BjRagn Lv 1VIII (Ragn 7)
Rory McTurk (ed.) 2017, ‘Ragnars saga loðbrókar 7 (Bjǫrn Ragnarsson, Lausavísur 1)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 637.
hrundu ‘raised’
(not checked:)
hrynja (verb): fall, flow
[1] Upp hrundu vér ópi: ‘[…] (ver opi)’(?) 147
notes
[1] hrundu vér ‘we raised’: The verb here is hrinda, meaning essentially ‘push (away), cast off’, here used with a dat. object in 1st pers. pl. pret. in the meaning ‘raise, utter’ (in a verb-adv. collocation with upp lit. ‘up’)’. It is not to be confused with the intransitive verb hrynja ‘tumble down’, which developed in the course of the C13th pret. tense forms identical to those of hrinda (e.g. 1st pers. pl. hrundum, from earlier hrunðum, cf. Holthausen 1896, §75, 2, 3, §252, 1; ANG §238.1b).
vér ‘We’
(not checked:)
vér (pron.; °gen. vár, dat./acc. oss): we, us, our
[1] Upp hrundu vér ópi: ‘[…] (ver opi)’(?) 147
notes
[1] hrundu vér ‘we raised’: The verb here is hrinda, meaning essentially ‘push (away), cast off’, here used with a dat. object in 1st pers. pl. pret. in the meaning ‘raise, utter’ (in a verb-adv. collocation with upp lit. ‘up’)’. It is not to be confused with the intransitive verb hrynja ‘tumble down’, which developed in the course of the C13th pret. tense forms identical to those of hrinda (e.g. 1st pers. pl. hrundum, from earlier hrunðum, cf. Holthausen 1896, §75, 2, 3, §252, 1; ANG §238.1b).
ópi ‘a war-cry’
(not checked:)
óp (noun n.; °-s): shouting, crying
[1] Upp hrundu vér ópi: ‘[…] (ver opi)’(?) 147
ór ‘our’
(not checked:)
várr (pron.; °f. ór/vár; pl. órir/várir): our
[2] ór bitu meir en þeira (‘var bitu meir en þeirra’): ‘(v)[…]r bitu mei[…]’(?) 147
bitu ‘bite’
(not checked:)
bíta (verb; °bítr; beit, bitu; bitinn): bite
[2] ór bitu meir en þeira (‘var bitu meir en þeirra’): ‘(v)[…]r bitu mei[…]’(?) 147
meir ‘had more’
(not checked:)
meiri (adj. comp.; °meiran; superl. mestr): more, most
[2] ór bitu meir en þeira (‘var bitu meir en þeirra’): ‘(v)[…]r bitu mei[…]’(?) 147
en ‘than’
(not checked:)
2. en (conj.): but, and
[2] ór bitu meir en þeira (‘var bitu meir en þeirra’): ‘(v)[…]r bitu mei[…]’(?) 147
þeira ‘theirs’
(not checked:)
hann (pron.; °gen. hans, dat. honum; f. hon, gen. hennar, acc. hana): he, she, it, they, them...
[2] ór bitu meir en þeira (‘var bitu meir en þeirra’): ‘(v)[…]r bitu mei[…]’(?) 147
satt ‘the truth’
(not checked:)
2. sannr (adj.; °-an; compar. -ari, superl. -astr): true
[3] satt mun ek til þess segja: ‘[…]’ 147
ek ‘I’
(not checked:)
ek (pron.; °mín, dat. mér, acc. mik): I, me
[3] satt mun ek til þess segja: ‘[…]’ 147
þess ‘the matter’
[3] satt mun ek til þess segja: ‘[…]’ 147
sverð ‘swords’
(not checked:)
sverð (noun n.; °-s; -): sword
[4] sverð í Gnipafirði: ‘[…]erd i gn[…]’ 147
notes
[4] í Gnipafirði ‘in Gnipafjǫrðr’: Finnur Jónsson (LP: Gnípafjǫrðr) indicates that metrical considerations require the vowel in the first syllable to be taken as long in a dróttkvætt line. However, the existing line, with Gnipa- retained, is málaháttr.
Gnipafirði ‘Gnipafjǫrðr’
(not checked:)
Gnípafjǫrðr (noun m.)
[4] sverð í Gnipafirði: ‘[…]erd i gn[…]’ 147
notes
[4] í Gnipafirði ‘in Gnipafjǫrðr’: Finnur Jónsson (LP: Gnípafjǫrðr) indicates that metrical considerations require the vowel in the first syllable to be taken as long in a dróttkvætt line. However, the existing line, with Gnipa- retained, is málaháttr.
Knátti ‘could’
(not checked:)
knega (verb): to know, understand, be able to
[5] Knátti hverr er vildi: ‘(kn)ꜳtt(i) h(ver)r er villdi’(?) 147
hverr ‘Everyone’
(not checked:)
2. hverr (pron.): who, whom, each, every
[5] Knátti hverr er vildi: ‘(kn)ꜳtt(i) h(ver)r er villdi’(?) 147
er ‘who’
(not checked:)
2. er (conj.): who, which, when
[5] Knátti hverr er vildi: ‘(kn)ꜳtt(i) h(ver)r er villdi’(?) 147
vildi ‘was willing’
(not checked:)
vilja (verb): want, intend
[5] Knátti hverr er vildi: ‘(kn)ꜳtt(i) h(ver)r er villdi’(?) 147
fyr ‘out’
(not checked:)
fyr (prep.): for, over, because of, etc.
