ǪrvOdd Lv 1^VIII (Ǫrv 7)

Menn sé ek ganga         frá Munarvágum,
gunnar gjarna         í grám serkjum.
Þeir hafa reiðir         rómu háða;
eru okkur skip         auð á ströndu.

Ek sé menn ganga frá Munarvágum, gjarna gunnar í grám serkjum. Reiðir hafa þeir háða rómu; skip okkur eru auð á ströndu.

I see men proceeding from Munarvágar, eager for a fight in grey mail-coats. Angry, they have fought a battle; our ships are empty on the beach.

Mss: 344a(16v), 343a(67v), 471(74r), 173ˣ(35v) (Ǫrv)

Readings: [2] Munarvágum: ‘minne vógum’ 173ˣ    [3] gunnar: gumnar 471    [8] auð á ströndu: á ströndu niðri 173ˣ

Editions: Skj AII, 290-1, Skj BII, 311, Skald II, 165; Ǫrv 1888, 98, Ǫrv 1892, 52-3, FSGJ 2, 253; Edd. Min. 62.

Context: This stanza is spoken by Oddr, according to the saga, and is introduced by the following prose sentence: Þá sér Oddr hvar þeir ganga berserkirnir, ok varð honum ljóð á munni ‘Then Oddr sees where the band of berserks is walking, and a song came to his lips’.

Notes: [2] frá Munarvágum ‘from Munarvágar’: According to the prose of Ǫrv immediately preceding the Samsø stanzas (Ǫrv 1888, 94), this is the name of some inlets or creeks on Samsø where Oddr and Hjálmarr found anchorage for their ships while they repaired them. The name is also recorded in the sg. in the prose of Heiðr (see Heiðr 1924, 9, 10, 96, 104, 105; Heiðr 1960, 5 and n. a); for variant spellings in Una- or Unnar- cf. HHund I 31/2. That the Munar- form is correct is confirmed by alliteration (cf. Heiðr 1924, lxviii). It is also found in Herv Lv 10/8 (Heiðr 27). The first element of the name possibly derives from munr ‘desire, love’.

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. Heiðr 1924 = Jón Helgason, ed. 1924. Heiðreks saga. Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks konungs. SUGNL 48. Copenhagen: Jørgensen.
6. Ǫrv 1888 = Boer, R. C., ed. 1888. Ǫrvar-Odds saga. Leiden: Brill.
7. Heiðr 1960 = Tolkien, Christopher, ed. and trans. 1960. Saga Heiðreks konungs ins vitra / The Saga of King Heidrek the Wise. Nelson Icelandic Texts. London etc.: Nelson.
8. Ǫrv 1892 = Boer, R. C., ed. 1892a. Ǫrvar-Odds saga. Altnordische Saga-Bibliothek 2. Halle: Niemayer.
9. Internal references
10. 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 367. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=23> (accessed 27 April 2024)
11. 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 27 April 2024)
12. Hannah Burrows (ed.) 2017, ‘Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks 74 (Gestumblindi, Heiðreks gátur 27)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 441.
13. Hannah Burrows (ed.) 2017, ‘Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks 27 (Hervǫr, Lausavísur 10)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 388.