Skúli Svǫlðr 2III/7 — Svǫlðrar ‘of Svolder’
Fylgðak Frísa dolgi,
(fekk ungr) þars spjǫr sungu,
— nú fiðr ǫld, at eldumk —
(aldrbót) ok Sigvalda,
þás til móts við mœti
malmþings í dyn hjalma
sunnr fyr Svǫlðrar mynni
sárlauk roðinn bôrum.
Fylgðak dolgi Frísa ok Sigvalda, þars spjǫr sungu; fekk ungr aldrbót – nú fiðr ǫld at eldumk –, þás bôrum roðinn sárlauk í dyn hjalma til móts við mœti malmþings sunnr fyr mynni Svǫlðrar.
I followed the Frisians’ enemy [= Eiríkr] and Sigvaldi, where spears sang; I got renown young – now people find I grow old –, when we [I] bore the reddened wound-leek [SWORD] into the din of helmets [BATTLE] against the meeter of the metal-assembly [BATTLE > WARRIOR] south before the mouth of Svolder.
readings
[7] Svǫlðrar: ‘suólþar’ J1ˣ, ‘svolðar’ 325VIII 1, ‘sualldrar’ 53
notes
[7] mynni Svǫlðrar ‘the mouth of Svolder’: This phrase, with st. 4/2 the only skaldic mention of the name, suggests Svolder (Svǫlðr) was a river or inlet, rather than an islet as in most prose (and perhaps some other skaldic) sources. The location of this battle site is a classic Streitfrage of Norse historiography. Baetke (1951) reviews the evidence and concludes Svolder was the body of water between Vorpommern and the islands of the southern Baltic, while another body of opinion (e.g. Megaard 1999, 49; Rasmussen 2000), usually associated with the Swedish historian Lauritz Weibull, favours a site in or near the Øresund; Andersen (1977, 104-5) gives an excellent concise summary of the debate.