ǪrvOdd Lv 4VIII (Ǫrv 12)
Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Ǫrvar-Odds saga 12 (Ǫrvar-Oddr, Lausavísur 4)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 824.
Hér eru rekkar reiðir komnir,
tírarlausir fara tólf saman.
Einn skal við einn eiga orrostu
hvatra drengja, nema hugr bili.
Reiðir rekkar eru hér komnir, tírarlausir fara tólf saman. Einn skal við einn eiga orrostu hvatra drengja, nema hugr bili.
Angry warriors have come here, the inglorious ones travel twelve together. One should fight a battle of keen fighters against one, unless his courage fails.
Mss: 344a(17r), 343a(68r), 471(74v) (Ǫrv); 2845(63v), R715ˣ(10r) (Heiðr, ll. 5-8)
Readings: [1] Hér eru: þit eruð 471; rekkar: so 343a, halir 344a, 471 [2] reiðir: harðir 471; komnir: so 343a, 471, om. 344a [3] tírarlausir: tírarlausir af tréskipum traustir drengir 343a [4] fara: ok eru 343a, 471 [6] eiga orrostu: orrostu heyja 343a, 471, R715ˣ, eiga nema sé deigr 2845 [7] hvatra: hraustra R715ˣ [8] nema: eða 2845
Editions: Skj AII, 292, Skj BII, 312, Skald II, 166; Ǫrv 1888, 99, Ǫrv 1892, 54, FSGJ 2, 255; Heiðr 1924, 11, 99, Heiðr 1960, 7; Edd. Min. 63.
Context: In Ǫrv, Oddr speaks this stanza immediately after Angantýr’s challenge in Ǫrv 11. In Heiðr there is an intervening prose exchange between Hjálmarr and Oddr about which of them will have the honour of taking on Angantýr in single combat. Hjálmarr asserts that he is the principal in the combat (hǫfuðsmaðr þessar hólmgǫngu), and as such goes forward to fight with Angantýr. The version of Ǫrv 12 in Heiðr is then represented as Oddr’s challenge to the berserks to come and fight in single combat.
Notes: [All]: Once more the two sagas present different versions of the stanza. In Ǫrv the first helmingr is essentially an expansion of the words of the Heiðr version of Ǫrv 8/5-6. Both 344a and 343a have considerable metrical and alliterative irregularities in ll. 1-4, and it is necessary to use 343a selectively (with 344a as base text) to obtain a metrical first helmingr. The Heiðr text of this stanza corresponds to the second helmingr in the Ǫrv version, and in 2845 reads: Einn skal eiga við einn, nema sé deigr, eða hugr hvatra drengja bili ‘One shall fight [lit. “have”] with one, unless he be soft or his courage fail’. Although R715ˣ has only this second helmingr, it corresponds more closely to ll. 5-8 of the Ǫrv version than to that of 2845.
References
- Bibliography
- Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
- FSGJ = Guðni Jónsson, ed. 1954. Fornaldar sögur norðurlanda. 4 vols. [Reykjavík]: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan.
- 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.
- Heiðr 1924 = Jón Helgason, ed. 1924. Heiðreks saga. Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks konungs. SUGNL 48. Copenhagen: Jørgensen.
- Ǫrv 1888 = Boer, R. C., ed. 1888. Ǫrvar-Odds saga. Leiden: Brill.
- 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.
- Ǫrv 1892 = Boer, R. C., ed. 1892a. Ǫrvar-Odds saga. Altnordische Saga-Bibliothek 2. Halle: Niemayer.
- Internal references
- 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 3 May 2024)
- 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 3 May 2024)
- Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Ǫrvar-Odds saga 11 (Angantýr Arngrímsson, Lausavísur 12)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 823.
- Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Ǫrvar-Odds saga 12 (Ǫrvar-Oddr, Lausavísur 4)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 824.
- Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Ǫrvar-Odds saga 8 (Ǫrvar-Oddr, Lausavísur 2)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 819.
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