Bjbp Jóms 6I/1 — vér ‘We [I]’
… vér sitja
(seima Guðr) at Jómi
(fǫgr rænir mik flaumi)
fimm hǫfðingja snemma.
Vel samir víst at telja
vinnur hreystimanna;
þar er of málmþings meiða
merkiliga at yrkja.
… vér … fimm hǫfðingja sitja snemma at Jómi; fǫgr Guðr seima rænir mik flaumi. Víst samir vel at telja vinnur hreystimanna; þar er at yrkja of merkiliga meiða málmþings.
We [I] … five chieftains once sat at Jómsborg; the beautiful Guðr <valkyrie> of gold [WOMAN] robs me of happiness. Certainly it is very fitting to recount the deeds of courageous men; in this case it is a matter of composing about notable poles of the weapon-assembly [BATTLE > WARRIORS].
notes
[1] vér sitja ‘we … sat’: The inf. sitja ‘sat’, lit. ‘to sit, sitting’ (the reading of Finnur Jónsson and af Petersens) would form an acc. with inf. construction with acc. pl. hǫfðingja ‘chieftains’, and would suggest that a verb of hearing or learning in the pret. tense is missing; cf. st. 7/1, 2 frák Harald heyja ‘I have heard that Haraldr fought (lit. ‘I have heard Haraldr to fight)’. Frágu/frágum ‘we have heard’ is accordingly supplied in Jvs 1879, 107, followed by CPB II, 303, Skj B and Skald. The same eds have also supplied the adv. suðr ‘south’ as the first word of l. 1, aptly referring to the location of Jómsborg on the Baltic coast. These editorial conjectures are acceptable metrically: suðr alliterates with sitja in l. 1 and seima ‘of gold’ in l. 2, and the phrase suðr frágu/frágum brings the syllable count in l. 1 up to the required six syllables; the munnvǫrp metre does not require hending in odd lines.
grammar
Pronouns and determiners: First person
| sing. | dual | pl. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| N A G D | ek mik mín mér | vit okkr okkar okkr | vér oss vár oss |