[6] fyr Hvítabæ útan: ‘fyrir […]’ 147
sitt ‘their’
(not checked:)
3. sinn (pron.; °f. sín, n. sitt): (refl. poss. pron.)
[7] né sitt spari sveinar: ‘[…]nar’ 147
sveinar ‘the lads’
(not checked:)
sveinn (noun m.; °sveins; sveinar): boy, servant, attendant
[7] né sitt spari sveinar: ‘[…]nar’ 147
bani ‘slay’
(not checked:)
bani (noun m.; °-a; -ar): death, killer
[8] sverð manns bani verða: ‘sv[…]’ 147
Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses
The second of Ragnarr’s sons by Kráka-Áslaug, Bjǫrn járnsíða ‘Ironside’, reports on the battle at which the first of their sons, Ívarr the Boneless, Bjǫrn himself, and their third and fourth sons, Hvítserkr and Rǫgnvaldr, were victorious at a place named Hvítabœr, as a result of Ívarr killing the two magical cows which had hitherto protected the town. Rǫgnvaldr, however, fell in the battle.
Olrik (1892-4, II, 97-99, 101, 118-23) believes that this stanza (spoken by Bjǫrn járnsíða), along with the second half of Ragn 17 (spoken by Áslaug), Ragn 26 and 27 (spoken by Ragnarr), and Ragn 30 and 31 (spoken by Áslaug), belonged originally to a so-called death-song (ævikviða) placed in the mouth of Ragnarr, constituting a somewhat earlier version of Krm than that which survives; this death-song, he claims, formed a major source for Saxo’s account of Regnerus Lothbrog in Book IX of his Gesta Danorum. Part of Olrik’s argument is that among the verse passages in question those spoken in Ragn by characters other than Ragnarr (i.e. Ragn 7, 30, 31, and the second half of Ragn 17) would be more appropriately attributed to Ragnarr in the death-song context than to their speakers in the saga. For critical discussion of this view, see Finnur Jónsson (1905, 176-80) and de Vries (1928c, 125-6). — [4, 6]: Olrik (1892-4, II, 101, 121), noting Saxo’s account (Saxo 2015, I, ix. 4. 4, pp. 634-5) of how Regnerus Lothbrog, after winning a victory over the Scanians at Whiteby (cf. Hvítabær, l. 6), also fought successfully against the Jutes near Limfjord (ON Limafjǫrðr), suggests that Saxo understood Whiteby to be the inland village of Vitaby, situated in south-east Skåne some four kilometres due west of the port of Kivik. De Vries (1928a, 265) suggests that what originally lay behind the references in Saxo’s account and Ragn to Whiteby/Hvítabœr was the Northumbrian harbour town of Whitby, located on the coast of modern Yorkshire: not only was this town much more important than the Scanian village in viking times, but Rægnald, the viking king of York from 919 until his death in 921 (Stenton 1971, 333, 338), may well have been the historical prototype of Ragnarr’s son Rǫgnvaldr, who according to the saga prose preceding this stanza died in the battle at Hvítabœr (Ragn 1906-8, 132). The Northumbrian Whitby, de Vries claims, came to be replaced by the Scanian Vitaby in Scandinavian tradition, and it is indeed likely to be the latter, inland location to which Saxo and the saga are referring: Saxo mentions it in a Scanian context, and in the saga’s account, at least, it seems to be a land battle that is described. There can be no doubt that it is Whitby in Yorkshire that is referred to by the variant form of the name (acc. sg. of Hvítabýr [-býr] as opposed to Hvítabœr) that occurs in ESk Run 7/4II (við Hvítabý ‘at Whitby’) in a group of stanzas documenting Eysteinn Haraldsson’s raids along the east coast of Scotland and England in 1151, see Townend (1998, 42-4, 95-6).
Stanza/chapter/text segment
Use the buttons at the top of the page to navigate between stanzas in a poem.
Information tab
- text: if the stanza has been published, the edited text of the stanza and translation are here; if it hasn't been published an old edition (usually Skj) is given for reference
- sources: a list of the manuscripts or inscriptions containing this stanza, with page and line references and links (eye button) to images where available, and transcription where available
- readings: a list of variant manuscript readings of words in the main text
- editions and texts: a list of editions of the stanza with links to the bibliography; and a list of prose works in which the stanza occurs, allowing you to navigate within the prose context
- notes and context: notes not linked to individual words are given here, along with the account of the prose context for the stanza, where relevant
Interactive tab
The text and translation are given here, with buttons to toggle whether the text is shown in the verse order or prose word order. Clicking on indiviudal words gives dictionary links, variant readings, kennings and notes, where relevant.
Full text tab
This is the text of the edition in a similar format to how the edition appears in the printed volumes.
Chapter/text segment
This view is also used for chapters and other text segments. Not all the headings shown are relevant to such sections.