Sjólfr Lv 2^VIII (Ǫrv 38)

Þú hefir, Oddr, farit         með ölmusum
ok bitlinga         borit af borði,
en ek einn         af Úlfsfjalli
höggvinn skjöld         í hendi bark.

Oddr, þú hefir farit með ölmusum ok borit bitlinga af borði, en ek einn bark höggvinn skjöld í hendi af Úlfsfjalli.

Oddr, you have gone about with paupers and taken titbits from the table, but I alone carried a shattered shield in my hand from Úlfsfjall.

Mss: 7(54v), 344a(21v), 343a(77r), 471(88v) (Ǫrv)

Readings: [1] farit: þegit 344a, om. 471    [2] með ölmusum: ölmusu 344a    [4] borit: beðit 344a;    af: frá 343a;    borði: borðit 344a, porti 343a, 471    [6] Úlfs‑: yngs 344a, ygs 343a, yggs 471    [7] höggvinn: högginn 344a    [8] bark: bar 344a, 343a, 471

Editions: Skj AII, 298, Skj BII, 318, Skald II, 169; Ǫrv 1888, 160, Ǫrv 1892, 79, FSGJ 2, 313; Edd. Min. 66.

Context: After Oddr’s previous two stanzas, Sjólfr and Sigurðr drain their horns, and go over to Oddr again. Sjólfr presents him with another horn, and speaks Ǫrv 38.

Notes: [1-2]: Ms. 344a has a different text here, þú hefir, Oddr, þegit | ölmusu ‘Oddr, you have received alms’. This reading makes sense but is metrically deficient in l. 2. Boer (Ǫrv 1892, 107) understands the other mss’ reading þú hefir farit með ölmusum in the same sense as 344a’s, translating du … hast almosen angenommen ‘you … have received alms’, but Skj B and LP: ǫlmusa assume the same meaning as is given here. The noun ǫlmusa ‘alms, charity’ also has the sense ‘paupers, vagrants, imbeciles’ when used in the pl. The only other pl. usage of this word in Old Norse poetry comes in Anon Hsv 14/2^VII, where it certainly refers to vagrants. — [4] borit … af borði ‘taken … from the table’: Skj B and Skald ‘improve’ this line metrically and alliteratively by emending to af borði þegit ‘received [titbits] from the table’, though no ms. has this reading. Mss 343a and 471 have af/frá porti ‘from the gate’ instead of ‘from the table’, and this reading gives single rather than double alliteration, so could be considered a lectio difficilior. The noun port ‘gate, door’ is a loan into Old Norse from Latin via Old English (AEW: port 1), the earliest citation for which is c. 1280 (ONP: port). — [5, 7]: These two lines are in kviðuháttr. — [6] af Úlfsfjalli ‘from Úlfsfjall’: An unknown and probably fictional p. n. The readings of 343a and 471 could be understood to refer to the god Óðinn, sometimes known as Yggr.

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. AEW = Vries, Jan de. 1962. Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 2nd rev. edn. Rpt. 1977. Leiden: Brill.
5. LP = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1931. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis: Ordbog over det norsk-islandske skjaldesprog oprindelig forfattet af Sveinbjörn Egilsson. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Møller.
6. ONP = Degnbol, Helle et al., eds. 1989-. A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose / Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog. 1-. Copenhagen: The Arnamagnæan Commission.
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. Ǫrv 1892 = Boer, R. C., ed. 1892a. Ǫrvar-Odds saga. Altnordische Saga-Bibliothek 2. Halle: Niemayer.
11. Internal references
12. Tarrin Wills and Stefanie Gropper (eds) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Hugsvinnsmál 14’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 369.
13. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Ǫrvar-Odds saga 38 (Sjólfr, Lausavísur 2)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 851.