ǪrvOdd Lv 19^VIII (Ǫrv 52)

Gekk ek um Gautland         í grimmum hug
sjau dægr saman,         áðr ek Sævið fyndak.
Knátta ek þeira,         áðr ek þaðan færa,
fimtán liða         fjörvi ráða;
en þú gjögraðir,         gárungr vesall,
síð of öpnum         til sængr þýjar.

Ek gekk um Gautland í grimmum hug sjau dægr saman, áðr ek fyndak Sævið. Ek knátta ráða fimtán liða þeira fjörvi, áðr ek færa þaðan; en þú, vesall gárungr, gjögraðir síð of öpnum til sængr þýjar.

I travelled through Götaland in angry mood for seven days together before I came upon Sæviðr. I succeeded in taking the lives of fifteen of their company before I got away from there; but you, wretched buffoon, were staggering late in the evenings to a slave woman’s bed.

Mss: 7(55r), 344a(21v), 343a(77v), 471(89r), 173ˣ(54r) (ll. 1-4, 9-12) (Ǫrv)

Readings: [3] sjau: so 344a, ‘vii’ 7, ‘vi’ 343a, 173ˣ, sex 471;    saman: ísamt 343a, 471, 173ˣ    [4] ek: en 344a, 343a, om. 173ˣ;    Sævið: Sæund 344a, 343a, 471, 173ˣ;    fyndak: fynd ek 343a, fynda 471, 173ˣ    [5] Knátta: átta 344a    [6] ek: om. 344a, 471, enn 343a;    færa: færum 343a, færi 471    [7] fimtán: so 344a, ‘xii’ 7, 471, átján 343a;    liða: manna 344a    [8] fjörvi ráða: fjörvi at ráða 344a, aldri næmða 343a    [9] gjögraðir: gnaggaðir 344a, geisaðir 343a, 471, 173ˣ    [11] of: um 344a, 343a, 471, 173ˣ;    öpnum: aptan 344a, 343a, 471, 173ˣ    [12] þýjar: þinnar 471, 173ˣ

Editions: Skj AII, 301-2, Skj BII, 320-1, Skald II, 171; Ǫrv 1888, 164-5, Ǫrv 1892, 83, FSGJ 2, 318; Edd. Min. 57.

Context: As for Ǫrv 51.

Notes: [All]: This stanza has twelve lines in all mss except in 173ˣ, which omits ll. 5-8. Some eds have suggested that the stanza belonged originally to Oddr’s Ævdr and was later taken into the mannjafnaðr with ll. 9-12 added to make it fit. Edd. Min., for example, includes it in the Ævdr. The stanza alludes to an adventure Oddr undertook (Ǫrv 1888, 108-13; Ǫrv 1892, 61-3) immediately after he had taken Hjálmarr’s corpse and armour to the Swedish court. He sails with ten ships to Gotland where he hears tell of a viking named Sæviðr (in 7) or Sæundr (344a, 173ˣ) or Sæmundr (343a, 471). Oddr comes off badly in the encounter that follows; all his men are killed and he is wounded and shackled. He manages to escape, takes revenge on the viking by killing his men as they slept, and the two enemies scour Gotland looking for each other. Finally Oddr comes upon Sæviðr’s camp and kills him and fourteen others. — [1] um Gautland ‘through Götaland’: The region of Väster- and Östergötland in present-day Sweden. By contrast, the prose text names Gotland, the Swedish island in the Baltic.  — [4] Sævið ‘Sæviðr’: Ms. 7 is the only one to use this name, both in the prose text and this stanza. All the other mss have the name Sæundr in this stanza, and in the corresponding prose texts 344a has Sæundr (as does 173ˣ) while 343a and 471 have Sæmundr (see Note to [All] above). The form Sævið here produces a málaháttr line of Type aA, while Sæund gives a fornyrðislag line of Type C2. This particular viking opponent is otherwise unknown. — [7] fimtán ‘fifteen’: The reading of 344a, which is likely to be correct, and has been adopted by all previous eds, as it provides appropriate alliteration on <f>; however, the prose text of 344a claims Oddr killed Sæundr and twelve of his men, making thirteen (Ǫrv 1888, 112), while 7 does not specify the exact number of Oddr’s victims (Ǫrv 1888, 111-13). It is only the prose texts of the younger mss that claim there were fifteen victims (Ǫrv 1888, 112 n. to l. 4). — [8] fjörvi ‘lives’: Lit. ‘the life’. — [9] gjögraðir ‘you were staggering’: The younger mss have geisaðir ‘you were raging’, while 344a has gnagaðir ‘you were gnawing’ though with an unexpected double <g>. This reading does not fit the required sense of ll. 9-12. — [11] of öpnum ‘in the evenings’: Of all the mss, only 7 records the syncopated dat. pl. of aptann ‘evening’ with loss of medial <t> (see ANG §291.11). The ms. spelling is ‘aupnum’. Skj B restores the medial <t>, but this is not necessary.

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. Margaret Clunies Ross (forthcoming), ‘ Ǫrvar-Oddr, Ævidrápa’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=2999> (accessed 25 April 2024)
11. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Ǫrvar-Odds saga 51 (Ǫrvar-Oddr, Lausavísur 18)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 865.