Án Lv 1VIII (Án 1)/5 — fang ‘with each other’
Skeldi mér sem skyldi
skelkinn maðr við belki;
við máttak þá vætki
vinna; svei þeim æ manni.
Varð í fang at fallaz;
feldum eldsmat nökkut
honum synjaðak heiðri;
svei þeim æ manni.
Skelkinn maðr skeldi mér við belki sem skyldi; máttak þá vinna vætki við; svei þeim manni æ. Varð at fallaz í fang; feldum eldsmat nökkut; synjaðak honum heiðri; svei þeim manni æ.
The man fond of mockery dashed me against the wall as he should; I was able to put up no resistance then; fie upon that man forever. It was necessary to grapple with each other; we [I] felled fire-nourishment [FIRE-WOOD] in some way; I deprived him of honour; fie upon that man forever.
notes
[5] at fallaz í fang ‘to grapple with each other’: These words can be translated lit. as ‘to let oneself fall into a [wrestling] grip’. They refer to grappling with one’s opponent in the wrestling match, not, as Kock thinks (NN §1483), to Björn’s fall (death) during the wrestling match. The construction verða at + inf. means ‘must, be forced, obliged to (do sth.)’. Since there is no explicit subject in this sentence it is unclear whether the pret. indic. verb varð is the 1st pers. sg. or the 3rd pers. sg. In the first case the speaker, Án, would be the putative subject. In the second case the putative subject could be ‘he’ (= Bjǫrn), and this is the interpretation favoured by Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) and Kock (Skald; NN §1483). The 3rd pers. sg. could however also be understood as a general statement about the situation, from the perspective of Án: ‘one was obliged to let oneself fall into a grip’ or ‘it was necessary to let oneself fall into a grip’. If varð at is understood in this latter, non-personal sense, the phrase fallaz í fang could also be interpreted in a reciprocal sense (m. v.): ‘fall into each other’s grip’, i.e. ‘grapple, wrestle with each other’: thus ‘it was necessary to grapple with each other’.