ǪrvOdd Ævdr 36^VIII (Ǫrv 106)

Funduz allir         á feginsdægri,
svenskir seggir         ok Sigurðr norðan.
Ræntu ýtar         eyjarskeggja
auði öllum,         en þeir elds biðu.

Allir funduz á feginsdægri, svenskir seggir ok Sigurðr norðan. Ýtar ræntu eyjarskeggja öllum auði, en þeir biðu elds.

All met on a day of joy, Swedish men and Sigurðr from the north. Men robbed the island-beards of all their wealth, and they suffered fire.

Mss: 343a(81r), 471(95r), 173ˣ(63ra) (Ǫrv)

Readings: [1] Funduz: fundumz 471, 173ˣ    [4] ok Sigurðr norðan: so 471, 173ˣ, norðar 343a    [8] biðu: so 471, 173ˣ, bíða 343a

Editions: Skj AII, 312, Skj BII, 331, Skald II, 177; Ǫrv 1888, 203, FSGJ 2, 351.

Notes: [All]: The saga prose relates how, after spending the winter in Sweden, Oddr and Hjálmarr meet up with Ásmundr and company at the Götaälv (Ǫrv 1888, 68, 69) and decide to go raiding that summer. Oddr says he prefers to go westwards. According to 7, they first reach the islands of Orkney and raid there, after which they proceed to Scotland. Ms. 344a has them visit these two places in reverse order.  — [2] á feginsdægri ‘on a day of joy’: The only other occurrence of this cpd in poetry (feginsdagr) is in Anon Sól 82/3^VII, where the word has a Christian sense and refers to Judgement Day (see Note to this line). Cf. also the cpd feginsmorginn ‘morning of joy’ (ESk Sigdr I 3/8^II), referring to the Norwegian king Sigurðr jórsalafari ‘Jerusalem-farer’ Magnússon’s arrival at the Crusader port of Acre. — [3] svenskir ‘Swedish’: The spelling of all mss. Skj B, Skald and FSGJ adopt the older form sænskir. — [4] ok Sigurðr norðan ‘and Sigurðr from the north’: That is, Oddr’s kinsmen who have returned to Hrafnista for the winter. Ms. 343a is defective here, although there is no actual lacuna. — [6] eyjarskeggja ‘island-beards’: That is, the inhabitants of an island. This term occurs in poetry elsewhere only in Heiðr 19/4 and Frið 23/4 (see Note there). The unnamed islands referred to here are presumably the Orkneys, as mentioned in the prose texts. — [8] en þeir biðu elds ‘and they suffered fire’: This clause is understood here to mean that the islanders who survived the vikings’ robbery had to endure the scorched earth policy that followed it. Skj B understands l. 8 as a relative clause referring to the islanders som måtte opleve flammerne ‘who had to suffer the flames’.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. FSGJ = Guðni Jónsson, ed. 1954. Fornaldar sögur norðurlanda. 4 vols. [Reykjavík]: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan.
5. Ǫrv 1888 = Boer, R. C., ed. 1888. Ǫrvar-Odds saga. Leiden: Brill.
6. Internal references
7. Hannah Burrows (ed.) 2017, ‘Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks 66 (Gestumblindi, Heiðreks gátur 19)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 430.
8. Carolyne Larrington and Peter Robinson (eds) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Sólarljóð 82’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 356-7.
9. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Einarr Skúlason, Sigurðardrápa I 3’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 540.
10. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Friðþjófs saga ins frœkna 23 (Friðþjófr Þorsteinsson, Lausavísur 18)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 220.