ǪrvOdd Ævdr 53^VIII (Ǫrv 123)

Þar kom ek útarst,         er Akvitána
bragna kindir         borgum réðu.
Þar lét ek fjóra         fallna liggja
hrausta drengi;         nú em ek hér kominn.

Ek kom útarst, þar er kindir bragna Akvitána réðu borgum. Þar lét ek fjóra hrausta drengi liggja fallna; nú em ek kominn hér.

I came furthest out to where the kin of the men of the Aquitainians ruled the towns. There I caused four strong men to lie dead; now I have come here.

Mss: 7(52r), 343a(81r), 471(95v), 173ˣ(64ra) (Ǫrv)

Readings: [1] Þar kom ek útarst: Enn kom ek þar 343a, 471, 173ˣ    [2] er (‘es’): at 343a, 173ˣ;    Akvitána (‘aqvitana’): Akvitánía 343a, 471, 173ˣ    [6] fallna: falla 343a    [8] em: so 343a, er 7, 471, 173ˣ

Editions: Skj AII, 315, Skj BII, 335, Skald II, 179; Ǫrv 1888, 117, 205, Ǫrv 1892, 64-5, 99, FSGJ 2, 356; Edd. Min. 57.

Notes: [All]: In 7 this stanza occurs before Ævdr 53, following the sequence of the prose narrative, while in 471 it occurs after Ævdr 54. According to the prose saga (Ǫrv 1888, 112-17) Oddr and his kinsmen Sigurðr and Guðmundr travel south from Hrafnista one spring to go raiding in Southern Europe. They find themselves in Aquitaine, where they encounter Christians. (In 7 Oddr’s encounter with Christianity comes in Sicily, where he is baptised by an abbot named Hugi. He then travels to Aquitaine.) Although the versions of the saga differ on this point, in all versions Oddr fights against a group of assailants who threaten the Christians. In 7 they are four chieftains, in the other mss four men who attack a religious procession and cut off a bishop’s head with long knives. This incident is also mentioned in Ǫrv 37/5-8. — [2] Akvitána ‘of the Aquitainians’: Both here and in Ǫrv 37/6, 7 refers to the people of Aquitaine as Akvitánir, gen. pl. Akvitána, dat. pl. Akvitánum, while the other mss. give forms of the p. n. Akvitánia ‘Aquitaine’. — [8] nú em ek kominn hér ‘now I have come here’: It is not clear from the prose context in 7 where ‘here’ is.

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. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Ǫrvar-Odds saga 123 (Ǫrvar-Oddr, Ævidrápa 53)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 930.
9. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Ǫrvar-Odds saga 124 (Ǫrvar-Oddr, Ævidrápa 54)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 931.
10. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Ǫrvar-Odds saga 37 (Ǫrvar-Oddr, Lausavísur 7)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 850.