Cite as: Russell Poole (ed.) 2012, ‘Eyjólfr dáðaskáld, Bandadrápa 7’ 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. 466.

Frák, hvar fleina sævar fúrherðir styr gerði endr í eyja sundi. Eirekr und sik geira.

Hrauð fúrgjafall fjórar folkmeiðr Dana skeiðar — vér frôgum þat — vága. Veðrmildr ok semr hildi.

Frák, hvar {{{fleina sævar} fúr}herðir} gerði endr styr í sundi eyja. Eirekr und sik geira … {Folkmeiðr}, {vága fúr}gjafall, hrauð fjórar skeiðar Dana; vér frôgum þat. Veðrmildr ok semr hildi …

I have heard where {the hardener {of the fire {of the sea of barbs}}} [(lit. ‘fire-hardener of the sea of barbs’) BLOOD > SWORD > WARRIOR = Eiríkr] again made war in the sound of islands. Eiríkr under himself of spears … {The battle-tree} [WARRIOR], bountiful {with the fire of bays} [(lit. ‘fire-bountiful of bays’) GOLD], cleared four warships of the Danes; we [I] have heard that. Storm-generous and contrives warfare …

Mss: Kˣ(200r-v), F(34ra), J1ˣ(123r), J2ˣ(109r) (Hkr)

Readings: [4] geira: so F, abbrev. as ‘g’ Kˣ, J1ˣ, J2ˣ    [5] Hrauð: so J1ˣ, rauð Kˣ, F    [8] Veðrmildr ok semr hildi: abbrev. as ‘v. m ok s. h.’ J1ˣ, J2ˣ

Editions: Skj: Eyjólfr dáðaskáld, Bandadrápa 7: AI, 201, BI, 192, Skald I, 101; Hkr 1893-1901, I, 418, IV, 94-5, ÍF 26, 339-40, Hkr 1991, I, 230-1 (ÓTHkr ch. 90), F 1871, 154.

Context: Hkr places sts 7 and 8 almost immediately after st. 6, as part of an account of Eiríkr’s raids on the Estonian districts of Aðalsýsla (Suuremaa, or mainland Estonia) and Eysýsla (Saaremaa in Estonian, Ösel in Swedish). Eiríkr captures four Danish warships and slaughters their crews.

Notes: [All]: Lines 4 and 8 belong to the klofastef ‘split refrain’ and stand outside the syntax of the stanza; see st. 9 and Notes. — [2, 5] fúr- ‘of/with the fire’: This word occurs as a base-word for two different types of kenning, referring to ‘sword’ and ‘gold’ respectively, in the one stanza. In both cases the structure is inverted, fúr- forming a kenning with an element other than the one it is compounded with. — [3] sundi eyja ‘the sound of islands’: Probably a bay or sound with a profusion of islands. This would fit the Gulf of Riga; cf. Ohlmarks (1958, 510), who suggests that Ösel, Dagö and Wormsö (Estonian Saaremaa, Hiiumaa and Vormsi), off the Estonian mainland, are the islands referred to. That localisation is compatible with the geographical information in Hkr (see Context). However, the detailed accuracy of Hkr at this point is disputed, and Fsk (ÍF 29, 165), although it does not cite the stanza, places the capture of the Danish warships more plausibly in the Eyrarsund (Øresund). Fidjestøl (1982, 113, and cf. CPB II, 52, 570) suggests an error for Eyrarsundi in the stanza and favours the Fsk account, but ultimately there is no means of knowing whether Fsk is correct or is substituting a familiar location for an unfamiliar one. Finnur Jónsson (Hkr 1893-1901, IV; similarly ÍF 26) understands sundi eyja as ‘sound between two islands’.