Rv Lv 35III/2 — óð ‘the poem’
Eigi veitk, nær ægi
óðflýtir má knýta;
dýr es fiskifœra
feigligt, þats vér eigum.
Eigi veitk, nær óðflýtir má knýta ægi; dýr fiskifœra, þats vér eigum, es feigligt.
I don’t know when the poem-conveyer [POET] will be able to bridle the ocean [= (marr ‘horse’)]; the animal of fishing-gear [= (taumar ‘reins’)] [HORSE] which we [I] own is dying.
notes
[2] óðflýtir ‘the poem-conveyer [POET]’: Óð- can be an intensifying prefix but is also a noun meaning ‘poem’. Flýtir is an agent noun formed from the weak verb flýta ‘hasten’, but also carries a range of meanings including ‘conveyor, deliverer’ (LP: flýtir). Here, ‘poem-conveyor’ is chosen for the translation since the intensifying prefix óð- is normally only found with adjectives. Even if it could be prefixed to a noun, it would seem to demand an object that is not expressed here. There is a possible parallel in the nominal cpd óðsemjandi ‘composer of poetry’ (Kálf Kátr 2/8VII), though this depends on an emendation. The proposed translation is also consonant with Rǫgnvaldr’s express awareness of himself as a poet (cf. Rv Lv 1II, 11II, 29II). An alternative explanation, according to Bibire (1988), is that ‘the óðflýtir “frenzied fleeter” of a horse is its rider who makes it gallop’, which is more consonant with the speaker’s wish to bridle the horse. Given the extent of word-play in this quatrain, it is possible that both meanings are to be understood.
kennings
- óðflýtir — the poem-conveyer [POET]