Cookies on our website

We use cookies on this website, mainly to provide a secure browsing experience but also to collect statistics on how the website is used. You can find out more about the cookies we set, the information we store and how we use it on the cookies page.

Continue

skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

Menu Search

Ormr Woman 1III

Russell Poole (ed.) 2017, ‘Ormr Steinþórsson, Poem about a woman 1’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 325.

Ormr SteinþórssonPoem about a woman
12

Seggir þurfut ala ugg
— engu snýk í Viðurs feng
háði; kunnum hróðrsmíð
haga — of minn brag.

Seggir þurfut ala ugg of brag minn; snýk engu háði í {feng Viðurs}; kunnum haga hróðrsmíð.

Men need not harbour anxiety about my poem; I incorporate no satire in {the theft of Viðurr <= Óðinn>} [POEM]; we [I] know how to fashion a work of praise.

Mss: R(21v), Tˣ(22r), W(46), U(27r), B(4r-v) (SnE)

Readings: [1] þurfut ala: so W, U, þurfu at ása R, þurfa at ala Tˣ, þurfu at ala B    [2] snýk (‘sny ec’): so W, U, B, snýr ek R, Tˣ;    Viðurs: veðrs B    [3] kunnum: kann ek Tˣ;    hróðrsmíð: hróðrs smíð Tˣ, B, ‘hroðs smið’ W    [4] haga: hafa W

Editions: Skj AI, 415, Skj BI, 385, Skald I, 191; SnE 1848-87, I, 250-1, II, 307, 522, III, 14, SnE 1931, 94, SnE 1998, I, 14.

Context: In Skm (SnE) the stanza is used to illustrate kennings for ‘poetry’.

Notes: [All]: While any satire might be cause of apprehension for an audience, the poet may be particularly thinking of specifically Norse traditions of satire (níð), namely satire directed against kings and other rulers, to which was attributed ‘biting’, i.e. physically injurious, powers (see especially Þjsk JarlI), or against a woman’s male protector, normally her husband. The latter type of satire is the more obviously relevant to Ormr’s subject matter. — [1] ugg (m. acc. sg.) ‘anxiety’: This word also occurs in Hhárf Snædr 1/1I. — [2] snýk ‘I incorporate’: The reading snýr may be merely a later form of sný, the expected 1st pers. sg. pres. indic. of the verb snúa (SnE 1998, I, 136; ANG §531.1). — [3-4]: For a similar expression, also in hálfhnept, of the poet’s confidence in his skill, see Ótt Óldr 1/3-4I. — [4] brag (m. acc. sg.) ‘poem’: This word also occurs in Hhárf Snædr 1/8I.

References

  1. Bibliography
  2. SnE 1848-87 = Snorri Sturluson. 1848-87. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar: Edda Snorronis Sturlaei. Ed. Jón Sigurðsson et al. 3 vols. Copenhagen: Legatum Arnamagnaeanum. Rpt. Osnabrück: Zeller, 1966.
  3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
  4. ANG = Noreen, Adolf. 1923. Altnordische Grammatik I: Altisländische und altnorwegische Grammatik (Laut- und Flexionslehre) unter Berücksichtigung des Urnordischen. 4th edn. Halle: Niemeyer. 1st edn. 1884. 5th unrev. edn. 1970. Tübingen: Niemeyer.
  5. SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
  6. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
  7. Internal references
  8. Edith Marold 2017, ‘Snorra Edda (Prologue, Gylfaginning, Skáldskaparmál)’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols [check printed volume for citation].
  9. (forthcoming), ‘ Snorri Sturluson, Skáldskaparmál’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=112> (accessed 29 March 2024)
  10. Kate Heslop 2012, ‘ Þorleifr jarlsskáld Rauðfeldarson, Jarlsníð’ 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. 372. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1448> (accessed 29 March 2024)
  11. Russell Poole (ed.) 2012, ‘Haraldr hárfagri Hálfdanarson, Snæfríðardrápa 1’ 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. 68.
  12. Matthew Townend (ed.) 2017, ‘Óttarr svarti, Óláfsdrápa sœnska 1’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 336.
Close

Log in

This service is only available to members of the relevant projects, and to purchasers of the skaldic volumes published by Brepols.
This service uses cookies. By logging in you agree to the use of cookies on your browser.

Close

Stanza/chapter/text segment

Use the buttons at the top of the page to navigate between stanzas in a poem.

Information tab

Interactive tab

The text and translation are given here, with buttons to toggle whether the text is shown in the verse order or prose word order. Clicking on indiviudal words gives dictionary links, variant readings, kennings and notes, where relevant.

Full text tab

This is the text of the edition in a similar format to how the edition appears in the printed volumes.

Chapter/text segment

This view is also used for chapters and other text segments. Not all the headings shown are relevant to such sections.