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Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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ǪrvOdd Ævdr 16VIII (Ǫrv 86)

Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Ǫrvar-Odds saga 86 (Ǫrvar-Oddr, Ævidrápa 16)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 900.

Ǫrvar-OddrÆvidrápa
151617

Létum skeika         at sköpuðu
drengmenn snarir         í drifaveðri.
Sýndiz seggjum         — sandr var á þiljum —
lands ván liðin;         lá ek eigi þar.

Snarir drengmenn létum skeika at sköpuðu í drifaveðri. Sýndiz seggjum ván lands liðin; sandr var á þiljum; ek lá eigi þar.

[We] bold heroes let things go according to the will of fate in the storm of sea-spray. The hope of land seemed over to the men; sand was on the decks; I did not lie there.

Mss: 343a(80v), 471(94v), 173ˣ(61vb) (Ǫrv)

Readings: [1] Létum: Létu 471    [4] drifa‑: drifu‑ 173ˣ    [6] sandr var: so 471, sandr 343a, 173ˣ    [7] liðin: liðinn 173ˣ    [8] þar: þar við 173ˣ

Editions: Skj AII, 309, Skj BII, 327, Skald II, 175; Ǫrv 1888, 200, FSGJ 2, 345.

Notes: [All]: According to the saga prose (Ǫrv 1888, 36-9), after they have left Bjarmaland, Oddr and his companions travel back along the coast of Finnmǫrk (Finnmark), where they encounter fierce storms. The sea is so rough that they expect their ships to be broken up. Oddr advises Guðmundr to throw overboard all the loot they had taken from the Saami on the way up the coast (cf. Ǫrv 79 and Note to [All]), the implication being that they are being punished for their theft. They do this, whereupon the sea subsides and they are eventually blown up on the shore. — [4] í drifaveðri ‘in the storm of sea-spray’: Referring to the spray whipped up by the angry sea rather than to drifting snow. See LP: drifaveðr and cf. Frið 18/4 and 21/4, where the same line occurs. — [8] ek lá eigi þar ‘I did not lie there’: The meaning of this statement is not clear, but may relate to the condition of the ship with its decks covered in sand, suggesting that it was wrecked and lay on the seabed (LP: sandr), but that Oddr escaped drowning (‘I did not lie there’). Alternatively the verb liggja might here mean ‘lie at anchor, stay’ (Fritzner: liggja 5) rather than ‘lie down, rest’, in which case l. 8 could be understood as an ironic comment indicating that the sea was so rough that Oddr had no intention of staying there.

References

  1. Bibliography
  2. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
  3. 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.
  4. Fritzner = Fritzner, Johan. 1883-96. Ordbog over det gamle norske sprog. 3 vols. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske forlagsforening. 4th edn. Rpt. 1973. Oslo etc.: Universitetsforlaget.
  5. FSGJ = Guðni Jónsson, ed. 1954. Fornaldar sögur norðurlanda. 4 vols. [Reykjavík]: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan.
  6. Ǫrv 1888 = Boer, R. C., ed. 1888. Ǫrvar-Odds saga. Leiden: Brill.
  7. Internal references
  8. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Friðþjófs saga ins frœkna 18 (Friðþjófr Þorsteinsson, Lausavísur 16)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 215.
  9. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Ǫrvar-Odds saga 79 (Ǫrvar-Oddr, Ævidrápa 9)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 894.
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