Katrina Attwood (ed.) 2007, ‘Gamli kanóki, Harmsól 50’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 117-18.
Nítti einn við ótta
ítr postoli rítar
fróns musteris festi*
forðum þýjar orða.
Enn, þegars iðran sanna
aldrprýðir fekk lýða,
Pétr vann glœp með gráti
grandlauss þvegit vandla.
Einn ítr postoli nítti forðum {festi* {rítar {musteris fróns}}} við ótta orða þýjar. Enn þegars {aldrprýðir lýða} fekk sanna iðran, vann grandlauss Pétr þvegit vandla glœp með gráti.
One glorious Apostle long ago denied {the securer {of the shield {of the temple of the land}}} [HEAVEN > SUN > = God (= Christ)] for fear of a bondswoman’s words. But, as soon as {the adorner of the lives of men} [SAINT = Peter] [lit. life-adorner of men] experienced true repentance, the sinless Peter washed his wickedness away completely with weeping.
Mss: B(13r), 399a-bˣ
Readings: [3] musteris: so all others, ‘muster(i)[...]’(?) B; festi*: festir B [4] forðum: so 399a‑bˣ, ‘fo[...]um’ B [5] þegars: þegar B; iðran: so 399a‑bˣ, ‘idra[...]’ B [8] grandlauss: so 399a‑bˣ, ‘grand[...]uss’ B
Editions: Skj AI, 569, Skj BI, 561, Skald I, 272; Sveinbjörn Egilsson 1844, 29, Kempff 1867, 15, Rydberg 1907, 28-9, Black 1971, 263, Attwood 1996a, 234.
Notes: [All]: The Apostle Peter’s denial of Christ after the latter’s arrest is recounted in all four Gospels: Matt. XXVI.69-75, Mark XIV.66-72, Luke XXII.55-62 and John XVIII.16-18, 25-7. — [1] nítti ‘denied’: Sveinbjörn Egilsson (1844, 29 n. 60) claims that this is his correction, from B’s ‘Hítte’. In fact, ‘Hítte’ is Jón Sigurðsson’s misreading (in the 444ˣ transcript) of 399a-b’s correct reading ‘Nitte’. — [2] ítr postoli rítar: The ítr : rítar rhyme is also exploited in 26/4 and in Leið 42/2: ítr túns himins rítar. — [2-3] festi* fróns musteris rítar ‘securer (dat.) of the shield of the temple of the land [HEAVEN > SUN > = God (= Christ)]’: This striking expression appears to be a conflation of two kenning-types found elsewhere in Has. In locutions like rítar ranns éla ‘(of the) shield of the house of storms’ (26/3-4), the sun is characterised as the shield of heaven. The lexical parallels noted above may indicate that Gamli intends his readers/hearers to recall that image here. He superimposes it on the concept of heaven as a shrine or temple, which occurs in skrín skýja ‘shrine of the clouds’ (19/7-8) and skrín skýstalls ‘shrine of the sky-platform’ (29/7-8). Gamli uses the OFr loanword musteri, which derives from Lat. monasterium (AEW: mustari) and is used to designate a Christian or Jewish temple or church, rather than a hof, a heathen temple (CVC: musteri). The word is used of a Christian church in Anon Vitn 15/3 and Anon Mv I 15/2. — [5] þegars ‘as soon as’: The emendation is necessary, as þegar functions here as a conj. (þegar er), rather than an adv. — [6] aldrprýðir ‘life-adorner [of men]’: This is hap. leg. Quite what the significance of this epithet is, in application to S. Peter, is uncertain, though there may be an oblique allusion to his traditional roles as founder of the church and holder of the keys to the gate of heaven.
Use the buttons at the top of the page to navigate between stanzas in a poem.
The text and translation are given here, with buttons to toggle whether the text is shown in the verse order or prose word order. Clicking on indiviudal words gives dictionary links, variant readings, kennings and notes, where relevant.
This is the text of the edition in a similar format to how the edition appears in the printed volumes.
This view is also used for chapters and other text segments. Not all the headings shown are relevant to such sections.