ǪrvOdd Ævdr 22^VIII (Ǫrv 92)

Þá fekk ek heiti,         þat er ek hafa vilda,
er mik ór fjöllum         flögð kölluðu.
Kóðuz Oddi         örvar vilja
byr bráðliga         í braut gefa.

Þá fekk ek heiti, þat er ek vilda hafa, er flögð kölluðu mik ór fjöllum. Kóðuz vilja gefa Örvar-Oddi byr bráðliga í braut.

Then I got the name that I wanted to have, when the ogres called me from the mountains. They said they wanted to give Örvar-Oddr (‘Arrow-Oddr’) a favourable wind [to get] away quickly.

Mss: 7(47v), 344a(9r), 343a(63v), 343a(80v), 471(67r), 471(94v), 173ˣ(62ra) (Ǫrv)

Readings: [1] Þá: Þar 344a, 343a(63v), 343a(80v), 471(67r), 471(94v), 173ˣ    [2] þat er: so 344a, 343a(63v), 343a(80v), 471(67r), 471(94v), þats 7, er 173ˣ;    ek: om. 343a(63v), 343a(80v), 471(67r), 471(94v);    hafa: om. 344a;    vilda: vildak 343a(63v), vildi 343a(80v), 471(94v), 173ˣ    [3] ór fjöllum: í björgum 344a, fjöllum 471(67r)    [5] Oddi: örvar 344a, 471(67r), 471(94v)    [6] örvar: Oddi 344a, 471(67r), 471(94v);    vilja: skyldu 343a(63v)    [7] byr bráðliga: byr gefa mjök bráðliga 344a, byr við bana bráðliga 173ˣ    [8] í braut: á brott 343a(63v), á burt 343a(80v), 471(67r), í burt 471(94v), á brautum 173ˣ;    gefa: heðan 344a

Editions: Skj AII, 310, Skj BII, 328, Skald II, 176; Ǫrv 1888, 49, 201, Ǫrv 1892, 26, 97, FSGJ 2, 347; Edd. Min. 55.

Notes: [All]: As with Ǫrv 91, Ǫrv 92 occurs both in the saga prosimetrum (except for 173ˣ, where it is lacking) and in the continuous Ævdr. In the saga prosimetrum it follows Ǫrv 91 with a few lines of intervening prose. Oddr is reporting to his comrades what happened when he and Ásmundr went ashore to the mainland and encountered the chief of the giants and his entourage in their cave. According to the prose text (Ǫrv 1888, 46-9), the giant chief has a vision in which he understands who Oddr is and that his arrows are the famous Gusisnautar. He decides to give him the nickname Ǫrvar-Oddr ‘Arrow-Oddr’. Realising that he can never kill Oddr, the giant decides to give him a favourable wind to speed him on his way out of Risaland, just as the Saami who had sent him in that direction had done previously. — [All]: A hero’s acquisition of a name designating his special attributes is a frequent motif in legendary sagas and in heroic poetry; cf. Fáfn 1-2. All the fornaldarsaga heroes from the family of the Hrafnistumenn (Ketill hœngr ‘Salmon’, Grímr loðinkinni ‘Hairy-cheek’ and Án bógsveigir ‘Bow-bender’) acquire nicknames of this kind, in Ketill’s and Án’s cases deriving from one of their famous exploits.

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. Ǫrv 1888 = Boer, R. C., ed. 1888. Ǫrvar-Odds saga. Leiden: Brill.
6. Ǫrv 1892 = Boer, R. C., ed. 1892a. Ǫrvar-Odds saga. Altnordische Saga-Bibliothek 2. Halle: Niemayer.
7. Internal references
8. Not published: do not cite (Gríml^VIII)
9. Not published: do not cite (Keth^VIII)
10. Not published: do not cite ()
11. 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 18 April 2024)
12. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Ǫrvar-Odds saga 91 (Ǫrvar-Oddr, Ævidrápa 21)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 903.
13. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Ǫrvar-Odds saga 92 (Ǫrvar-Oddr, Ævidrápa 22)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 905.