ǪrvOdd Ævdr 45VIII (Ǫrv 115)/8 — spjör ‘a spear’
Mátta ek banorði fyr brögnum hrósa
snotra seggja, er til sævar kom.
Höfðum vit Hjálmarr haldit illa,
þá er Glámi stóð í gegnum spjör.
Ek mátta hrósa banorði snotra seggja fyr brögnum, er kom til sævar. Vit Hjálmarr höfðum haldit illa, þá er spjör stóð í gegnum Glámi.
I was able to boast about the death of wise men in the presence of warriors, when I came to the sea. Hjálmarr and I had taken it badly when a spear pierced Glámr.
readings
[8] spjör: spörr 343a, 173ˣ, spörum 471
notes
[8] spjör ‘a spear’: Most eds have emended the mss’ readings here. Both 343a and 173ˣ have spörr (343a ‘spaurr’) which can only mean ‘sparrow’ but this sense does not seem appropriate here. Ms. 471 has spörum, dat. pl. CPB II, 551 has spiörr ‘spears’, which would make good sense, but this noun is normally n. pl. and the verb here (stóð) is sg. However, the noun spjǫr is only found in the pl. and, as Kock has suggested (NN §3290A), it may function as a sg. here. Boer (Ǫrv 1888, 204 n.) proposed that an antecedent ms. of the younger mss, which he designated z, must have read spjót ‘spear’, which was later changed to ǫr ‘arrow’ and then by a later copyist to spǫrr. However, this explanation seems over-complex, and the present edn has assumed the original word to be spjör ‘spears’ used in a sg. sense (following Boer’s argument, Skj B and FSGJ emend to spjót). In Skald Kock retains spǫrr, though this spelling in the sense ‘spear’ is unprecedented.