ǪrvOdd Lv 7^VIII (Ǫrv 37)

Þú látt, Sjólfr,         soðgólfi á,
dáða vanr         ok dýrs hugar,
en ek út         með Akvitánum
fjóra menn         fjörvi næmðak.

Sjólfr, þú látt á soðgólfi, vanr dáða ok dýrs hugar, en ek næmðak fjóra menn fjörvi út með Akvitánum.

Sjólfr, you lay on the kitchen floor, lacking in achievements and splendid mettle, but I deprived four men of life out among the people of Aquitaine.

Mss: 7(54v), 344a(21v), 343a(77r), 471(88v) (Ǫrv)

Readings: [1] Sjólfr: ‘Sio’ 343a, ‘sc’ 471    [2] soðgólfi á: í soðgólfi 343a, 471    [4] ok dýrs: ‘oduarfs’ 344a;    hugar: hugr 471    [5] en ek út: þá er ek einn út 344a    [6] með Akvitánum: í Akvitánja 344a, á Akvitánja 343a, 471    [8] næmðak: rænta 344a

Editions: Skj AII, 298, Skj BII, 317, Skald II, 169; Ǫrv 1888, 160, Ǫrv 1892, 79, FSGJ 2, 312; Edd. Min. 66.

Notes: [All]: A standard insult, suggesting that Sjólfr was both lazy (or drunk) and engaged in menial kitchen tasks while Oddr was achieving renown as an active warrior on foreign adventures. For a similar contrast between kitchen activities and martial prowess see Án 4/5-8 and Note to [All]. The metre of this stanza is kviðuháttr, with l. 6 in málaháttr. — [2] á soðgólfi ‘on the kitchen floor’: Lit. ‘on the broth-floor’.  — [6] með Akvitánum ‘among the people of Aquitaine’: The reading of 7. All the other mss give the name Akvitánja, a region of south-west France. Oddr here alludes to an episode that takes place earlier in Ǫrv, when he was travelling in southern Europe. There are differences between the accounts of the various mss, although all associate Oddr’s adventure with his encounter with Christianity and his prime-signing by a local bishop; in 7 the location is in Sicily and the Greek islands. Akvitánjaland is said to be the headquarters of four chieftains who are terrorising Sicily. Oddr undertakes to get rid of them and does so successfully. At this point in the narrative, 7 cites Ævdr 53 (Ǫrv 123), which also refers to Aquitaine. In 344a and the younger mss the episode takes place in Akvitánjaland which is a region of Valland ok Frakkland ‘Gaul and the land of the Franks’ (Ǫrv 1888, 112-18) and the four men are highwaymen who assault and decapitate a bishop as he is riding along in company with a group of priests. Oddr kills the robbers, cuts off all their heads and goes back to the local church, where he returns the bishop’s head to his congregation. — [8] fjörvi ‘the lives’: Lit. ‘the life’.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
3. FSGJ = Guðni Jónsson, ed. 1954. Fornaldar sögur norðurlanda. 4 vols. [Reykjavík]: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan.
4. Edd. Min. = Heusler, Andreas and Wilhelm Ranisch, eds. 1903. Eddica Minora: Dichtungen eddischer Art aus den Fornaldarsögur und anderen Prosawerken. Dortmund: Ruhfus. Rpt. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft.
5. Ǫrv 1888 = Boer, R. C., ed. 1888. Ǫrvar-Odds saga. Leiden: Brill.
6. Ǫrv 1892 = Boer, R. C., ed. 1892a. Ǫrvar-Odds saga. Altnordische Saga-Bibliothek 2. Halle: Niemayer.
7. Internal references
8. 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 20 April 2024)
9. Beatrice La Farge (ed.) 2017, ‘Áns saga bogsveigis 4 (Án bogsveigir, Lausavísur 4)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 11.
10. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Ǫrvar-Odds saga 123 (Ǫrvar-Oddr, Ævidrápa 53)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 930.