Ótt Óldr 4^III

Ǫrn drekkr undarn;
ylgr fær af hræum sylg;
opt rýðr ulfr kjǫpt;
ari getr verð þar.

Ǫrn drekkr undarn; ylgr fær sylg af hræum; ulfr rýðr opt kjǫpt; ari getr verð þar.

The eagle drinks breakfast; the she-wolf gets a sip from corpses; the wolf often reddens its jaw; the eagle gets food there.

Mss: R(38r), Tˣ(39v), A(14r), 744ˣ(45r-v), C(7r) (SnE)

Readings: [1] ‑arn: ‑járn 744ˣ, ‘‑ranar’ C    [2] fær: so A, C, ferr R, 744ˣ, fór Tˣ;    af: so all others, at R;    hræum: ‘hre᷎i’ 744ˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 289, Skj BI, 267, Skald I, 137, NN §719; SnE 1848-87, I, 490-3, II, 457, 544, 598, III, 101, SnE 1931, 173, SnE 1998, I, 92.

Context: This stanza is quoted in Skm to illustrate the use of ari as a heiti for ‘eagle’.

Notes: [1-2]: There is potential uncertainty here in that there are two subjects (ǫrn ‘eagle’ and ylgr ‘she-wolf’), two verbs (drekkr ‘drinks’ and fær ‘gets’) and two objects (undarn ‘breakfast’ and sylg ‘sip’). Skj B construes the clauses as ǫrn drekkr sylg ‘the eagle drinks a sip’ and ylgr fær undarn ‘the she-wolf gets breakfast’. While this has semantic coherence (especially with drekkr and sylg), it seems preferable to assume a pattern of one clause per line, as this is continued in ll. 3-4. The present edn follows Skald and NN §719 (so also SnE 1998). — [1] undarn ‘breakfast’: Lit. ‘time in between’ (cf. OE undern, OS undorn ‘morning’, OHG untarn ‘midday’; AEW: undorn). A certain time in the morning (probably 9 o’clock), and hence the meal taken at that time. The word is not common (see LP: undurn; Fritzner: undorn), and the readings of C and 744ˣ (B) suggest that the term was unfamiliar to some scribes. See also Vsp 6/9 (NK 2) undorn oc aptan ‘morning and evening’. — [2] fær … af ‘gets … from’: So A, C. The mss show almost equal distribution of fær ‘gets’ (3rd pers. sg. pres. indic. of fá ‘get, obtain’) and ferr ‘goes’ (3rd pers. sg. pres. indic. of fara ‘go, travel’); the former gives better sense. Ms. R is unique in preferring the prep. at ‘to’ (which makes better sense with fara and is likely to be a lectio facilior) to af ‘from’, the reading of the other mss (which goes better with fá). — [3] kjǫpt ‘jaw’: The mss present a range of spellings here (‘keypt’ (R), ‘kept’ (Tˣ), ‘kæpt’ (A),‘kíappt’ (B) and ‘kiopt’ (C), and see also LP: kjǫptr). Skj B and Skald both print kjǫpt, as here, though SnE 1998 prefers the unbroken form køpt. See also ANG §§91, 93 and AEW: kjapta.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
3. 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.
4. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
6. AEW = Vries, Jan de. 1962. Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 2nd rev. edn. Rpt. 1977. Leiden: Brill.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. Fritzner = Fritzner, Johan. 1883-96. Ordbog over det gamle norske sprog. 3 vols. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske forlagsforening. 4th edn. Rpt. 1973. Oslo etc.: Universitetsforlaget.
10. NK = Neckel, Gustav and Hans Kuhn (1899), eds. 1983. Edda: Die Lieder des Codex Regius nebst verwandten Denkmälern. 2 vols. I: Text. 5th edn. Heidelberg: Winter.
11. SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
12. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
13. Internal references
14. (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 30 April 2024)
15. Not published: do not cite ()