Bjbp Jóms 12^I

Heitstrenging frák hefja
heiptmildan Sigvalda;
Búi var ǫrr at efla
órœkinn þrek slíkan.
Hétusk þeir af hauðri
Hákun reka fíkjum
— grimm var frægra fyrða
fjón — eða lífi ræna.

Frák heiptmildan Sigvalda hefja heitstrenging; órœkinn Búi var ǫrr at efla slíkan þrek. Þeir hétusk fíkjum reka Hákun af hauðri eða ræna lífi; fjón frægra fyrða var grimm.

I have heard strife-liberal Sigvaldi began the making of vows; the reckless Búi was swift to strengthen such daring. They vowed eagerly to drive Hákon from the land or rob him of life; the hatred of the famous men was grim.

Mss: R(53v); 61(19ra), 54(14vb-15ra), Bb(25rb) (ÓT)

Readings: [1] Heit‑: ‘heip‑’ 61    [3] efla: auka all others    [4] órœkinn: ‘vrikin’ Bb;    þrek: styr 61    [7] grimm: gram 61;    frægra: frœknra 61, frœkna 54, Bb

Editions: Skj AII, 3, Skj BII, 3, Skald II, 2, NN §177; Fms 11, 166, Fms 12, 243, Jvs 1879, 108-9; Fms 1, 163, Fms 12, 40, ÓT 1958-2000, I, 179 (ch. 86), Ólafur Halldórsson 2000, 22, 76.

Context: Following a prompt from King Sveinn (see Context to st. 11), Sigvaldi drinks in memory of his father and swears an oath which parallels Sveinn’s: before three years have passed, Sigvaldi will have gone to Norway and killed Hákon jarl or driven him from the country. Sigvaldi’s brother, Þorkell inn hávi, swears to accompany him and not desert him in battle. Finally, Búi swears that he too will go to Norway with the brothers and will not flee from battle against Hákon jarl.

Notes: [3] efla ‘strengthen’: Auka ‘increase’ in the other mss makes equally good sense, and the metre is not affected by the choice of one or the other. — [4] órœkinn ‘reckless’: The adj. only otherwise occurs in KormǪ Lv 16/8^V (Korm 17), applied to a wolf. On the basis of the related verb rœkja ‘to heed, cultivate, care for’ and adj. rœkinn ‘careful, caring’, the sense here may be ‘reckless’, i.e. not caring for his life, or possibly ‘ruthless’; cf. the gloss hugdjarfr ‘mind-bold’ in Fms 12, 243, and see LP: rœkja, rœkinn, órœkinn. Emendation to ofrækinn (so Skj B and suggested in LP: órœkinn), which could mean ‘greatly caring’ i.e. ‘bold in action, determined’, is not necessary. — [6] fíkjum ‘eagerly’: This adv. could be taken as modifying þeir hétusk ‘they vowed’, as here, or reka ‘to drive’. It is also used in sts 26/8 and 41/6 and in ÞGísl Búdr 10/5. — [7] frægra ‘famous’: The variant frœkna ‘bold’ in 54 and Bb (cf. frœknra in 61) is equally good in terms of sense and metre.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
3. Fms = Sveinbjörn Egilsson et al., eds. 1825-37. Fornmanna sögur eptir gömlum handritum útgefnar að tilhlutun hins norræna fornfræða fèlags. 12 vols. Copenhagen: Popp.
4. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
6. LP = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1931. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis: Ordbog over det norsk-islandske skjaldesprog oprindelig forfattet af Sveinbjörn Egilsson. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Møller.
7. ÓT 1958-2000 = Ólafur Halldórsson, ed. 1958-2000. Saga Óláfs Tryggvasonar en mesta. 3 vols. EA A 1-3. Copenhagen: Munksgaard (Reitzel).
8. Jvs 1879 = Petersens, Carl af, ed. 1879. Jómsvíkinga saga (efter Cod. AM. 510, 4:to) samt Jómsvíkinga drápa. Lund: Gleerup.
9. Ólafur Halldórsson. 2000a. Danish Kings and the Jomsvikings in the Greatest Saga of Óláfr Tryggvason. London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
10. Internal references
11. Edith Marold (ed.) 2022, ‘Kormáks saga 17 (Kormákr Ǫgmundarson, Lausavísur 16)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross, Kari Ellen Gade and Tarrin Wills (eds), Poetry in Sagas of Icelanders. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 5. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1053.
12. Emily Lethbridge (ed.) 2012, ‘Þorkell Gíslason, Búadrápa 10’ 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. 950.