Note to Anon Lil 12VII
[6] stýranda heims ‘ruler of the world [= Adam]’: The kenning is analogous to kennings for God (stýrandi lífs ‘ruler of life’ Arngr Gd 1/2IV; stýrandi hallar heims ‘ruler of the hall of the world’ Anon Leið 21/3-4; stýrandi himna ‘ruler of the heavens’ Arngr Gd 59/8IV; stýrandi alls ‘ruler of all’ Mark Eirdr 31/2II; Anon Leið 41/7). It alludes to Gen. I.26 (... praesit piscibus maris et volatilibus caeli et bestiis universaeque terrae ... ‘... let him have dominion over the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the air, and the beasts, and the whole earth ...’) and in a more general sense is a reminder of Adam’s exalted state before the Fall. Cf. the ON Eluc: Iþui hafþe hann ok gliking Goðs at hann skylde sua styra ollo aiorþo sem Goþ ręþr ollo ahimne ‘For that reason he took on the shape of God, so that he could rule everything on earth as God rules over everything in heaven’ (Eluc 1992, 16-17).
References
- Bibliography
- Eluc 1992 = Firchow, Evelyn S., ed. and trans. 1992. The Old Norse Elucidarius: Original Text and English Translation. Medieval Texts and Translations: Studies in German Literature, Linguistics and Culture. Columbia, SC.: Camden House.
- Eluc = Elucidarius.
- Internal references
- Katrina Attwood (ed.) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Leiðarvísan 21’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 159-60.
- Katrina Attwood (ed.) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Leiðarvísan 41’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 175.
- Not published: do not cite (Arngr Gd 1IV)
- Not published: do not cite (Arngr Gd 59IV)
- Jayne Carroll (ed.) 2009, ‘Markús Skeggjason, Eiríksdrápa 31’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 459-60.