Note to Eil Þdr 10III
[5] œddu ‘infuriated’: The readings of both mss (Tˣ and W; R is damaged here) are quite similar (‘od ostali’ Tˣ, ‘að ostali’ W), but it is difficult to decipher their meanings. The first of the last two syllables, ‘stali’ (so both mss), carries alliteration and can be construed as stáli n. dat. sg. ‘with the weapon’. The remaining ‘od o’ or ‘að o’, must be the finite verb in the first clause. Previous eds have suggested (a) œddu 3rd pers. pl. pret. indic. of œða ‘infuriate’ (NN §1507, followed by Kiil 1956, 128), whose object could be either a person’s mind or, figuratively, hailstorms (LP: œða). For semantic reasons, this interpretation has been adopted in the present edn. The use of this verb does not imply a personification of the stream. (b) Hôðu 3rd pers. pl. pret. indic. of heyja ‘hold, conduct’ (Finnur Jónsson 1900b, 387 and Skj B; Reichardt 1948, 359), whose object might be a legal assembly, a battle or a meeting (see LP: heyja).
References
- Bibliography
- Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
- NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
- 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.
- Finnur Jónsson. 1900b. ‘Þórsdrápa Eilífs Goðrúnarsonar’. Oversigt over det Kgl. Danske videnskabernes selskabs forhandlinger 1900, 369-410.
- Kiil, Vilhelm. 1956. ‘Eilífr Goðrúnarson’s Þórsdrápa’. ANF 71, 89-167.
- Reichardt, Konstantin. 1948. ‘Die Thórsdrápa des Eilífr Goðrúnarson: Textinterpretation’. PMLA 63, 329-91.