Hjálm Lv 15^VIII (Ǫrv 25)

This group of stanzas is only present in the younger mss of Ǫrv, 343a, 471 and 173ˣ, and not in 344a. It is prompted by Hjálmarr’s prose request to Oddr to greet his bench-mates back in Sweden by name (this prose part is also in 344a but without the stanzas). The version of 344a then goes on with Hjálmarr’s request to Oddr not to bury his body in a mound beside the worthless berserks, and to take his ring back to Ingibjörg in Sweden. Ms. 344a then concludes with Ǫrv 16. All other mss add Ǫrv 20 as the concluding stanza of Hjálmarr’s death-song. Ms. 343a is the main ms. for this group of stanzas.

Drukkum vér ok dæmðum         dægr margt saman,
Álfr ok Atli,         Eymundr, Trani,
Gizurr, Gláma,         Guðvarðr, Starri,
Steinkell, Stikill,         Stórólfr, Vifill.

Vér drukkum ok dæmðum saman margt dægr, Álfr ok Atli, Eymundr, Trani, Gizurr, Gláma, Guðvarðr, Starri, Steinkell, Stikill, Stórólfr, Vifill.

We drank and chatted together many a day, Álfr and Atli, Eymundr, Trani, Gizurr, Gláma, Guðvarðr, Starri, Steinkell, Stikill, Stórólfr, Vifill.

Mss: 343a(68v), 471(75r-v), 173ˣ(37v) (ll. 1-4, 7-8, 5-6) (Ǫrv)

Readings: [2] dægr: so 471, 173ˣ, ‘dægurt’ 343a    [4] Eymundr: Eyvindr 471, 173ˣ    [5] Gláma: Glamma 173ˣ    [8] Stórólfr: Steinólfr 173ˣ

Editions: Skj AII, 295, Skj BII, 315, Skald II, 168; Ǫrv 1888, 104, FSGJ 2, 260.

Context: This stanza is the first of a roll-call of Hjálmarr’s former drinking mates.

Notes: [All]: Neither this nor the four following stanzas are present in 344a, nor are they edited either in Edd. Min. or in Ǫrv 1892. Ǫrv 1888 gives them within square brackets in a smaller font than the main text to indicate Boer’s view that these stanzas were later additions. Skj and Skald separate them as Addendum β. — [1-2]: These lines echo Sigsk 2/5-6 (NK 207) drucco oc dœmðo | dœgr mart saman ‘[they] drank and chatted together many a day’. — [2] margt ‘many’: A late spelling in 343a of the n. form of the adj. margr ‘many’ (ANG §§291.5 and 427.1 Anm. 1); 471 and 173ˣ have the older mart. — [3-8]: The beginning of the list of names of Hjálmarr’s drinking mates, which continues over the following four stanzas. Many of the names, such as Álfr and Atli, with which the list begins, are attested in other heroic poems or in sagas; some are known to have been borne by individuals mentioned in historical sources, such as Ldn. Some of these names may be, or may have originated as, nicknames, especially those that refer to features of the landscape (e.g. gláma ‘bald, barren tract’ or possibly a variant of glámr ‘twilight, gleam’, cf. ONP: glámr, Þul Tungls 1/4^III and Note there, Þul Jǫtna II 1/8^III and Note there), birds (e.g. starri ‘Starling’, trani ‘Crane’) or other animals or natural phenomena (cf. Janzén 1947b, 44-6; Whaley 1993). Vifill (or Vífill) ‘? Beetle’ was the name of one of the first settler Ingólfr’s slaves in Ldn (ÍF 1, 44-5) and the name of a wise commoner who shelters the sons of King Hálfdan in Hrólf; see Hrólf 3/1 and Note.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
3. ANG = Noreen, Adolf. 1923. Altnordische Grammatik I: Altisländische und altnorwegische Grammatik (Laut- und Flexionslehre) unter Berücksichtigung des Urnordischen. 4th edn. Halle: Niemeyer. 1st edn. 1884. 5th unrev. edn. 1970. Tübingen: Niemeyer.
4. NK = Neckel, Gustav and Hans Kuhn (1899), eds. 1983. Edda: Die Lieder des Codex Regius nebst verwandten Denkmälern. 2 vols. I: Text. 5th edn. Heidelberg: Winter.
5. ONP = Degnbol, Helle et al., eds. 1989-. A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose / Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog. 1-. Copenhagen: The Arnamagnæan Commission.
6. ÍF 1 (parts 1 and 2) = Íslendingabók; Landnámabók. Ed. Jakob Benediktsson. 1968. Rpt. as one volume 1986.
7. FSGJ = Guðni Jónsson, ed. 1954. Fornaldar sögur norðurlanda. 4 vols. [Reykjavík]: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan.
8. 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.
9. Ǫrv 1888 = Boer, R. C., ed. 1888. Ǫrvar-Odds saga. Leiden: Brill.
10. Janzén, A. 1947b. Personnavne. Nordisk Kultur VII. Stockholm, Oslo and Copenhagen: Bonniers, Aschehoug and Schultz.
11. Whaley, Diana. 1993a. ‘Nicknames and Narratives in the Sagas’. ANF 108, 122-46.
12. Ǫrv 1892 = Boer, R. C., ed. 1892a. Ǫrvar-Odds saga. Altnordische Saga-Bibliothek 2. Halle: Niemayer.
13. Internal references
14. (forthcoming), ‘ Anonymous, Landnámabók’ in Guðrún Nordal (ed.), Poetry on Icelandic History. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 4. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=25> (accessed 4 May 2024)
15. 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 4 May 2024)
16. 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Hrólfs saga kraka’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 539. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=73> (accessed 4 May 2024)
17. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Jǫtna heiti II 1’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 719.
18. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Tungls heiti 1’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 912.
19. Not published: do not cite ()
20. †Desmond Slay (ed.) 2017, ‘Hrólfs saga kraka 3 (Heiðr vǫlva, Lausavísur 2)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 543.
21. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Ǫrvar-Odds saga 16 (Hjálmarr inn hugumstóri, Lausavísur 6)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 829.
22. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Ǫrvar-Odds saga 20 (Hjálmarr inn hugumstóri, Lausavísur 10)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 834.