Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Ǫrvar-Odds saga 13 (Ǫrvar-Oddr, Lausavísur 5)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 826.
The following seventeen stanzas are attributed to the dying Hjálmarr in the various mss of Heiðr and Ǫrv, except for the first (Ǫrv 13), which is spoken by Oddr. They have conventionally been regarded as a poem often entitled ‘Hjálmarr’s death-song’.
1. Eight stanzas (Ǫrv 13-20) are present both in mss of Heiðr (2845 and R715ˣ) and in the following mss of Ǫrv: 344a, 343a, 471 and 173ˣ, although Ǫrv 20 is missing from 344a (see Table 1). However, the order of the stanzas, as given here (and in Skj and Skald) follows the order in which they appear in the 2845 ms. of Heiðr and not the order of the Ǫrv mss. R715ˣ, which is a ms. of Heiðr that neither Skj nor Skald made use of, follows the same order of stanzas as 2845, except that the order of Ǫrv 18 and 19 is reversed in R715ˣ. Both Heiðr mss are witness to Ǫrv 13-20 only.
2. In addition, four stanzas (Ǫrv 21-4) appear in mss 344a, 343a, 471 and 173ˣ of Ǫrv only, and these were labelled Addendum α in Skj and Skald.
3. Five other stanzas (Ǫrv 25-9), consisting of a roll-call of Hjálmarr’s comrades, are found only in the younger Ǫrv mss 343a, 471 and 173ˣ. Skj and Skald label these Addendum β.
Both the diversity of the ms. record across the two sagas and the differing order of stanzas between them and within the Ǫrv mss point to considerable variation on the one hand, and amplification on the other, in the traditions that supported the generation of stanzas that were attracted to the topic of Hjálmarr’s death-song, which is a variant of the so-called ævidrápa tradition, recte ævikviða, as most such poems contain no refrain, that we also find in Ǫrvar-Oddr’s Ævidrápa. In that case, too, there is an observable tendency to amplify in the younger mss.
Table 2 below shows the order of Ǫrv 13-29 in the various mss of both sagas. See also Table 1 which sets out the distribution of the stanzas across the mss.
2845 | R715ˣ | 344a | 343a | 471 | 173ˣ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
13 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 13 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
14 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 14 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
15 | 15 | 21 | 21 | 21 | 21 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
16 | 16 | 19 | 19 | 19 | 19 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
17 | 17 | 17 | 22 | 17 | 17 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
18 | 19 | 22 | 17 | 22 | 22 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
19 | 18 | 23 | 23 | 23 | 23 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
20 | 20 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
✗ | ✗ | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
✗ | ✗ | 24 | 24 | 24 | 24 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
✗ | ✗ | 16 | 25 | 25 | 25 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
✗ | ✗ | ✗ | 26 | 26 | 27 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
✗ | ✗ | ✗ | 27 | 27 | 28 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
✗ | ✗ | ✗ | 28 | 28 | 26 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
✗ | ✗ | ✗ | 29 | 29 | 29 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
✗ | ✗ | ✗ | 16 | 16 | 16 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
✗ | ✗ | ✗ | 20 | 20 | 20 |
Hvat er þér, Hjálmarr? Hefr þú lit brugðit.
Þik kveð ek mæða margar undir.
Hjálmr er þinn höggvinn, en á hlið brynja;
nú kveð ek fjörvi um farit þínu.
Hvat er þér, Hjálmarr? Þú hefr brugðit lit. Ek kveð margar undir mæða þik. Hjálmr þinn er höggvinn, en brynja á hlið; nú kveð ek fjörvi þínu um farit.
What is the matter with you, Hjálmarr? You have changed colour. I say many wounds are exhausting you. Your helmet is shattered, and your mail-coat has a rent; now I say that your life has come to an end.
Mss: 2845(63v-64r), R715ˣ(10r-v) (Heiðr); 344a(17v) (ll. 1-2), 343a(68r), 471(75r), 173ˣ(36r-26v) (Ǫrv)
Readings: [2] brugðit: so all others, ‘brugit’ 2845 [3] kveð ek: sé ek 173ˣ [4] margar: miklar R715ˣ, 343a, 471, 173ˣ [6] en á hlið: so R715ˣ, 343a, 471, 173ˣ, ok in síða 2845 [7] kveð ek: held ek 173ˣ [8] um: so 343a, 173ˣ, ok 2845, á R715ˣ, om. 173ˣ; farit: ‘fari’ R715ˣ
Editions: Skj AII, 292, Skj BII, 312-13, Skald II, 166, NN §2838; Ǫrv 1888, 102, Ǫrv 1892, 57, FSGJ 2, 257; Heiðr 1924, 12, 99, Heiðr 1960, 7; Edd. Min. 49, 52.
Context: In both Ǫrv and Heiðr, Oddr speaks this stanza at the end of the fight against the berserks, when Hjálmarr has killed Angantýr but has himself sustained mortal wounds.
Notes: [All]: It can be seen here that R715ˣ must derive from a version of the stanza that is much closer to that of the Ǫrv mss than to the exemplar of 2845. Ms. 344a has only the first two lines of this stanza. — [4] margar undir ‘many wounds’: The remaining mss have miklar undir ‘great wounds’, which is a perfectly acceptable reading. — [6] en brynja á hlið ‘and your mail-coat has a rent’: This, the reading of R715ˣ and the Ǫrv mss, must be correct, as it bears alliteration, whereas 2845’s ok in síða brynja ‘and the long mail-coat’ does not, though it makes sense. Skj B interprets the line as ‘and your mail-coat on your side’, understanding á as ‘on’ and hlið f. ‘side’, rather than hlið n. ‘gate, rent, space’. As Kock (NN §2838) points out, the reading presented here is consistent with Hjálmarr’s complaint in the following stanza (Ǫrv 14/2) that his mail-coat is broken. — [7-8]: For the idiom fara um (or of) fjǫrvi ‘die, come to the end of one’s life’, cf. Lok 57/6.
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