ǪrvOdd Lv 17^VIII (Ǫrv 50)

Þar létu vér         lindi barða
hörðu grjóti,         hvössum sverðum.
Þrír lifðum vér         en þeir níu;
hrókr hernuminn,         hví þegir nú?

Þar létu vér lindi barða hörðu grjóti, hvössum sverðum. Vér lifðum þrír en þeir níu; hernuminn hrókr, hví þegir nú?

There we caused the linden shield to be struck with hard stones, with sharp swords. Three of us lived, but nine of them; forcibly taken chatterbox, why are you silent now?

Mss: 7(55r), 344a(21v), 343a(77v), 471(89r), 173ˣ(53v) (Ǫrv)

Readings: [1] Þar létu vér: þar lékum vér 344a, ‘þa letum […]’ 343a, létum vér þá 173ˣ    [2] lindi: ‘li[…]de’ 343a;    barða: so 343a, börðu 7, 471, hjörva 344a, bárum 173ˣ    [3] hörðu: á hörðu 173ˣ    [4] hvössum: ok hössum 344a, ok hvössum 343a, 173ˣ    [6] níu: so 344a, ‘ix’ 7, 343a, 173ˣ, átta 471    [7] hrókr hernuminn: hrottar hernumnir 344a    [8] hví: því 343a, 471, 173ˣ;    þegir: þegit þit 344a, þegir þú 343a, 471, 173ˣ

Editions: Skj AII, 301, Skj BII, 320, Skald II, 171; Ǫrv 1888, 164, Ǫrv 1892, 82-3, FSGJ 2, 317; Edd. Min. 56.

Context: As for Ǫrv 49. This stanza follows on immediately without any prose introduction.

Notes: [All]: This stanza refers to the same incident as Ǫrv 49, the encounter between Oddr and Hjálmarr and Ǫgmundr Eyþjófsbani (see further Ǫrv 49, Note to [All]). In that encounter Oddr and his men are outnumbered by Ǫgmundr and his eight followers, none of whom are killed. However, an unspecified number of Oddr’s men die, leaving only himself, Hjálmarr and Þórðr stafngláma ‘Prow-gleam’. The latter is killed treacherously after the battle is over. — [1] létu vér ‘we caused’: Most eds adopt the verb form létum rather than 7’s and 471’s létu, but the loss of final <m> when the pron. follows, as here, is not uncommon; see ANG §531.3. — [2] lindi barða ‘the linden shield to be struck’: Here the reading of 343a is adopted, assuming a phrase in the acc. sg., as the only one that makes grammatical sense without emendation (so Skj B, though translating the phrase as pl., and Skald). The f. noun lind ‘linden wood, shield’ sometimes has a dat. sg., and probably an analogical acc. sg. form, ending in ‑i (cf. ANG §390.3). Both Edd. Min. and Ǫrv 1892 emend to lindir barðar ‘linden shields [to be] struck’ (acc. pl.), which has no ms. support, while Ǫrv 1888 retains 7’s and 471’s lindi börðu, but does not offer a translation. — [5-6]: For the significance of the numbers three and nine, see Note to [All] above. — [7] hrókr hernuminn ‘forcibly taken chatterbox’: Compare Ǫrv 46/10 and Note. Hrókr means ‘rook’ and by extension is a term of abuse for a garrulous person. As often, 344a offers a rather different text from the other mss, hrottar hernumnir ‘forcibly taken ruffians’ with the dual pers. pron. and pl. verb þit þegit in l. 8.

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. ANG = Noreen, Adolf. 1923. Altnordische Grammatik I: Altisländische und altnorwegische Grammatik (Laut- und Flexionslehre) unter Berücksichtigung des Urnordischen. 4th edn. Halle: Niemeyer. 1st edn. 1884. 5th unrev. edn. 1970. Tübingen: Niemeyer.
5. FSGJ = Guðni Jónsson, ed. 1954. Fornaldar sögur norðurlanda. 4 vols. [Reykjavík]: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan.
6. 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.
7. Ǫrv 1888 = Boer, R. C., ed. 1888. Ǫrvar-Odds saga. Leiden: Brill.
8. Ǫrv 1892 = Boer, R. C., ed. 1892a. Ǫrvar-Odds saga. Altnordische Saga-Bibliothek 2. Halle: Niemayer.
9. Internal references
10. Not published: do not cite (ǪgmEyb^VIII)
11. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Ǫrvar-Odds saga 46 (Ǫrvar-Oddr, Lausavísur 13)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 859.
12. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Ǫrvar-Odds saga 49 (Ǫrvar-Oddr, Lausavísur 16)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 862.