ǪrvOdd Ævdr 43^VIII (Ǫrv 113)

Sóti ok Hálfdan         í Svíaskerjum
mörgum manni         at morði varð.
Unnum þeira,         áðr þaðan færim,
hundrað skipa         hroðit með stöfnum.

Sóti ok Hálfdan varð mörgum manni at morði í Svíaskerjum. Unnum hroðit hundrað skipa þeira með stöfnum, áðr færim þaðan.

Sóti and Hálfdan caused the death of many a man in the skerries of the Swedes. We succeeded in clearing a hundred of their ships from stem to stern, before we departed from there.

Mss: 343a(81r), 471(95r), 173ˣ(63rb) (Ǫrv)

Readings: [4] varð: urðu 173ˣ    [6] færim: færum 343a, 173ˣ, færi 471    [7] hundrað: so 471, hálft hundrað 343a, 173ˣ

Editions: Skj AII, 313-14, Skj BII, 333, Skald II, 178; Ǫrv 1888, 204, FSGJ 2, 353.

Notes: [All]: The continuous Ævdr now breaks the sequence of the prose narrative to return to an episode in Oddr’s life that took place before his expedition to Ireland. According to the prose text (Ǫrv 1888, 54-9), shortly after his return from Permia, Oddr sets out to confront the viking Sóti, having been told by his father, Grímr, that Sóti was an extraordinary opponent well worthy of his son, and Sóti is said to lurk south off Skien in the prose texts. This detail may have been what attracted the compilers of the continuous Ævdr to place this stanza immediately after Ǫrv 112, which mentions this place. — [1]: Sóti is the name of a formidable viking opponent of Oddr’s, according to the prose text (Ǫrv 1888, 54-9), though in Hjálm Lv 9/4 (Ǫrv 19), another man named Sóti is said to be one of Hjálmarr’s companions. See Note to this line. Interestingly, ch. 6 of ÓH in Hkr (ÍF 27, 6) describes King Óláfr Haraldsson’s encounter with a viking called Sóti at a place named Sótasker ‘Sóti’s skerry’ which is said to be located í Svíaskerjum ‘in the skerries of the Swedes’. One or other of either Ǫrv or Hkr may be the borrower of such similar and otherwise unattested material. The name Sóti ‘Sooty’ occurs elsewhere as a horse-heiti (cf. Anon Þorgþ I 1/6^III and Note). — [1]: In the prose narrative (Ǫrv 1888, 52-6), Hálfdan is the name of a viking Oddr challenged and killed immediately before his encounter with Sóti. In the prose text Hálfdan is said to lurk by the Götaälv skerries (við Elfarsker), not in the Swedish skerries on the eastern side of the Swedish coast. — [2] í Svíaskerjum ‘in the skerries of the Swedes’: See Note to l. 1 above and Ǫrv 48, Note to [All]. — [4] varð ‘caused’: The verb is 3rd pers. sg. with a dual subject; cf. NS §71a. — [6] færim ‘we departed’: A normalisation of two of the mss’ færum is required to produce a subj. verb after áðr ‘before’; cf. NS §302b. — [7] hundrað ‘a hundred’: Usually meaning ‘one hundred and twenty’. Both 343a and 173ˣ have hálft hundrað ‘half a hundred’, which produces a hypermetrical line, but 471, followed here (and by Skj B and Skald) has the metrical hundrað. — [8] unnum hroðit ‘we succeeded in clearing’: The verb vinna ‘work, do’ in the sense ‘succeed in’ with the p. p. of the verb hrjóða ‘strip, disable, clear a ship’. Here hroðit is n. sg. in agreement with hundrað; Skj B and Skald emend to hroðin n. pl.

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. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. NS = Nygaard, Marius. 1906. Norrøn syntax. Kristiania (Oslo): Aschehoug. Rpt. 1966.
5. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
6. FSGJ = Guðni Jónsson, ed. 1954. Fornaldar sögur norðurlanda. 4 vols. [Reykjavík]: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan.
7. Ǫrv 1888 = Boer, R. C., ed. 1888. Ǫrvar-Odds saga. Leiden: Brill.
8. Internal references
9. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Heimskringla’ 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. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=4> (accessed 23 April 2024)
10. 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Ǫrvar-Odds saga’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 804. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=35> (accessed 23 April 2024)
11. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Óláfs saga helga’ 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. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=53> (accessed 23 April 2024)
12. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Þorgrímsþula I 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. 670.
13. Margaret Clunies Ross (forthcoming), ‘ Ǫrvar-Oddr, Ævidrápa’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=2999> (accessed 23 April 2024)
14. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Ǫrvar-Odds saga 112 (Ǫrvar-Oddr, Ævidrápa 42)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 920.
15. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Ǫrvar-Odds saga 19 (Hjálmarr inn hugumstóri, Lausavísur 9)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 833.
16. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Ǫrvar-Odds saga 48 (Ǫrvar-Oddr, Lausavísur 15)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 861.