Cite as: Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Ǫrvar-Odds saga 44 (Ǫrvar-Oddr, Lausavísur 11)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 857.
Sigurðr, vartu eigi þar er sex hruðum
hábrynjuð skip fyr Hólmsnesi. |
Vartu ok eigi vestr með Skolla,
þá er Engla gram aldri næmðum. |
Sigurðr, vartu eigi, þar er hruðum sex hábrynjuð skip fyr Hólmsnesi. Vartu ok eigi vestr með Skolla, þá er næmðum gram Engla aldri.
Sigurðr, you were not there where we cleared six armoured ships before Hólmsnes. Nor were you in the west with Skolli, when we deprived the ruler of the English of life.
Mss: 7(54v), 344a(21v), 343a(77r), 471(88v) (Ǫrv)
Readings: [1] Sigurðr: Sjólfr 471; eigi: so all others, ei 7 [2] sex: so 471, ‘vi’ 7, 343a, ‘sꜹx’ 344a; hruðum: ‘rꜹdum’ 344a [3] hábrynjuð skip: hardla snarliga 344a, hábyrðuð skip 343a [4] Hólms‑: haugs‑ 344a, hauks‑ 343a, hvarfs‑ 471 [5] ok: om. 344a, 471 [8] næmðum: námum 344a
Editions: Skj: Anonyme digte og vers [XIII], E. 10. Vers af Fornaldarsagaer: Af Ǫrvar-Oddssaga VII 11: AII, 299, BII, 319, Skald II, 170; Ǫrv 1888, 162, Ǫrv 1892, 80-1, FSGJ 2, 315; Edd. Min. 67.
Context: As for Ǫrv 43. There is no intervening prose between the two stanzas.
Notes: [All]: The incident with Skolli referred to in this stanza is narrated in ch. 25 of the saga (Ǫrv 1888, 85-7; Ǫrv 1892, 44-6) and also referred to in Ævdr 30 (Ǫrv 100). After a return visit to Ireland, where Oddr marries Ǫlvǫr (see Introduction to Ǫlvǫr Lv 1 (Ǫrv 4)), Oddr and Hjálmarr sail to England, and they learn that a viking named Skolli is lying at anchor there with forty ships. He has a grudge against the reigning king of the English, named as Játmundr (Edmund) in some mss, because the king has killed his father. Oddr, who initially intended to fight Skolli, joins him, and their combined forces succeed in conquering the English army and killing their king. Skolli takes over the kingdom, after Oddr and Hjálmarr have refused to accept it. — [3] hábrynjuð skip ‘armoured ships’: The adj. hábrynjuðr ‘armoured’ occurs several times in poems describing warships and sea battles in late Viking-Age poetry; cf. Þfagr Sveinn 4/4II, Steinn Óldr 13/4II and ÞjóðA Har 5/7II. Jesch (2001a, 157-9) argues that this cpd adj. does not imply the use of armour-plating on Viking-Age ships, for which there is no known evidence, but rather refers to the protection given to the ships by the rows of shields arranged along the shield-rail. She also suggests that the element há- does not mean ‘high’, but derives from the noun hár ‘oarport, rowlock’. Both Skj B and Skald prefer 343a’s reading hábyrðuð ‘with a high side or gunwale’, a cpd not otherwise attested. — [4] Hólmsnesi ‘Hólmsnes’: Lit. ‘island-headland’, an otherwise unknown p. n. Both Skj B and Skald prefer 343a’s Hauksnes ‘Haukr’s headland’, likewise unknown. — [6] með Skolla ‘with Skolli’: See Note to [All]. The pers. n. Skolli, probably originally a nickname (Janzén 1947b, 44-5), means lit. ‘skulking one, fox’. As a common noun skolli can also mean ‘trickery’ (cf. Hharð Lv 8/6II).
