Anon Krm 17VIII/5 — Syni ‘son’
Hjuggu vér með hjörvi.
Hundmargan sá ek falla
morginstund fyrir mæki
mann í odda sennu.
Syni mínum hneit snimma
slíðra þorn við hjarta;
Egill lét Agnar ræntan
óblauðan hal lífi.
Glumði geirr við Hamðis
gránserk; bliku merki.
Hjuggu vér með hjörvi. Ek sá hundmargan mann falla fyrir mæki morginstund í sennu odda. Þorn slíðra hneit snimma við hjarta syni mínum; Egill lét ræntan Agnar, óblauðan hal, lífi. Geirr glumði við gránserk Hamðis; merki bliku.
We hewed with the sword. I saw very many a man fall before the sword at morning-time in the quarrel of weapon-points [BATTLE]. The thorn of scabbards [SWORD] struck early at the heart of my son; Egill caused Agnarr, an uncowardly man, to be deprived of life. The spear resounded against the grey shirt of Hamðir <legendary hero> [MAIL-COAT]; banners gleamed.
readings
[5] Syni mínum: so 6ˣ, LR, R693ˣ, ‘syni mínu’ 1824b, R702ˣ, ‘[…]’ 147
notes
[5, 7] syni mínum; Agnar ‘of my son; Agnarr’: Agnarr, referred to in l. 7, is likely to be the speaker’s son, referred to in l. 5, since according to RagnSon and Ragn Ragnarr has the sons Eiríkr and Agnarr by his first wife Þóra, and according to Saxo (Saxo 2015, I, ix. 4. 8, pp. 636-7) has Agnerus by Thora, his second wife in Saxo’s account (and Ericus by his third wife Suanlogha; Saxo 2015, I, ix. 4. 17, pp. 644-5). Agnarr/Agnerus meets his death in these accounts at the hands of the Swedish king Eysteinn (named Ostenus by Saxo), however, whereas here it is one Egill, not otherwise known, who is said to be the cause of his death. It would seem that Krm is here dependent on a tradition of Agnarr somewhat different from those known to Saxo and the authors of RagnSon and Ragn, cf. the case of Rǫgnvaldr, discussed in the Note to st. 15/6 above; see however Note to l. 7 below. This is the only instance in Krm of the death being reported of someone explicitly stated to be the speaker’s son; as noted above, Rǫgnvaldr, whose death is reported in st. 15 and is identifiable with the Rǫgnvaldr who appears elsewhere as a son of Ragnarr loðbrók, is not stated in Krm to be a son of the poem’s speaker.