Bjbp Jóms 36^I

Bað, fyr borð at skyldi,
bǫðsvellandi, allir
— áðr frák vápnum verjask
Vagns lið — Búa þegnar.
Ok hreggboði hjǫrva
hraustr með þungar kistur
— sá var illr af aurum —
ótrauðr á kaf réði.

{Bǫðsvellandi} bað, at allir þegnar Búa skyldi fyr borð; áðr frák lið Vagns verjask vápnum. Ok {hraustr {hjǫrva hregg}boði} réði ótrauðr á kaf með þungar kistur; sá var illr af aurum.

{The battle-sweller} [WARRIOR = Búi] commanded that all Búi’s men should [go] overboard; I have heard that before that Vagn’s troop defended themselves with weapons. And {the valiant offerer {of the storm of swords}} [(lit. ‘storm-offerer of swords’) BATTLE > WARRIOR = Búi] plunged unhesitating into the sea with heavy chests; that one was mean with money.

Mss: R(54r)

Readings: [4] þegnar: ‘þ[...]’ R, þegnar RCP, RFJ

Editions: Skj AII, 8, Skj BII, 8, Skald II, 5, NN §3256; Fms 11, 173, Fms 12, 246, Jvs 1879, 116-17, 133. 

Notes: [All]: In some versions of the legend (e.g. ÓT 1958-2000, I, 195; Jvs 1962, 38) Búi’s hands have been chopped off in the fighting, so it is with the stumps that he grasps the treasure chests. — [2] bǫðsvellandi ‘the battle-sweller [WARRIOR = Búi]’: Presumably Búi, who according to Jvs (1879, 85) shouts ‘Firer bord allir Bua þegnar’ ‘“overboard all Búi’s men”’ as he leaps off the ship with his two chests of gold (cf. st. 37/3-4). — [3-4]: These lines are closely similar to st. 28/1-2. — [7] illr ‘mean’: Búi’s impulse to sink his treasure-chests in the sea rather than surrender them presumably lies behind this aside that he is mean with money. — [8] réði … á kaf ‘plunged ... into the sea’: Kaf n. is taken here in the sense ‘sea, the deep’. The phrase could alternatively mean ‘determined on a plunge’ (with kaf in the sense ‘dive, plunge’; cf. Note to ÞjóðA Lv 2/3^II). Réði is 3rd pers. sg. pret. subj. of ráða, though indic. rather than subj. would be expected here. It is possible that the subj. communicates a sense that the event is reported tentatively and at second hand, perhaps influenced by l. 3 frák ‘I have heard’. Some eds (Jvs 1879; Skj B; Skald) emend l. 5 ok ‘and’ to áðr ‘before’, which is commonly followed by subj., and they consequentially emend l. 3 áðr to þá ‘then’. However, in the absence of other indicators of corruption, emendation is better avoided.

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. ÓT 1958-2000 = Ólafur Halldórsson, ed. 1958-2000. Saga Óláfs Tryggvasonar en mesta. 3 vols. EA A 1-3. Copenhagen: Munksgaard (Reitzel).
7. Jvs 1879 = Petersens, Carl af, ed. 1879. Jómsvíkinga saga (efter Cod. AM. 510, 4:to) samt Jómsvíkinga drápa. Lund: Gleerup.
8. Jvs 1962 = Blake, N. F., ed. and trans. 1962. The Saga of the Jomsvikings. London etc.: Nelson.
9. Internal references
10. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Jómsvíkinga saga’ 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. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=51> (accessed 20 April 2024)
11. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Þjóðólfr Arnórsson, Lausavísur 2’ 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, pp. 165-6.