Bjbp Jóms 13I/6 — hranna ‘of waves’
Búi lézk barr at fylgja
bǫðmildum Sigvalda
til hjǫrþrymu harðrar
hugprúðr vera síðan.
Hafa kvazk Hávarð vilja
hranna brjótr at gunni;
sér kvað hann eigi illa
Áslák í fǫr líka.
Síðan lézk hugprúðr Búi vera barr at fylgja bǫðmildum Sigvalda til harðrar hjǫrþrymu. Brjótr hranna kvazk hafa vilja Hávarð at gunni; hann kvað Áslák líka sér eigi illa í fǫr.
Courageous Búi then said he was ready to follow battle-liberal Sigvaldi into hard sword-thunder [BATTLE]. The breaker of waves [SEAFARER = Búi] said he wanted to have Hávarðr for the battle; he said Áslákr was not unpleasing to him on the journey.
notes
[6] brjótr hranna ‘the breaker of waves [SEAFARER = Búi]’: The kenning clearly refers to Búi but appears to be incomplete. One would expect hranna ‘of waves’ to be part of a kenning such as ‘fire of the waves [GOLD]’, which would form a kenning for ‘generous man’ with brjótr ‘breaker, distributor’ (cf. Meissner 330-1). However, in this context brjótr seems to refer simply to cleaving the waves, and the kenning could refer to Búi as a seafaring warrior from the Baltic (cf. the Skj B translation vikingen ‘the viking’), or could possibly allude to him as a swimmer, famed for leaping from his ship once defeat is inevitable; see Note to st. 26/2 and sts 36-7 and for a possible precedent for a kenning for ‘swimmer’, see Note to Eyv Lv 4/7, 8.
kennings
- Brjótr hranna — The breaker of waves [SEAFARER = Búi]