ǪrvOdd Lv 18^VIII (Ǫrv 51)

Sjólfr, vartu eigi         Sámseyju í,
þar er við Hjörvarð         höggum skiptum.
Tveir váru vit,         en þeir tólf saman;
sigr hafða ek;         saztu kyrr meðan.

Sjólfr, vartu eigi í Sámseyju, þar er skiptum höggum við Hjörvarð. Váru vit tveir, en þeir tólf saman; ek hafða sigr; saztu kyrr meðan.

Sjólfr, you were not on Samsø, where we exchanged blows with Hjǫrvarðr. We were two, but they [were] twelve together; I had the victory; you stayed quiet in the meanwhile.

Mss: 7(55r), 344a(21v), 343a(77v), 471(89r), 173ˣ(53v-54r) (Ǫrv)

Readings: [1] Sjólfr: Sigurðr 343a, 471, 173ˣ    [2] Sámseyju í: í Sámseyju 471, 173ˣ    [3] þar: þá 344a, 343a, 471, 173ˣ;    við: vit 344a, 343a, 471, 173ˣ;    Hjörvarð: Hjörvarðr 471, 173ˣ    [4] skiptum: skiptak 344a, skipti ek 343a    [5] váru: várum 343a, 173ˣ    [7] ek: om. 344a    [8] saztu: þó saz þú 344a

Editions: Skj AII, 301, Skj BII, 320, Skald II, 171; Ǫrv 1888, 164, Ǫrv 1892, 83, FSGJ 2, 317-18.

Context: Oddr goes back to his seat after declaiming Ǫrv 49 and 50, and his opponents then offers him two more full horns, which he drinks, and then speaks the following two stanzas, Ǫrv 51 and 52.

Notes: [All]: This stanza alludes to the fight on the Danish island of Sámsey (Samsø) between Oddr and his companion Hjálmarr and twelve berserk brothers. This legendary fight is described in both Heiðr and Ǫrv and in Saxo’s Gesta Danorum; see further Introduction to Ǫrv 5-12.  — [3] við Hjörvarð ‘with Hjǫrvarðr’: The reading of 7, taking við as a prep. ‘against, with’ plus acc. (though in this sense the dat. is more common) rather than as the dual 2nd pers. pron. vit ‘we two’ of the majority of mss plus the nom. sg. Hjörvarðr, the reading only of 471 and 173ˣ. Skj B and Skald adopt vit Hjǫrvarðr in the sense ‘Hjǫrvarðr and I [exchanged blows]’, while Ǫrv 1888 and 1892 have the same reading as the present edn. The prose text of Ǫrv does not support the notion of a duel between Oddr and Hjǫrvarðr, the second of the berserk brothers after the eldest, Angantýr, but it is possible that an earlier version of the legend had Hjǫrvarðr rather than Angantýr as the original rival with Hjálmarr for the hand of the daughter of the Swedish king. — [5] váru vit tveir ‘we were two’: For the loss of final ‑m in váru[m], see Note to Ǫrv 50/1. Oddr refers here to himself and Hjálmarr, who opposed the twelve berserk brothers.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. FSGJ = Guðni Jónsson, ed. 1954. Fornaldar sögur norðurlanda. 4 vols. [Reykjavík]: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan.
5. Ǫrv 1888 = Boer, R. C., ed. 1888. Ǫrvar-Odds saga. Leiden: Brill.
6. Ǫrv 1892 = Boer, R. C., ed. 1892a. Ǫrvar-Odds saga. Altnordische Saga-Bibliothek 2. Halle: Niemayer.
7. Internal references
8. 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 367. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=23> (accessed 21 May 2024)
9. 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Ǫrvar-Odds saga’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 804. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=35> (accessed 21 May 2024)
10. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Ǫrvar-Odds saga 49 (Ǫrvar-Oddr, Lausavísur 16)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 862.
11. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Ǫrvar-Odds saga 5 (Hjálmarr inn hugumstóri, Lausavísur 1)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 816.
12. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Ǫrvar-Odds saga 50 (Ǫrvar-Oddr, Lausavísur 17)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 864.
13. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Ǫrvar-Odds saga 51 (Ǫrvar-Oddr, Lausavísur 18)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 865.
14. Not published: do not cite ()