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

Heiðr Lv 3VIII (Ǫrv 3)

Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Ǫrvar-Odds saga 3 (Heiðr, Lausavísur 3)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 812.

HeiðrLausavísur
23

text and translation

Naðr mun þik höggva         neðan á fæti,
fránn ór fornum         Faxa hausi.

Naðr mun höggva þik neðan á fæti, fránn ór fornum hausi Faxa.
 
‘A snake will strike you from below on the leg, gleaming from the ancient skull of Faxi.

notes and context

See Introduction above.

The helmingr above is based on 7. Ms. 344a follows the same text for ll. 1-4 but adds two lines which correspond to ll. 7-8 of the version of the younger mss printed below. The three younger mss, 343a, 471 and 173ˣ, have an appreciably different, and longer, version of this stanza, labelled by Finnur Jónsson 3b. The text of this version based on 471 is edited below.

Skal þér ormr tapa         eiturblandinn
fránn ór fornum         Faxa hausi.
Naðr mun þik höggva         neðan á fæti;
þá ertu fullgamall,         fylkir, orðinn.

Eiturblandinn ormr skal tapa þér, fránn ór fornum hausi Faxa. Naðr mun höggva þik neðan á fæti; þá ertu, fylkir, fullgamall orðinn.

A serpent mixed with poison will destroy you, gleaming from the ancient skull of Faxi. A snake will strike you from below on the leg; then, you, leader, will have reached your full age.

Readings: [1] tapa: granda 343a    [2] eitur-: með eitri 173ˣ    [4] hausi: hausa 173ˣ    [6] neðan: om. 173ˣ    [7] ertu: þú ert 173ˣ

— A comparison of the shorter (7) and longer versions of this stanza shows that ll. 3-6 of the longer one simply rearrange the shorter and then expand to make a full stanza by adding ll. 1-2, which elaborate on the stanza’s essential information, and by adding ll. 7-8, which is also present in 344a. In l. 2, the cpd adj. eiturblandinn ‘mixed with poison’ requires the desyllabified form for metrical reasons, suggesting that this line at least is likely to be a composition of the C14th. 

readings

sources

Text is based on reconstruction from the base text and variant apparatus and may contain alternative spellings and other normalisations not visible in the manuscript text. Transcriptions may not have been checked and should not be cited.

editions and texts

Skj: Anonyme digte og vers [XIII], E. 10. Vers af Fornaldarsagaer: Af Ǫrvar-Oddssaga I 3: AII, 289-90, BII, 310-11, Skald II, 165; Ǫrv 1888, 15, Ǫrv 1892, 9, FSGJ 2, 208; Edd. Min. 93.

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.