ÞjóðA Magnfl 10^II

Bôru bǫslar fleiri
bogmenn at hǫr tognum;
mundit þann dag Þrœndi
þreyta fyrr at skeytum.
Svá þykkt flugu síðan
snœridǫrr of skœru
— ótt vas ǫrdrif látit —
illa sátt á milli.

Bogmenn bôru fleiri bǫslar at tognum hǫr; þann dag mundit Þrœndi þreyta fyrr at skeytum. Síðan flugu snœridǫrr of skœru svá þykkt, sátt illa á milli; ótt ǫrdrif vas látit.

Bowmen placed more arrows on the drawn bowstring; that day the Þrœndir would not be the first to let up with their missiles. Then the thonged javelins flew over the fight so densely [that] you could hardly see between them; a raging arrow-drift was sent.

Mss: Kˣ(513v-514r), papp18ˣ(219v), 39(17ra), F(40va), E(8r), J2ˣ(251v-252r) (Hkr); H(11r), Hr(10rb) (H-Hr)

Readings: [1] Bôru: so all others, Brut Kˣ, papp18ˣ;    bǫslar (‘bꜹslar’): ‘baugl a’ 39, ‘bꜹsl a’ F, bǫsla E, J2ˣ    [2] bog‑: so papp18ˣ, F, E, J2ˣ, H, Hr, ‘bꜹr‑’ Kˣ, baug 39;    hǫr tognum (‘hꜹr tognom’): ‘haur taugnum’ 39, ‘híor tognom’ F, ‘haur tǫgnum’ E, ‘hiǫrtogni’ H, ‘hiortogni’ Hr    [3] Þrœndi: ‘þrendir’ J2ˣ    [5] þykkt: ‘þyst’ F, ‘þygt’ E    [6] of (‘um’): ‘ǫf’ E, of corrected from ‘oc’ J2ˣ;    skœru: so F, H, Hr, ‘scꜹro’ Kˣ, ‘scǫro’ papp18ˣ, ‘skero’ 39, ‘skærur’ E, ‘skorur’ J2ˣ    [7] vas (‘var’): varð H;    ǫrdrif: ‘aurfð’ E    [8] á: so all others, í Kˣ, papp18ˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 363-4, Skj BI, 334, Skald I, 169, NN §2525; Hkr 1893-1901, III, 55, IV, 196, ÍF 28, 49, Hkr 1991, 588 (Mgóð ch. 30), F 1871, 186, E 1916, 27; Fms 6, 77 (Mgóð ch. 38), Fms 12, 134.

Context: The st. follows st. 9, with only a brief connecting phrase in H-Hr and none in Hkr.

