Hjálm Lv 2^VIII (Ǫrv 6)

Þá frák manna         meinúðgasta,
ógjarnasta         gott at vinna.
Þeir berserkir,         böls um fyldir,
tvau skip hruðu         tryggra manna.

Frák þá meinúðgasta manna, ógjarnasta at vinna gott. Þeir berserkir, um fyldir böls, hruðu tvau skip tryggra manna.

I have heard them [to be] the most evil-minded of men, most un-eager to do good. Those berserks, filled with enmity, cleared two ships of trusty men.

Mss: 344a(16v), 343a(67v), 471(74r), 173ˣ(35r-v) (Ǫrv)

Readings: [2] meinúðgasta: ‘mein udgadzt[…]’ 343a, ‘meinauðugazta’ 173ˣ    [3] ógjarnasta: ‘og’ added before ‘ogiarnazta’ in another hand 344a, ok ógjarnasta 343a, 471, 173ˣ    [5] Þeir berserkir: þeir eru berserks 343a, 471, þeir eru af berserks 173ˣ    [6] böls um fyldir: ‘boli upfylldir’ 173ˣ

Editions: Skj AII, 290, Skj BII, 311, Skald II, 165, NN §795; Ǫrv 1888, 98, Ǫrv 1892, 52, FSGJ 2, 252; Edd. Min. 56.

Context: This stanza, also spoken by Hjálmarr, continues straight on from the previous one without prose intervention.

Notes: [5] þeir berserkir ‘those berserks’: Understood as the idiom þeir plus a collective noun meaning ‘group of’, ‘band of’. Skj B prefers to add the verb eru in the reduced form ro, þeir ro berserkir ‘they are berserks’, following the younger mss, but this does not seem necessary. Edd. Min. deletes þeir and reads er berserkir. — [7-8]: It is not clear whether these lines refer to the event that the prose text of Ǫrv narrates immediately before Hjálmarr and Oddr hear the berserks roaring or to some other incident. While the two heroes are off getting timber to repair their boats, the twelve berserks massacre their crew (Ǫrv 1888, 96). This event is alluded to also in Ǫrv 7/7-8 below.

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. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. FSGJ = Guðni Jónsson, ed. 1954. Fornaldar sögur norðurlanda. 4 vols. [Reykjavík]: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan.
6. Edd. Min. = Heusler, Andreas and Wilhelm Ranisch, eds. 1903. Eddica Minora: Dichtungen eddischer Art aus den Fornaldarsögur und anderen Prosawerken. Dortmund: Ruhfus. Rpt. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft.
7. Ǫrv 1888 = Boer, R. C., ed. 1888. Ǫrvar-Odds saga. Leiden: Brill.
8. Ǫrv 1892 = Boer, R. C., ed. 1892a. Ǫrvar-Odds saga. Altnordische Saga-Bibliothek 2. Halle: Niemayer.
9. Internal references
10. 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 1 May 2024)
11. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Ǫrvar-Odds saga 7 (Ǫrvar-Oddr, Lausavísur 1)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 819.