Tindr Hákdr 10^I

Þás fyr borð á barða
* bǫðvar fangs at ganga
veðrmagnanda Viðris
virðendr Búa kenndu.
Mikinn gerði herr hjǫrva
hljóm*; runnu þá sunnan
bauga skeiðr at breiðu
Baldrs Hôkunar valdi.

Þás {virðendr {fangs * bǫðvar}} á barða kenndu {{Viðris veðr}magnanda}, Búa, at ganga fyr borð. Herr gerði {mikinn hljóm* hjǫrva}; skeiðr {Baldrs bauga} runnu þá sunnan at breiðu valdi Hôkunar.

When {the guardians {of the tunic of battle}} [MAIL-SHIRT > WARRIORS] on the ship taught {the strengthener {of the storm of Viðrir <= Óðinn>}} [(lit. ‘storm-strengthener of Viðrir’) BATTLE > WARRIOR], Búi, to go overboard. The army made {a great tumult of swords} [BATTLE]; the warships {of the Baldr <god> of rings} [MAN] then ran from the south towards the wide domain of Hákon.

Mss: 510(62v) (Jvs)

Readings: [2] * bǫðvar: í brúðar 510;    fangs: fang 510    [6] hljóm*: hljómr 510;    runnu þá: Búi 510    [7] skeiðr: skerðr 510    [8] Baldrs: Baldr 510

Editions: Skj AI, 147, Skj BI, 138, Skald I, 76, NN §§327D, 437, 1912, 2405; Fms 11, 140, Fms 12, 240, SHI 11, 129-30, Jvs 1879, 85.

Context: The Jómsvíkingar realise that defeat is inevitable in the face of supernatural opposition. Búi seizes two chests full of gold, calls on his men to leap overboard and then jumps into the sea.

