Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Ǫrvar-Odds saga 56 (Ǫrvar-Oddr, Lausavísur 23)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 870.
Hefi ek á Saxa ok á Svía herjat,
Frísi ok Frakka ok á Flæmingja,
Íra ok Engla ok endr Skota;
þeim hefi ek öllum óþarfr verit.
Ek hefi herjat á Saxa ok á Svía, Frísi ok Frakka ok á Flæmingja, Íra ok Engla ok endr Skota; ek hefi verit óþarfr öllum þeim.
‘I have harried upon the Saxons and the Swedes, the Frisians and the Franks and upon the Flemings, the Irish and the English and formerly the Scots; I have been harmful to them all. ’
As for Ǫrv 53.
Most of the peoples listed in this stanza are mentioned in various episodes of the prose Ǫrv, though not always centrally nor in all mss: the Irish, English and Scots (ll. 5-6) appear in several of the saga’s early chapters; however, no mention is made in the prose text of the Saxar ‘Saxons’; the Svíar ‘Swedes’ and their territory Svíþjóð are mentioned quite frequently, particularly in the episode of the battle on Sámsey and its aftermath; the Frísir ‘Frisians’ are never mentioned in Ǫrv, nor are the Frakkar ‘Franks’, although Frakkland ‘France’ is named once in 344a (Ǫrv 1888, 112) and again in the younger mss (Ǫrv 1888, 130) as a country Oddr visited. Flæmingjaland ‘Flanders’ is only mentioned in 344a (Ǫrv 1888, 100) and in 471 in conjunction with a mention of Frakkland (Ǫrv 1888, 113 n.). Lines 3-4, and perhaps the stanza as a whole, reflect a version of the saga not represented in the prose text of 7 and only marginally in 344a, and depend on an amplification of the number of peoples Oddr visited, which is realised in the prose of the younger mss (Ǫrv 1888, 130); cf. the following passage in an episode only in the younger mss: Lágu þeir mǫrg sumur í hernaði ok herjuðu um Svíþjóð, Saxland, Frakkland ok Flæmingjaland … ‘They spent many summers raiding and harried all over Sweden, Saxony, France and Flanders …’. The younger mss (343a, 471 and 173ˣ) reverse the order of ll. 3-4 and 5-6.
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.
hefi ek a saxa ok a suia heriat · frisi ok fracka ok a flęmingia | ira ok engla oc enndr skota · þeim hefi ek aullum o þarfr verit ·
(HA)
Hefi ek Saxa
ok á Svía herjat,
fúss á Frakka
ok Flæmingja ,
Íra Engla
‘eirnen’ Skota ;
þeim hefi ek öllum
óþarfr verit.
Hefi ek á Saxa
ok á Svía herjat,
Íra ok á Engla
ok endr Skota ,
Frísa ok Frakka
ok á Flæmingja ;
þeim hefi ek öllum
óþarfr verit.
Hefi ek Saxa
ok á Svía herjat,
Íra ok Engla
ok endr Skota ,
Frísa ok Frakka
ok Flæmingja ;
þeim hefi ek öllum
óþarfr verit.
Hefi ek Saxa
ok á Svía herjat,
Íra ok Engla
ok hendr Skota ,
Frísa ok Frakka
ok Flæmingja ;
þeim hefi ek öllum
óþarfr verit.
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