Notes: [1] bôru fleiri ‘placed more (arrows)’: (a) This, the majority reading, leaves the comp. fleiri ‘more’ without an object of comparison, but the sense could be ‘kept on placing’ (as assumed in ÍF 28, which prefers this reading, and in Hkr 1991). This fits well with the statement about the persistence of the Þrœndir in ll. 3-4. (b) The negative bru-(a)t ‘have not placed’, found only in the K transcriptions, yields a suitably hyperbolical claim, ‘have not [ever] placed (more arrows)’ or the cl. could be interpreted, as by ÍF 28, as meaning ‘they did not place (arrows) for a second time’, i.e. they were victorious in the first onslaught. Hkr 1893-1901 has 2nd pl. pret. bruð bǫslar ... bogmenn in the text, III, 55, but the negative brut in IV, 96, giving the sense ‘bowmen have never placed more arrows’. — [1] bǫslar ‘arrows’: This appears to be the sole instance of bǫsl f. outside the þulur (LP), and the etymology is uncertain (AEW), but the context clearly refers to arrows; see Falk 1914, 99-100. — [2] bogmenn ‘bowmen’: The Kˣ reading ‘bꜹr-’ is presumably influenced by ‘hꜹr’ (normalised hǫr) later in the l. — [4] þreyta ‘let up’: The verb normally has the sense ‘strive hard, contend’, while the sense ‘drive to exhaustion’ is usually found in ON only in the passive (adjectival p. p. þreyttr ‘exhausted’). However, Fritzner: þreyta 5 cites þreyttust öflin af mœðinni ‘their strength gave out through weariness’ from Breta sǫgur, which comes close to the present usage. It seems likely that the meaning, and the impersonal usage, in the Þjóðólfr context are influenced by þrjóta ‘fail, end, give out’, of which þreyta is the causative counterpart. — [5] svá ‘so [that]’: It is assumed here that svá functions like svá at / svát, introducing the result cl. sátt illa á milli ‘you could hardly see between them’. The construction could instead be of two main clauses, with svá in elliptical and intensifying role (Fritzner: svá 5c): Síðan flugu snœridǫrr … svá þykkt; sátt illa á milli ‘Then the thronged javelins flew very densely; you could hardly see between them’. — [6] snœridǫrr ‘thonged javelins’: Another unique piece of ‘weapon’ terminology (cf. st. 9/1 and Note), but a cpd containing darr n. ‘spear’, and clear in meaning since snœri n. is a (twisted) cord or thong, and Þjóðólfr portrays Magnús holding many a spear by the snœri in st. 17; see also Falk 1914, 87. — [7] ótt ǫrdrif vas látit ‘a raging arrow-drift was sent’: A contextual translation, but not unreasonable. Kock proposed taking látit as ‘they said that’ (NN §2525), though his suggested parallel is not close. There seems to be a similar conception behind Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson’s translation in ÍF 28, örvum þótti ört drífa ‘the arrows seemed / were thought to be driven furiously’ (Hkr 1991 similar). — [8] á milli ‘between’: This is the majority reading, also preferred in ÍF 28 and Hkr 1991 over í milli, found only in the K transcripts Kˣ and papp 18ˣ. Since the prep. á / í is metrically unstressed, there is no other evidence to show which is the original. The earlier form of milli was miðli; the rhyme here on illa proves that assimilation of ðl > ll was well advanced by this date (cf. Finnur Jónsson 1901, 122).

References

1. Bibliography
2. Fms = Sveinbjörn Egilsson et al., eds. 1825-37. Fornmanna sögur eptir gömlum handritum útgefnar að tilhlutun hins norræna fornfræða fèlags. 12 vols. Copenhagen: Popp.
3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. AEW = Vries, Jan de. 1962. Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 2nd rev. edn. Rpt. 1977. Leiden: Brill.
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. Falk, Hjalmar, ed. 1914a. Sólarljóð. Videnskapsselskapets skrifter II. Hist.-filos. kl. 7. 2 vols. Kristiania (Oslo): Dybwad.
8. Finnur Jónsson. 1901. Det norsk-islandske skjaldesprog omtr. 800-1300. SUGNL 28. Copenhagen: Møller.
9. Fritzner = Fritzner, Johan. 1883-96. Ordbog over det gamle norske sprog. 3 vols. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske forlagsforening. 4th edn. Rpt. 1973. Oslo etc.: Universitetsforlaget.
10. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
11. Hkr 1893-1901 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1893-1901. Heimskringla: Nóregs konunga sǫgur af Snorri Sturluson. 4 vols. SUGNL 23. Copenhagen: Møller.
12. Hkr 1991 = Bergljót S. Kristjánsdóttir et al., eds. 1991. Heimskringla. 3 vols. Reykjavík: Mál og menning.
13. F 1871 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1871. Fríssbók: Codex Frisianus. En samling af norske konge-sagaer. Christiania (Oslo): Malling.
14. E 1916 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1916. Eirspennill: AM 47 fol. Nóregs konunga sǫgur: Magnús góði – Hákon gamli. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske historiske kildeskriftskommission.
15. Internal references
16. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Heimskringla’ 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. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=4> (accessed 19 April 2024)
17. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Hulda-Hrokkinskinna’ 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. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=84> (accessed 19 April 2024)