Bjbp Jóms 22^I

Lǫgðu heiptar hvattir
herðimenn, þar er bǫrðusk,
— herr var hauðr at verja
hundmargr — saman randir.
Ok víkingi váru
— varð raun at því — einum
— þat kveða eigi aukit —
ýtar fimm at móti.

Herðimenn hvattir heiptar lǫgðu randir saman, þar er bǫrðusk; hundmargr herr var at verja hauðr. Ok fimm ýtar váru at móti einum víkingi; raun varð at því; kveða þat eigi aukit.

Brave men, urged into combat, laid shields together where they fought; there was an immense army to defend the land. And five men were against one viking; there was proof of that; they say that is not exaggerated.

Mss: R(53v), 65ˣ(381v)

Readings: [1] Lǫgðu: ‘[…]augþv’ R, lǫgðu 65ˣ, RCP, RFJ;    heiptar: ‘[…]ptar’ R, heiptar 65ˣ, RCP, RFJ    [4] hundmargr: ‘hund[…]’ R, RCP, ‘hundingiar’ 65ˣ, hundmargr RFJ;    saman randir: ‘[…]’ R, ‘þvi þra saman n’ 65ˣ, ‘(saman) ra(n)dir’(?) RCP, ‘sam(an) randir’(?) RFJ    [5] Ok: ‘[...]’ R, ok 65ˣ, RCP, RFJ;    víkingi: víkingum all    [7] aukit: ‘av[...]’ R, ‘av(ll)’(?) 65ˣ, aukit RCP, RFJ    [8] at: ‘[…]’ R, at 65ˣ, RFJ, ‘(at)’(?) RCP;    móti: ‘[…]’ R, mótum 65ˣ, mót RCP, móti RFJ

Editions: Skj AII, 5, Skj BII, 5-6, Skald II, 3, NN §1280; Fms 11, 169, Fms 12, 244, Jvs 1879, 110-11, 133.

Notes: [2] þar er bǫrðusk ‘where they fought’: The rel. clause is best taken (as also in Fms 12 and NN §1280) as qualifying the first clause, with herðimenn ‘warriors’ as its subject. In Skj B it is linked with the parenthetical statement. This, however, involves a change of grammatical number (sg. herr ‘army’ and pl. bǫrðusk) and assumes that the rel. clause precedes the main clause it qualifies, which is counter to the normal skaldic rule (Kuhn 1983, 190-1). — [3] at verja hauðr ‘to defend the land’: The same phrase is found in st. 21/1. — [4] hundmargr ‘immense’: Damage to the foot of the R leaf here makes it impossible now to ascertain the second element of this word and the following words. Af Petersens in Jvs 1879 prints ‑margr as a conjecture, while Finnur Jónsson in Skj prints it as a reading. Hundmargr fits sense and metre, and the same adj. qualifies herr ‘army’ in Hfr ErfÓl 5/1-2 and Þfagr Sveinn 1/7-8^II. Sveinbjörn Egilsson in Fms 11 favours hundingja, which resembles the 65ˣ reading, and glosses it víkingi ‘the viking’ in Fms 12, presumably taking it as a generalised use of the name of the legendary King Hundingi, who features in Hjálmþés saga ok Ǫlvis (see SkP VIII). See ÞHjalt Lv 2/7-8 and Note for a similarly problematic instance of Hundings, emended in Skj B to hundmargs.  — [5] víkingi (m. dat. sg.) ‘viking’: Emended by most eds from dat. pl. víkingum to agree with einum ‘one, a single’. Jvs 1879, 133 suggested that the pl. could be retained with the sense ‘single vikings’.

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. Kuhn, Hans (1899). 1983. Das Dróttkvætt. Heidelberg: Winter.
7. SkP VII = Poetry on Christian Subjects. Ed. Margaret Clunies Ross. 2007.
8. Jvs 1879 = Petersens, Carl af, ed. 1879. Jómsvíkinga saga (efter Cod. AM. 510, 4:to) samt Jómsvíkinga drápa. Lund: Gleerup.
9. Internal references
10. 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Hjálmþés saga ok Ǫlvis’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 488. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=49> (accessed 25 April 2024)
11. Kate Heslop (ed.) 2012, ‘Hallfreðr vandræðaskáld Óttarsson, Erfidrápa Óláfs Tryggvasonar 5’ 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. 408.
12. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2012, ‘Þorvaldr Hjaltason, Lausavísur 2’ 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. 273.
13. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Þorleikr fagri, Flokkr about Sveinn Úlfsson 1’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 313.