Note to Þloft Glækv 4I
[6] sætti ‘a mediator’: Given the incomplete state of the helmingr, no interpretation can be more than tentative. (a) Skj B’s reading (which would seem to assume the agent noun sættir ‘mediator, reconciler’) is adopted here (see also Hkr 1893-1901, IV). It ties in well with the theme of the poem (cf. st. 9, where Óláfr intercedes with God for the benefit of humans) and, although an emendation, makes sense of the ms. readings. (b) Other solutions have been proposed. LP: sætti suggests a n. noun sætti ‘(means) of reconciliation’ here, but also notes that the text is corrupt, and this lexeme is usually f. sátt/sætt (the idiom verða at sætt is recorded, e.g., in Gylf, SnE 2005, 23). (c) Kock (NN §965), linking up with his reading kykvasætr in st. 3/7, suggests the noun involved is sætr n. ‘seat, residence’ or sæti n. ‘seat’; Skald prints sætri. (d) ÍF 27 simply retains the Kˣ reading of setti, and assumes that the clause cannot be construed as it stands since the last two lines of the stanza are missing.
References
- Bibliography
- Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
- Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
- NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
- 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.
- ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
- Hkr 1893-1901 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1893-1901. Heimskringla: Nóregs konunga sǫgur af Snorri Sturluson. 4 vols. SUGNL 23. Copenhagen: Møller.
- SnE 2005 = Snorri Sturluson. 2005. Edda: Prologue and Gylfaginning. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
- Internal references
- (forthcoming), ‘ Snorri Sturluson, Gylfaginning’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=113> (accessed 5 May 2024)