Eymundar þáttr hrings

Eymundar þáttr hrings is a short Norse saga, which is preserved in two versions. One of them appears as Eymundar þáttr hrings in the Flatey Book and the other one is an introductory chapter in Yngvars saga víðförla. They deal with the adventures of Varangians in the service of Yaroslav I the Wise.

The main difference between the two versions is that in Eymundar þáttr hrings, the hero is a Norwegian, whereas Yngvars saga víðförla describes him as ruling Svíþjóð,[1] but these two terms were not entirely mutually exclusive at this time.

Svíþjóð refers to the sweonas people. 'Þjoð' (Theod) is related to Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh₂, meaning “tribe”, rather than land. Whereas Svealand today refers to the territories of modern Sweden between Norrland and Götaland, old Sviþjoð extended eastwards, far beyond the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Finland, what we may recognize as Varangian Russia, encompassing Garðariki. It is important to note that we are referring to the Age of Migration, which probably didn't really begin as peoples were semi-sedentary since time immemorial. According to King Alfred of Wessex's world history[2] based on Orosius we would find Sarmatia to the east of Sviþjoð; whereto and beyond which Eymundar travels. Norrland in Sweden may refer as much to the eponymous Nórr as Norway (Nórvegr) does. Torre and his children, Nórr, Górr and Gói are from Gandvik, in the Gulf of Bothnia. This region to the north of the Golf of Helsing, in the Fornaldar Sögur[3], is Jotland, called Kvenland and Finland. Nórr's sister, Gói, marries Hrolf son of Svaða, which may or may not be read as eponymous of the Swedes. Thus we may say that Norwegians and Swedes are mixed from the very beginning of memorial times, even though the distinction is from old the dividing line between the non-Germanic Norse and the Germanic Sweonas.