Cite as: Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Ǫrvar-Odds saga 36 (Ǫrvar-Oddr, Lausavísur 6)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 849.

Þit skuluð hlýða         hróðri mínum, Sigurðr ok Sjólfr,         sessunautar.

Ykr á ek gjalda         greypan verka, hróðr harðsnúinn,         huglausum tveim.

Sigurðr ok Sjólfr, þit sessunautar skuluð hlýða hróðri mínum. Ek á gjalda ykr tveim huglausum greypan verka, harðsnúinn hróðr.

Sigurðr and Sjólfr, you two bench companions must listen to my praise poetry. I have to pay back you two thoughtless fellows for [your] coarse composition, impudent poetry.

Mss: 7(54v), 344a(21r-v), 343a(77r), 471(88v) (Ǫrv)

Readings: [3] Sigurðr ok Sjólfr (‘s. ok s.’): ‘sig’ ok s.’ 344a, ‘sig’ ok snö’ 343a, ‘sig’. ok si’ 471    [5] á ek: er at 471    [6] verka: so all others, om. 7    [8] tveim: ‘tveimr’ 344a, ‘ij’ 343a

Editions: Skj: Anonyme digte og vers [XIII], E. 10. Vers af Fornaldarsagaer: Af Ǫrvar-Oddssaga VII 3: AII, 297-8, BII, 317, Skald II, 169; Ǫrv 1888, 160, Ǫrv 1892, 78-9, FSGJ 2, 312; Edd. Min. 66.

Context: Oddr now drinks off his horn and fills one for each of Sjólfr and Sigurðr. He speaks the following two stanzas.

Notes: [2] hróðri mínum ‘my praise poetry’: Oddr means that his rivals should now listen to him praising his own exploits instead of exaggerating their own. — [3]: Where they spell out the name Sjólfr (rather than abbreviating it) all mss give some form of the rising diphthong [jo], but all previous eds, except for Edd. Min., restore a two-syllable Sæólfr (OWN *saiwi-wulfaʀ ‘sea-wolf’) in all places where this pers. n. occurs. The situation appears more complex, however, with the Sjólfr form metrically necessary in the present line and in Ǫrv 37/1 and 53/3, the disyllabic form clear in one instance (Ǫrv 40/2), and both forms possible in the remainder (Ǫrv 43/1, 45/1 and 58/8). — [7] harðsnúinn hróðr ‘impudent poetry’: Normally hróðr means ‘praise, praise poetry’, as it does in l. 2 above, but here it seems to have a more general sense, as what Sjólfr and Sigurðr have recited about Oddr is hardly praise. Harðsnúinn ‘impudent’ means lit. ‘hard-twisted’. — [8] huglausum ‘thoughtless’: This adj. also bears the connotation ‘faint-hearted, cowardly’ (cf. LP: huglauss).