with’ (l. 4) and the parallelism with the second helmingr (cf. enn ‘once again’ in l. 5). The idea is that once Rǫgnvaldr and Sǫlmundr used to provide food for Christmas together (note that the saga says that the two men were jafnaldrar ‘of a similar age’, ÍF 34, 130). Now, by contrast, Rǫgnvaldr is providing food for the beasts of battle, an idea which is implicit in this st. but explicit in the closely-related st. 19 below. The full rhyme in an odd l. is the more acceptable given that it also occurs in l. 7.