Þjóð Yt 20I/15 — frœknu ‘valiantly’
Ok Ingjald
ífjǫrvan trað
reyks rausuðr
á Ræningi,
þás húsþjófr
hyrjar leistum
goðkynning
í gǫgnum sté.
Ok sá yrðr
allri þjóðu
sanngǫrvastr
með Svíum þótti,
es hann sjalfr
sínu fjǫrvi
frœknu fyrstr
of fara skyldi.
Ok rausuðr reyks trað Ingjald ífjǫrvan á Ræningi, þás húsþjófr sté leistum hyrjar í gǫgnum goðkynning. Ok með Svíum þótti sá yrðr sanngǫrvastr allri þjóðu, es hann sjalfr fyrstr skyldi frœknu of fara fjǫrvi sínu.
And the gusher of smoke [FIRE] overcame Ingjaldr alive in Ræningr when the house-thief [FIRE] strode with soles of fire through the descendant of gods. And among the Swedes that fate seemed the most just to all people that he himself should be the first, valiantly, to end his life.
readings
[15] frœknu: freknu J1ˣ, J2ˣ, R685ˣ
notes
[15] fyrstr ... frœknu ‘the first, valiantly’: Several interpretations have been suggested for this line. (a) Frœknu is taken here as an adverbial use of the n. dat. sg. adj. (so also NN §3202, ÍF 26 and Hkr 1991). (b) Frœknu has been viewed as an attributive adj. qualifying fjǫrvi, hence ‘courageous life’ (Säve 1854, 61; Hkr 1893-1901, IV; Skj B; Yt 1925; NN §1009A Anm.). However, this creates an enjambment from l. 14 to l. 15, leading to a split in l. 15 and thereby to a breach in the style of Yt (Åkerlund 1939, 109-10). (c) Because of this, Wadstein (1895a, 73-4) takes frœknu to be the dat. of an unattested noun frœkna ‘bravery’ and links it to fyrstr, hence ‘first in bravery’. Lindquist (1929, 69), Åkerlund (1939, 109-10) and Wessén (Yng 1952, 73) concur. But such a use of fyrstr is unattested; the word denotes only spatial or temporal sequence (cf. Fritzner: fyrri).