Heitstrenging frák hefja
heiptmildan Sigvalda;
Búi var ǫrr at efla
órœkinn þrek slíkan.
Hétusk þeir af hauðri
Hákun reka fíkjum
— grimm var frægra fyrða
fjón — eða lífi ræna.
Frák heiptmildan Sigvalda hefja heitstrenging; órœkinn Búi var ǫrr at efla slíkan þrek. Þeir hétusk fíkjum reka Hákun af hauðri eða ræna lífi; fjón frægra fyrða var grimm.
I have heard strife-liberal Sigvaldi began the making of vows; the reckless Búi was swift to strengthen such daring. They vowed eagerly to drive Hákon from the land or rob him of life; the hatred of the famous men was grim.
[4] órœkinn: ‘vrikin’ Bb
[4] órœkinn ‘reckless’: The adj. only otherwise occurs in KormǪ Lv 16/8V (Korm 17), applied to a wolf. On the basis of the related verb rœkja ‘to heed, cultivate, care for’ and adj. rœkinn ‘careful, caring’, the sense here may be ‘reckless’, i.e. not caring for his life, or possibly ‘ruthless’; cf. the gloss hugdjarfr ‘mind-bold’ in Fms 12, 243, and see LP: rœkja, rœkinn, órœkinn. Emendation to ofrækinn (so Skj B and suggested in LP: órœkinn), which could mean ‘greatly caring’ i.e. ‘bold in action, determined’, is not necessary.