ǪrvOdd Lv 2^VIII (Ǫrv 8)

Þá var mér ótti         einu sinni,
er þeir grenjandi         gengu af öskum;
tírarlausir         váru tólf saman.

Þá var mér ótti einu sinni, er þeir gengu grenjandi af öskum; tírarlausir váru tólf saman.

Then there was in me a fear on one occasion when they went bellowing from the longships; the inglorious ones were twelve together.

Mss: 2845(63r), R715ˣ(9r) (Heiðr, ll. 1-4)

Readings: [1] var: mjök var R715ˣ    [3] grenjandi: gengu R715ˣ    [4] gengu af: útan at R715ˣ    [6] váru: eru R715ˣ

Editions: Skj AII, 291, Skj BII, 311-12, Skald II, 165; Heiðr 1924, 9, 97, Heiðr 1960, 5, Ǫrv 1888, 98, Ǫrv 1892, 53, FSGJ 2, 253; Edd. Min. 56.

Context: In Heiðr, this is the first stanza in the sequence associated with the battle on Samsø. Oddr speaks it after he and Hjálmarr have just returned from the forest to their ships. They see that the berserks have left their ships, after having killed all on board, with their weapons bloody and their swords drawn, but their berserk frenzy has now left them and they are weaker than normal.

Notes: [All]: This stanza is extant in a shorter version in two Heiðr mss, 2845 and R715ˣ, and in a longer version in the mss of Ǫrv, the text of which, based on 344a, is given below. The lines following the first helmingr in the Ǫrv version seem to represent a text similar to Ǫrv 6. The Heiðr stanza has only two lines additional to the first helmingr. Previous eds have handled the variant texts in different ways. Boer (Ǫrv 1888 and 1892) prints the text of the Ǫrv version, though with square brackets around ll. 5-10 to indicate that they are likely to be a later addition, and with round brackets enclosing ll. 5-6 to suggest that they repeat Ǫrv 6/1-4 with minor variation. Edd. Min. presents ll. 1-6 as it is in 344a, but then adds two further lines following the mss of Heiðr (ll. 5-6, as in the version from 2845 above). Skj A gives the Heiðr version of 2845 in the main text, with the Ǫrv text from l. 5 onward, as in Note to [All] below. In Skj B Finnur adopts the same mixed text as Edd. Min. and encloses the whole stanza in square brackets. He is followed in this by Kock in Skald. — [All]: The text of the Ǫrv version of this stanza, based on 344a, is as follows:

Þá var mér ótti         einu sinni,
er þeir grenjandi         gengu af öskum,
ok emjandi         í ey stigu.
Þá frák fyrða         fláráðasta
ok ótrauðasta         illt at vinna.

Þá var mér otti einu sinni, er þeir gengu grenjandi af öskum, ok stigu emjandi í ey. Frák þá fyrða fláráðasta ok ótrauðasta at vinna illt.

Then there was in me a fear on one occasion when they went bellowing from the longships, and, raging, climbed the island; I have heard them to be the most treacherous of men and most keen to accomplish evil.

Mss: 344a(16v), 343a(68r), 471(74r), 173ˣ(35v) (Ǫrv).

Readings: [1] Þá var mér otti: nú er otti 343a, 471, 173ˣ    [3] er: ef 343a    [4] gengu: ganga 343a, 471, 173ˣ    [6] í ey stigu: ‘i einstigu’ 173ˣ    [9] ótrauðasta: örvasta 343a, 471, 173ˣ.

— [4] af öskum ‘from the longships’: Askr, lit. ‘ash [wood]’, refers to Oddr’s and Hjálmarr’s ships. This use of askr is not common in Old Norse (cf. LP: 1. askr B. 2) and may be influenced by OE æsc, frequent in poetry for a ship (cf. Jesch 2001a, 135-6; Falk 1912, 87). For askr, see Þul Skipa 1/3^III and Note there, and cf. Eskál Vell 4/2^I asksǫgn ‘ship’s crew’.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj A = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15a. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. A: Tekst efter håndskrifterne. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1967. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
3. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
4. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. LP = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1931. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis: Ordbog over det norsk-islandske skjaldesprog oprindelig forfattet af Sveinbjörn Egilsson. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Møller.
6. Jesch, Judith. 2001a. Ships and Men in the Late Viking Age: The Vocabulary of Runic Inscriptions and Skaldic Verse. Woodbridge: Boydell.
7. Falk, Hjalmar. 1912. Altnordisches Seewesen. Wörter und Sachen 4. Heidelberg: Winter.
8. FSGJ = Guðni Jónsson, ed. 1954. Fornaldar sögur norðurlanda. 4 vols. [Reykjavík]: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan.
9. 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.
10. Heiðr 1924 = Jón Helgason, ed. 1924. Heiðreks saga. Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks konungs. SUGNL 48. Copenhagen: Jørgensen.
11. Ǫrv 1888 = Boer, R. C., ed. 1888. Ǫrvar-Odds saga. Leiden: Brill.
12. 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.
13. Ǫrv 1892 = Boer, R. C., ed. 1892a. Ǫrvar-Odds saga. Altnordische Saga-Bibliothek 2. Halle: Niemayer.
14. Internal references
15. 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 26 April 2024)
16. 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 26 April 2024)
17. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Skipa heiti 1’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 861.
18. Edith Marold (ed.) 2012, ‘Einarr skálaglamm Helgason, Vellekla 4’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 287.
19. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Ǫrvar-Odds saga 6 (Hjálmarr inn hugumstóri, Lausavísur 2)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 818.