description
Orkn describes
Bótólfr begla (Bót) as
íslenzkr maðr ok skáld gott ‘an Icelander and a good poet’ (
ÍF 34, 257)
. The meaning of his nickname is not known but it may be related to a Norw. verb
begla ‘hinder, bungle’ (Finnur Jónsson 1907, 298;
Lind 1920-1, 17 cites this word as a noun). He is said to have lived at Knarrarstaðir, one of Rǫgnvaldr’s
veizla-farms, which were obliged ‘to accommodate, feed and entertain the lord as he travelled round his possessions’ (
Thomson 2001, 106;
ÍF 34, 175). Bótólfr is not mentioned in
Orkn other than in connection with this anecdote.