Bragi Rdr 4III/6 — ǫl ‘The ale’
Flaut of set við sveita
sóknar alfs á golfi
hræva dǫgg, þars hǫggnar
hendr sem fœtr of kenndu.
Fell í blóði blandinn
brunn ǫlskakki — runna
þats á Leifa landa
laufi fátt — at haufði.
Dǫgg hræva flaut of set við sveita alfs sóknar á golfi, þars of kenndu hǫggnar hendr sem fœtr. Ǫlskakki fell at haufði í brunn blandinn blóði; þats fátt á laufi runna landa Leifa.
Dew of corpses [BLOOD] flowed over the bench together with the blood of the elf of attack [WARRIOR = Jǫrmunrekkr] on the floor, where people recognised hewn arms and legs. The ale-dispenser [RULER = Jǫrmunrekkr] fell head-first into a well mixed with blood; that is painted on the leaf of the trees of the lands of Leifi <sea-king> [SEA > SHIPS > SHIELD].
readings
[6] ǫlskakki: ‘vaulspaci’ Tˣ, ‘aulskali’ C
notes
[6] ǫlskakki ‘the ale-dispenser [RULER = Jǫrmunrekkr]’: This hap. leg. cpd noun, which derives from R’s form ‘ꜹlskacki’ is understood here as a kenning for a ruler as dispenser of ale to his retinue. Faulkes (SnE 1998, II, 378-9) proposes a combination of ǫlskakki with runna (l. 6) as determinant (gen. pl. of runnr ‘bush, tree’), understood here as a half-kenning for ‘man’ or ‘warrior’. Kock (NN §1003) construes runna with at haufði (l. 8) to mean ‘at his warriors’ head’, but this seems an unlikely word order. In the present edn runna is construed with the following shield-kenning (see Note to ll. 7-8 below). Other interpretations of l. 6, such as that of Sophus Bugge (1876, 384) and Skj B, take C’s ‘aulskali’ and emend it to ǫlskála, gen. pl. of ǫlskál ‘ale-cup, drinking vessel’ (cf. Akv 34/1, Hamð 23/2), construing it with í brunn as ‘into the well of ale-cups’, referring to the spilt ale on the hall floor, mingled with blood.
kennings
- Ǫlskakki — The ale-dispenser [RULER = Jǫrmunrekkr]