Notes: [All]: The two helmingar may have belonged originally to distinct stanzas, as suggested by Finnur Jónsson (1886b, 353-4). The subject-matter of ll. 5-8, the approach of the Danish expedition from the south, seems to be distinct from that of ll. 1-4, the battle itself. Additionally, the conj. þás ‘when’ in l. 1 introduces a subordinate clause that must have continued a prior statement now lost. This is suggested both by its incomplete meaning and by the fact that in normal skaldic practice a subordinate clause would follow, but not precede, a main clause (Kuhn 1983, 190-1). — [1-4]: (a) The interpretation here is essentially that of Finnur Jónsson (1886b, 353-4; Skj B), including his analysis of l. 2 (see Note below) and his overall construal, in which Viðris veðrmagnanda ‘the strengthener of the storm of Viðrir <= Óðinn> [(lit. ‘storm-strengthener of Viðrir’) BATTLE > WARRIOR]’ is taken in apposition with Búa ‘Búi’. However, such apposition is rare in early skaldic poetry, and some corruption of the text is possible, given the generally garbled state of the poem in 510. Other suggestions have been the following. (b) Sveinbjörn Egilsson (Fms 12; SHI 11; cf. LP (1860): bruðr 2) explains ms. bruðar as gen. sg. from bruðr/brunnr ‘spring, well’ taken in the sense of ‘sea’ and combined with fangs (for ms. fang), taken in the sense of ‘combat’, thus yielding the interpretation ‘sea-battle’. However, this is not recognisable skaldic idiom and bruðar would be unmetrical since a long syllable (brúð-) would be required. (c) Kock (NN §§437, 1912) argues for an adverbial gen. brúðar fangs ‘into the bride’s embrace’, referring to the sea-goddess Rán, i.e. the sea into which Búi famously leaps (see Context). He notes close verbal correspondences between this stanza and Vagn Lv, though there the embrace of a woman is literal. Additionally, Kock (NN §437, citing §327D) proposes a sense of virðendr equivalent to virðar ‘men’, but such a use of agentives would not be idiomatic and accordingly these suggestions were rejected by Reichardt (1930, 245). — [1] á barða ‘on the ship’: Barði is named as the ship of Eiríkr jarl Hákonarson in accounts of the later battle of Svǫlðr (e.g. ÍF 26, 359), but here the common noun seems more likely. Á barða is taken here to refer to the position of the warriors since if it referred to Búi leaping a phrase meaning ‘from the ship’ would be required. — [2] fangs * bǫðvar ‘of the tunic of battle [MAIL-SHIRT]’: The prep. í at the beginning of l. 2 is deleted by all eds since it produces a hypermetrical line and poor sense. In this edn, fang, emended to fangs, is taken in the sense ‘tunic’ (so Skj B, provisionally accepted by Reichardt 1930, 245, and cf. Hfr ErfÓl 3/3 and Note) and combined with the determinant bǫðvar ‘of battle’ by emendation from ms. brúðar (Skj B) to give a kenning for ‘mail-shirt’. — [4] Búa ‘Búi’: See Note to st. 2/2, 4. — [4] kenndu ‘taught’: It is unclear why Búi’s men are said to ‘teach’ him here. In later accounts (e.g. ÞGísl Búdr 11, Bjbp Jóms 36 and their Contexts) Búi leaps overboard, calling to his men to follow him. — [5-8]: Most of the emendations and the construal adopted in this edn were proposed by Finnur Jónsson (1886b, 352-3; Skj B) and retained by Kock in Skald. — [6] hljóm* ‘tumult’: A minor and generally accepted emendation from ms. hljómr, first proposed by Sveinbjörn Egilsson (Fms 12; SHI 11). — [6] runnu þá ‘then ran’: Emended from Búi. Line 6 in the ms. lacks hending and is one syllable short, as well as being difficult to construe, making radical emendation necessary. The ms. reading Búi may have been influenced by the general fame of Búi and by the occurrence of the name in l. 4. Skj B emends to es runnu ‘when ... ran’, but this produces a non-standard Type A even line, with rhyme in positions 3 and 5. — [7] skeiðr ‘warships’: The minimal emendation from ms. skerð- to skeið- was proposed by Sveinbjörn Egilsson (Fms 12; SHI 11) and adopted by subsequent eds. Sveinbjörn read disyllabic skeiðir, and accordingly emended bauga to baugs. — [7, 8] Baldrs bauga ‘of the Baldr <god> of rings [MAN]’: Following Finnur Jónsson (1886b, 352-3; Skj B), gen. sg. Baldrs (emended from ms. Baldr) bauga is construed with skeiðr ‘longships’. Finnur takes the kenning to refer to Búi, but unless ms. Búi is retained in l. 6 it is not clear why the attacking fleet should be referred to as Búi’s in particular. Sveinbjörn Egilsson (Fms 12; SHI 11) read Baldr baugs as a vocative, addressed to a member of the skald’s audience, but this is less convincing.

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 (1860) = Sveinbjörn Egilsson, ed. 1860. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis. Copenhagen: Societas Regia antiquariorum septentrionalium.
7. Kuhn, Hans (1899). 1983. Das Dróttkvætt. Heidelberg: Winter.
8. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
9. SHI = Sveinbjörn Egilsson, ed. 1828-46. Scripta historica islandorum de rebus gestis veterum borealium, latine reddita et apparatu critico instructa, curante Societate regia antiquariorum septentrionalium. 12 vols. Copenhagen: Popp etc. and London: John & Arthur Arch.
10. Jvs 1879 = Petersens, Carl af, ed. 1879. Jómsvíkinga saga (efter Cod. AM. 510, 4:to) samt Jómsvíkinga drápa. Lund: Gleerup.
11. Reichardt, Konstantin. 1930. ‘Beiträge zur Skaldenforschung’. ANF 46, 32-62, 199-258.
12. Finnur Jónsson. 1886b. ‘Bidrag til en rigtigere forståelse af Tindr Hallkelssons vers’. ÅNOH, 309-68.
13. Internal references
14. Emily Lethbridge (ed.) 2012, ‘Bjarni byskup Kolbeinsson, Jómsvíkingadrápa 36’ 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. 990.
15. Matthew Townend 2012, ‘ Vagn Ákason, Lausavísa’ 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. 366. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=3058> (accessed 20 April 2024)
16. Kate Heslop (ed.) 2012, ‘Hallfreðr vandræðaskáld Óttarsson, Erfidrápa Óláfs Tryggvasonar 3’ 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. 405.
17. Emily Lethbridge (ed.) 2012, ‘Þorkell Gíslason, Búadrápa 11’ 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. 951.