Note to Rv Lv 14II
[8] orðvandr ‘the speech-impeded’: The adj. vandr can mean either ‘difficult’ or ‘careful’ (LP). Since ‘careful with words’ makes no sense in this context, the cpd has been interpreted as referring to the incomprehensible speech of Rǫgnvaldr’s attacker, whom the prose describes as a madman and whom the st. describes as having ‘strength rather than intelligence’. He may, however, simply have had a severe speech impediment. Orðvandr also occurs in Þstf Lv 3/6, in a similarly derogatory context (cf. NN §967). In ESk Geisl 46/4VII, the adv. form vant is used to express the difficulty of composing poetry.
References
- Bibliography
- 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.
- Internal references
- Martin Chase (ed.) 2007, ‘Einarr Skúlason, Geisli 46’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 44-5.
- Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Þórarinn stuttfeldr, Lausavísur 3’ 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. 481.