ǪrvOdd Ævdr 67VIII (Ǫrv 137)
Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Ǫrvar-Odds saga 137 (Ǫrvar-Oddr, Ævidrápa 67)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 943.
Var ‘was’
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2. vera (verb): be, is, was, were, are, am
mér ‘I’
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ek (pron.; °mín, dat. mér, acc. mik): I, me
skjaldmeyju ‘to a shield maiden’
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skjaldmær (noun f.): [shield-maidens]
[1] skjaldmeyju: so 471, ‘skall meyiu’ 343a, skjaldmær 173ˣ
notes
[1] skjaldmeyju ‘a shield maiden’: In the exotic eastern context of Oddr’s later adventures, this warrior woman was probably thought of as an Amazon; the same term is used in Alex to refer to Amazons (cf. ONP: skjaldmær).
it ‘’
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2. inn (art.): the
næsta ‘next’
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nærri (adj. comp.; °superl. nǽstr): near, nearer, next
þá ‘when’
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2. þá (adv.): then
orrostu ‘in battle’
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orrusta (noun f.; °-u; -ur): battle
eiga ‘engage’
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2. eiga (verb; °á/eigr (præs. pl. 3. pers. eigu/eiga); átti, áttu; átt): own, have
skyldum ‘had to’
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skulu (verb): shall, should, must
Veit ‘know’
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1. vita (verb): know
ek ‘I’
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ek (pron.; °mín, dat. mér, acc. mik): I, me
ýtar ‘men’
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ýtr (noun m.): man; launcher
í ‘in’
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í (prep.): in, into
notes
[6] í Antekju ‘in Antioch’: A major city of the ancient Near East, situated in modern Turkey, Antioch was an important site of early Christianity. The spelling of the name in Old Norse sources is unstable. Both 343a and 471 record the form Antekja, but ms. 173ˣ has Aþekja. Skj B, Skald and FSGJ adopt Anþekja, which is not in any ms. of this stanza. The prose text of 344a, which does not have the stanza, records Antiochia[borg]. Another spelling is Anteócía, as in Anon Mey 34/1VII.
notes
[6] í Antekju ‘in Antioch’: A major city of the ancient Near East, situated in modern Turkey, Antioch was an important site of early Christianity. The spelling of the name in Old Norse sources is unstable. Both 343a and 471 record the form Antekja, but ms. 173ˣ has Aþekja. Skj B, Skald and FSGJ adopt Anþekja, which is not in any ms. of this stanza. The prose text of 344a, which does not have the stanza, records Antiochia[borg]. Another spelling is Anteócía, as in Anon Mey 34/1VII.
and ‘life’
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2. ǫnd (noun f.; °andar, dat. ǫnd/ǫndu; andir): soul, breath < andrán (noun n.): [life, death]
kennings
andrán‘life-robbery ’
= DEATH
life-robbery → DEATH
notes
[7] andrán ‘life-robbery [DEATH]’: The same kenning occurs in Ǫrv 114/6; see Note there.
rán ‘robbery’
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rán (noun n.; °-s; -): plunder, plundering < andrán (noun n.): [life, death]
kennings
andrán‘life-robbery ’
= DEATH
life-robbery → DEATH
notes
[7] andrán ‘life-robbery [DEATH]’: The same kenning occurs in Ǫrv 114/6; see Note there.
biðu ‘suffered’
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bíða (verb; °bíðr; beið, biðu; beðit): wait, suffer, experience
[7] biðu: bíða 471
auð ‘great’
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1. auðr (noun m.; °-s/-ar, dat. -i/-): wealth
fjár ‘wealth’
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fé (noun n.; °fjár/féar; -): cattle, money
Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses
[1-4]: These lines concern a brief and rather brutal episode in the saga, when King Herrauðr provides an armed shield maiden to accompany Oddr on his journey to Bjálkaland (Ǫrv 1888, 172-5). Oddr is reluctant to take her with him and subjects her to a test of strength which she fails. He flings her into a bog and departs on his own. For an interpretation of this episode, see Clunies Ross (2010a, 117-22). — [5-8]: These lines are tenuously linked to a passage in the prose text which connects Oddr’s struggles against the rulers of the legendary Bjálkaland with the city of Antioch. This passage, which is not in the oldest ms., 7, claims that after Oddr had killed Álfr bjálki and his wife, he set his chieftains to rule the land and exact tribute from it. Then the following statement is made (Ǫrv 1888, 184-5): En svá segir í ljóðunum frá, at þetta hafi í Antiochiaborg [variant Antekjaborg] verit, er hann drap þessa jarla ‘But it is said in poems that it was in Antioch that he killed these jarls’. As the only other place where the association with Antioch is made is this stanza, there may be some influence from poem to prose here. — [8]: This line is hypometrical as it stands, but could be regularized if the older form féar with hiatus were used instead of the mss’ fjár. This would, however, imply that the underlying form of this stanza is not later than the first half of the C13th.
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