Anon Liðs 6I/8 — brunns ‘of the spring’
Einráðit lét áðan
Ullkell, þars spjǫr gullu,
— hǫrð óx hildar garða
hríð — víkinga at bíða.
Ok, slíðrhugaðr, síðan
sátt á oss, hvé mátti
byggs við bitran skeggja
brunns; tveir hugir runnu.
Ullkell lét áðan einráðit at bíða víkinga, þars spjǫr gullu; hǫrð hríð garða hildar óx. Ok, slíðrhugaðr, sátt á oss síðan, hvé mátti við bitran skeggja byggs brunns; tveir hugir runnu.
Ullkell had beforehand resolved to await the vikings where spears screamed; a hard storm of enclosures of war [SHIELDS > BATTLE] swelled. And, ruthless-minded one, you saw on us afterwards how one [we] could prevail against the fierce denizen of the barley of the spring [STONE > ?= Ullkell]; two minds were competing.
notes
[7-8] skeggja byggs brunns ‘denizen of the barley of the spring [STONE > ? = Ullkell]’: This curious expression probably refers to Ulfcytel. Bygg brunns ‘barley of the spring’ must mean ‘stone, rock’ (cf. Meissner 90), hence *steinskeggi, which Finnur Jónsson takes as equivalent to eyjarskeggi ‘island-dweller’ (LP: skeggi; cf. Schier 1976a, 583). However, this seems unnecessary since *steinskeggi can be a ‘dweller in stone’, just as hraunskeggi is somebody living on a lava-field (hraun). No doubt Ulfcytel is envisaged as occupying a stone fortification (cf. the reference to a stone-dwelling woman in st. 8/1, 4). London, with its stone walls dating from the Roman era, would fit with this allusion. Normally a kenning of this type would apply to giants, who are archetypally dwellers in (or on) stones, rocks, or mountains. It seems incongruous here, but perhaps some kind of humorous or disparaging effect is intended (cf. Note to Anon Óldr 15/7, 8).
kennings
- byggs brunns; — of the barley of the spring; [STONE]
- bitran skeggja byggs brunns; — the fierce denizen of the barley of the spring; [= Ullkell]