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Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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ǪrvOdd Ævdr 57VIII (Ǫrv 127)

Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Ǫrvar-Odds saga 127 (Ǫrvar-Oddr, Ævidrápa 57)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 934.

Ǫrvar-OddrÆvidrápa
565758

Veit ek, at fossum         falla lét
Jórdán um mik         fyr útan Grikki.
Helt þó sínum,         sem hverr vissi,
ítrgör skyrta         öllum kostum.

Ek veit, at Jórdán lét falla fossum um mik fyr útan Grikki. Þó helt ítrgör skyrta öllum kostum sínum, sem hverr vissi.

I know that the Jordan caused [water] to fall in torrents about me beyond the Greeks. Yet the splendidly made shirt retained all its special qualities, as everyone knows.

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

Readings: [5] Helt þó sínum: so 471, helt en þó 343a, helt þó 173ˣ    [6] vissi: um vissi 173ˣ

Editions: Skj AII, 316, Skj BII, 335-6, Skald II, 180; Ǫrv 1888, 206, FSGJ 2, 357-8.

Notes: [All]: For the saga context, see Ǫrv 126, Note to [All]. All mss make a point of mentioning how the special protective powers of Oddr’s magical shirt, which was made for him by Ǫlvǫr in Ireland (see Ǫlvǫr Lv 1 (Ǫrv 4) and ǪrvOdd Ævdr 41 (Ǫrv 111)), were not damaged by his bathe in the Jordan (Ǫrv 1888, 118-19). The thinking behind this observation might be that, as the Jordan was the paradigmatic baptismal locus for Christians, being the place where John the Baptist baptised Christ, its waters that had bathed Oddr’s body might have been able to counteract the presumably non-Christian magic of his shirt. — [2] Jórdán ‘the Jordan’: The act of bathing in the River Jordan, ascribed here to the legendary Oddr, followed a well-established practice attributed to a number of Scandinavian rulers of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, including Rǫgnvaldr Kali Kolsson, jarl of Orkney. For a list, see Rv Lv 27II, Note to [All]. — [5] sínum ‘its’: This reflexive possessive adj. is only in ms. 471, but it provides a metrical line, lacking in the other two mss, as well as good sense with the phrase öllum kostum ‘all special qualities’ (l. 8). It is also in the prose texts, ok helt hon ǫllum kostum sínum sem áðr ‘and it [the shirt] kept all its special qualities as before’ (ms. 344a, Ǫrv 1888, 118), ok helt hon ǫllum kostum sínum ‘and it kept all its special qualities’ (ms. 7, Ǫrv 1888, 119).

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. Ǫrv 1888 = Boer, R. C., ed. 1888. Ǫrvar-Odds saga. Leiden: Brill.
  5. Internal references
  6. Judith Jesch (ed.) 2009, ‘Rǫgnvaldr jarl Kali Kolsson, Lausavísur 27’ 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, pp. 604-5.
  7. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Ǫrvar-Odds saga 111 (Ǫrvar-Oddr, Ævidrápa 41)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 919.
  8. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Ǫrvar-Odds saga 126 (Ǫrvar-Oddr, Ævidrápa 56)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 933.
  9. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Ǫrvar-Odds saga 4 (Ǫlvǫr, Lausavísa 1)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 813.
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