Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1959, Side 213
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Sækit nu fram Frankismenn, ok veitit stor hogg.
Par måtti nu sjå skjoldu klofna, brynjur hoggnar, cp. O 1655
branda bloSga ok spjotskopt brotin. cp. O 1655-56, V4 1636-37, 1640-41, 1663-64
Nu mæltu heiSingjar: Frankismenn eru harSir ok illir viSreignar, = V4 1667
ok verSum vér nu undan at leita ok flyja heim til Spanialands at segja Marsilio
konungi tiSendi. cp. V4 1668-71
Nu fellu heiSingjar hverr at oSrum. cp. V4 1668
Nu hefir Rollant ok Oliver ok jteir 12 jafningjar ok jteirra liS sigrazt 1 2 orrostum
{>eim er 10 fylki heiSinna manna våru i hvårri (p. 51515"26).
All versions have a number of stock phrases in this episode, as usual in
descriptions of this kind. The added laisse in V4 and the version rimée (P
and L have three additional laisses) has only one real faet that is not men-
tioned in O, and that is the part Roland plays in the fighting. This is also
mentioned in the saga, and consequently we may assume that the trans-
lator knew a laisse of the same type as V4 vv. 1659-71. The exclamation
of the fleeing pagans (Frankismenn eru harSir etc.) is also definitely
based on this laisse rather than on the words in O vv. 1659-62 (Tere
Major, Mahummet te maldie Sur tute gent etc.). But in other respects the
passage in Kms is full of stock phrases, and most of them have close paral-
lels in other parts of the poem, e.g. nu er orrosta horS ok åkof ok falla
heiSingjar hundruSum is reminiscent of O vv. 1412 and 1417 etc.:
La bataille est merveilluse e pesant,
Moerent paien a millers e a cent.
Roland’s words:
Nu skulum vér freista hvat er ySr må Maumet etc.
looks like an answer to the appeal of the pagans in v. 1659:
Tere Major, Mahummet te maldie,
but the mention of St. Peter recalls v. 921:
Plus valt Mahum que Seint Perre de Rume.
The phrase far måtti nu sjå skjoldu klofna etc. occurs elsewhere in the
saga, e.g. as a (correct) translation of V4 1394-96, at the end of the first
battie. The phrase Nu falla heiSingjar hverr at oSrum is typically Norse,
of a kind that occurs frequently in the fornaldarsggur, and it is not neces-
sarily based on any French verse.