Anon Oddm 1^I

Skjǫldungr rak með skildi
skeiðar brand ór landi;
réð sá konungr síðan
snjallr Nóregi ǫllum.

Skjǫldungr rak með skildi brand skeiðar ór landi; síðan réð sá snjallr konungr ǫllum Nóregi.

The monarch drove, with his shield, the prow of the warship out of the country; afterwards that excellent king governed all Norway.

Mss: Ágr(1va) (Ágr)

Editions: Skj AI, 177, Skj BI, 167, Skald I, 90; Fms 10, 378, Fms 12, 229, Ágr 1880, 2-3, ÍF 29, 4, Ágr 2008, 2-3 (ch. 2), 83-4.

Context:

The helmingr is cited in evidence of an account of how Haraldr hárfagri defeated a king by the name of Skeiðar-Brandr at the battle of Hafrsfjǫrðr (Hafrsfjorden, here called Hafrsvágr, c. 885-c. 890).

Notes: [All]: Munch (Ágr 1834, 274-5) points out the resemblance of ll. 1-2 to Arn Hryn 7/3-4^II (see the next Note), and Sveinbjörn Egilsson (SHI 10, 351) remarks the resemblance between ll. 3-4 and Arn Magndr 7/1-2^II, so it is possible that Oddm is a mere conflation of the two sources. — [1] með skildi ‘with his shield’: The image of repelling a ship with a shield is presumably metonymic, referring to military might, rather than literal. Alternatively, the phrase could be taken (as in Skj B) to qualify skjǫldungr ‘monarch’ rather than rak ‘drove’.  — [2] brand skeiðar ‘the prow of the warship’: Ágr identifies Skeiðar-Brandr as a pers. n., and this cannot be ruled out. However, it has usually been seen as a misunderstanding, and brand skeiðar is more likely to be a noun phrase meaning ‘decorative piece of wood on the side of the prow of a warship’, hence ‘(enemy’s) ship’ by synecdoche: cf. Arn Hryn 7/4^II, and see Skj B, LP: skeiðarbrandr, Turville-Petre (1953, 173), von See (1977b, 64) and Frank (1978, 159); cf. also Jesch (2001a, 147-8) on brandr and Note to ÞjóðA Magnfl 12/7^II on skeiðr. — [3]: The metrical Type C with hending in position 1 is not used before the early C11th: see Kuhn (1969a) and Gade (2001b, 66-8). — [3, 4] sá snjallr konungr ‘that excellent king’: The adj. can occur in noun phrases of this structure (demonstrative sá/sú/þat + adj. + noun) in either the strong form, as here, or the weak; see LP: sá 1; cf. NS §49.

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. Fms = Sveinbjörn Egilsson et al., eds. 1825-37. Fornmanna sögur eptir gömlum handritum útgefnar að tilhlutun hins norræna fornfræða fèlags. 12 vols. Copenhagen: Popp.
4. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. LP = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1931. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis: Ordbog over det norsk-islandske skjaldesprog oprindelig forfattet af Sveinbjörn Egilsson. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Møller.
6. Ágr = [Anonymous] Ágrip af Nóregs konunga sögum.
7. Frank, Roberta. 1978. Old Norse Court Poetry: The Dróttkvætt Stanza. Islandica 42. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press.
8. Gade, Kari Ellen. 2001b. ‘The Dating and Attributions of Verses in the Skald Sagas’. In Poole 2001a, 50-74.
9. Jesch, Judith. 2001a. Ships and Men in the Late Viking Age: The Vocabulary of Runic Inscriptions and Skaldic Verse. Woodbridge: Boydell.
10. Turville-Petre, Gabriel. 1953. Origins of Icelandic Literature. Oxford: Clarendon.
11. NS = Nygaard, Marius. 1906. Norrøn syntax. Kristiania (Oslo): Aschehoug. Rpt. 1966.
12. Kuhn, Hans (1899). 1969a. ‘Die Dróttkvættverse des Typs “brestr erfiði Austra”’. In Jakob Benediktsson 1969, 403-17. Rpt. in Kuhn (1899) 1969-78, IV, 105-16.
13. ÍF 29 = Ágrip af Nóregskonunga sǫgum; Fagrskinna—Nóregs konungatal. Ed. Bjarni Einarsson. 1985.
14. SHI = Sveinbjörn Egilsson, ed. 1828-46. Scripta historica islandorum de rebus gestis veterum borealium, latine reddita et apparatu critico instructa, curante Societate regia antiquariorum septentrionalium. 12 vols. Copenhagen: Popp etc. and London: John & Arthur Arch.
15. Ágr 2008 = Driscoll, Matthew J., ed. and trans. 2008. Ágrip af Nóregskonungasǫgum: A Twelfth-Century Synoptic History of the Kings of Norway. 2nd edn. Viking Society for Northern Research Text Series 10. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
16. See, Klaus von. 1977b. ‘Skaldenstrophe und Sagaprosa: Ein Beitrag zum Problem der mündlichen Überlieferung in der altnordischen Literatur’. MS 10, 58-82. Rpt. in von See 1981a, 461-85.
17. Ágr 1880 = Dahlerup, Verner, ed. 1880. Ágrip af Noregs konunga sögum: Diplomatarisk udgave. SUGNL 2. Copenhagen: Møller.
18. Ágr 1834 = Munch, P. A., ed. 1834. ‘Brudstykke af en gammel norsk kongesaga’. Samlinger til det norske folks sprog og historie 2, 273-335.
19. Internal references
20. R. D. Fulk 2012, ‘ Anonymous, Oddmjór’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1001. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1037> (accessed 6 May 2024)
21. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Arnórr jarlaskáld Þórðarson, Hrynhenda, Magnússdrápa 7’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 191-2.
22. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Arnórr jarlaskáld Þórðarson, Magnússdrápa 7’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 216.
23. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Þjóðólfr Arnórsson, Magnússflokkr 12’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 78-80.