ǪrvOdd Lv 22^VIII (Ǫrv 55)

Váru vit Ásmundr         opt í bernsku
fóstbræðr saman         báðir litnir.
Bar ek fyr stilli         stöng darraðar,
þar sem konungar         kappi deildu.

Váru vit Ásmundr fóstbræðr litnir báðir saman opt í bernsku. Ek bar stöng darraðar fyr stilli, þar sem konungar deildu kappi.

Ásmundr and I, the foster-brothers, were seen both together often in our childhood. I bore the pole of the banner before the ruler, where kings tried their courage.

Mss: 7(55r), 344a(22r), 343a(77v), 471(89r), 173ˣ(54r) (Ǫrv)

Readings: [3] saman: ‘ij.’ 471    [4] báðir litnir: báðir litlir 343a, full vel saman 471    [5] ek: so all others, om. 7;    fyr stilli: om. 343a, stundar opt 471, stöng darraðar 173ˣ    [6] stöng darraðar: döglings lengi 173ˣ    [7] þar sem: so all others, þars 7

Editions: Skj AII, 302, Skj BII, 321, Skald II, 171, FF §39, NN §1205B; Ǫrv 1888, 166, Ǫrv 1892, 84, FSGJ 2, 319; Edd. Min. 70.

Context: As for Ǫrv 53.

Notes: [1] váru vit Ásmundr: As Boer (Ǫrv 1892, 84 n.) points out, a restoration of <m> to várum, which none of the mss have, but which previous eds have accepted, gives a metrical line in which there is an illicit two-syllable dip. Nevertheless, Ǫrv 1888, Ǫrv 1892, Edd. Min. and Skald read várum/vôrum vit Ásmundr, while Skj B has várum Ásmundr. — [2-3]: Both Skj B and Skald prefer 471’s text of these lines, which alliterate, fóstbræðr tveir | fullvel saman ‘two foster-brothers fully together’, i.e. in full accord. — [2] Ásmundr: Ásmundr Ingjaldsson, son of the farmer at whose farm at Berurjóðr in southern Norway Ǫrvar-Oddr was born. The two boys became foster-brothers and shared many adventures until Ásmundr was killed during their raiding in Ireland (Ǫrv 1888, 71-3). — [6] stöng darraðar ‘the pole of the banner’: Oddr presumably refers to the fact that he was a standard bearer in royal contests, stöng being the pole and darraðr the fabric banner. The meaning of darraðr has been debated. Although this noun occurs elsewhere in poetry, it is not certain whether it means ‘spear’ (unlikely in the present instance (cf. LP: darraðr)) or ‘banner, pennant’, a sense favoured by most recent commentators and eds; cf. Eyv Hák 2/7^I en darraðr hristisk ‘and the banner shook’, Egill Hfl 5/2^V (Eg 38) vefr darraðar ‘the web of the pennant [STANDARD]’ and the same collocation in Anon Darr 4/2^V (Nj 56) vef darraðar ‘the fabric of the pennant’, a phrase occuring as a leitmotif in the latter poem, interpreted by the composer of Nj, almost certainly in error, as referring to the pers. n. Dǫrruðr.

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. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
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. FSGJ = Guðni Jónsson, ed. 1954. Fornaldar sögur norðurlanda. 4 vols. [Reykjavík]: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan.
7. 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.
8. Ǫrv 1888 = Boer, R. C., ed. 1888. Ǫrvar-Odds saga. Leiden: Brill.
9. FF = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1922. Fornjermansk forskning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 18:1. Lund: Gleerup.
10. Ǫrv 1892 = Boer, R. C., ed. 1892a. Ǫrvar-Odds saga. Altnordische Saga-Bibliothek 2. Halle: Niemayer.
11. Internal references
12. R. D. Fulk (ed.) 2022, ‘Njáls saga 56 (Anonymous Poems, Darraðarljóð 4)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross, Kari Ellen Gade and Tarrin Wills (eds), Poetry in Sagas of Icelanders. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 5. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1304.
13. 2022, ‘ Anonymous, Njáls saga’ in Margaret Clunies Ross, Kari Ellen Gade and Tarrin Wills (eds), Poetry in Sagas of Icelanders. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 5. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 1220-1313. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=55> (accessed 26 April 2024)
14. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2022, ‘Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar 38 (Egill Skallagrímsson, Hǫfuðlausn 5)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross, Kari Ellen Gade and Tarrin Wills (eds), Poetry in Sagas of Icelanders. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 5. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 245.
15. R. D. Fulk (ed.) 2012, ‘Eyvindr skáldaspillir Finnsson, Hákonarmál 2’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 176.
16. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Ǫrvar-Odds saga 53 (Ǫrvar-Oddr, Lausavísur 20)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 867.