Busla Busl 3VIII (Bós 3)/9 — Bósa ‘to Bósi’
Villiz vættir, verði ódæmi,
hristiz hamrar, heimr sturliz,
vestni veðrátta, verði ódæmi,
nema þú, Hringr konungr, Herrauð friðir
ok honum Bósa bjargir veitir.
Vættir villiz, ódæmi verði, hamrar hristiz, heimr sturliz, veðrátta vestni, ódæmi verði, nema þú, Hringr konungr, veitir Herrauð friðir ok honum Bósa bjargir.
May spirit beings become lost, may the monstrous become reality, may the cliffs falter, may the world become disturbed, may the weather become chaotic, may the monstrous become reality, unless you, King Hringr, make peace with Herrauðr and grant freedom to Bósi.
readings
[9] honum Bósa: Bögubósa 577, 361ˣ
notes
[9] Bósa ‘to Bósi’: Relation to OE Bōsa, OS Bōso, Old Frankish Boso, OHG Buoso as well as the m. name Bosi in a Danish runic inscription (DRI 268) is uncertain (cf. AEW: bósi), as is the etymology. Sverrir Tómasson (Bós 1996, 51) discusses the possibility that the name may originally have referred to þann sem klappaði kvið og rass ‘someone who stroked the belly and arse’, which would have been appropriate to Bósi’s role as a womaniser in the saga. Ms. 577 regularly provides the form Bögu-Bósi, abbreviated to ‘bb’ or ‘bba’ for the protagonist’s name. Baga ‘bent, twisted’ was the nickname of Bósi’s shield-maiden mother Brynhildr, which she acquired as a result of serious injuries Bósi’s viking father had inflicted on her in a fight in their youth. The idea that the name Bósi is an abbreviation for [Giovanni] Boccaccio, author of the Decameron, and known for his outspoken narratives, seems far-fetched (Jørgensen 1997, 104-5).