Note to Anon Lil 43VII
[2] hann Ádám ‘this Adam (= Adam)’: This reading of the l. reflects Páll Hallsson’s 1656 translation (‘Mig siunes at Adam var langt ypperliger’ ‘it seems to me that Adam was much higher’, Holm papp 23 folˣ, 7r) and has been adopted by eds (except Kock) since Finnur Jónsson’s 1774 edn (1772-8, II). The formula hann + proper name became common in later Icel. and Norw.: see Sigfús Blöndal 1920-4: hann II.1.a-b. Kock dislikes the ‘irregular rhythm’ of this reading and emends to Mér virðiz, sem miklu hærra | mætum guði er Ádám sæti | áðr ek … ‘it seems to me, that Adam sat much higher before the good God, before I …’ (NN §1523). JH finds this a poor solution: er is superfluous, and it is necessary to understand hærra mætum guði as an ordinary dat. with a comp., meaning ‘higher than’. He suggests considering emendation of hærri to næra ‘near’ or næri ‘nearer’.
References
- Bibliography
- NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
- Sigfús Blöndal. 1920-4. Islandsk-dansk ordbog / Íslensk-dönsk orðabók. Reykjavík, Copenhagen and Kristiania (Oslo): Verslun Þórarins B. Þorlákssonar / Aschehoug.