Diana Whaley (ed.) 2012, ‘Þrándr í Gǫtu, Kredda 1’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 802.
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2. ganga (verb; geng, gekk, gengu, genginn): walk, go
[1] gangat ‘I do not go’: The form contains the negative suffix ‑at, but, unusually, lacks an explicit (e)k ‘I’ (as observed by Foote 1969a, 361). Kock (NN §3064) drew attention to the non-standard form of the verb ganga here, believing it to be a weak form. Foote, however, is sceptical about this. He considers the possibility of a rare optative (subj.) form (ibid., 361-2, citing NS §182(a)), but ultimately inclines to see gangat as a Faroese form *gang- (ibid., 362-3).
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ek (pron.; °mín, dat. mér, acc. mik): I, me
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2. einn (pron.; °decl. cf. einn num.): one, alone
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út (adv.): out(side)
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fjórir (num. cardinal): four
[3, 4] fjórir, fimm englar ‘four, five angels’: The significance of this is uncertain, but Revelation 7.1-2 describes four angels standing at the corners of the earth, then a fifth. Among depictions of four angels is the picture of Christ accompanied by four angels on fol. 32v of the Book of Kells (Fox 1990, 281-2).
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ek (pron.; °mín, dat. mér, acc. mik): I, me
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2. fylgja (verb): follow, accompany
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fimm (num. cardinal): five
[3, 4] fjórir, fimm englar ‘four, five angels’: The significance of this is uncertain, but Revelation 7.1-2 describes four angels standing at the corners of the earth, then a fifth. Among depictions of four angels is the picture of Christ accompanied by four angels on fol. 32v of the Book of Kells (Fox 1990, 281-2).
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1. guð (noun m.; °***guðrs, guðis, gus): (Christian) God
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1. engill (noun m.; °engils; englar): angel
[3, 4] fjórir, fimm englar ‘four, five angels’: The significance of this is uncertain, but Revelation 7.1-2 describes four angels standing at the corners of the earth, then a fifth. Among depictions of four angels is the picture of Christ accompanied by four angels on fol. 32v of the Book of Kells (Fox 1990, 281-2).
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3. bera (verb; °berr; bar, báru; borinn): bear, carry
[5] berk ‘I speak’: Cf. Fritzner: bera 5 for bera in the sense ‘report, tell, deliver (a message, words etc.)’; the usage is equivalent to bera fram.
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bœn (noun f.; °-ar; -ir): request, prayer
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fyr (prep.): for, over, because of, etc.
[5, 6] fyr ‘for’; fyr ‘before’: The sense of fyr seems to shift between these lines, unless Þrándr’s religious eccentricity led him so far as to pray for Christ.
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ek (pron.; °mín, dat. mér, acc. mik): I, me
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bœn (noun f.; °-ar; -ir): request, prayer
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fyr (prep.): for, over, because of, etc.
[5, 6] fyr ‘for’; fyr ‘before’: The sense of fyr seems to shift between these lines, unless Þrándr’s religious eccentricity led him so far as to pray for Christ.
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Kristr (noun m.; °-s/-, dat. -i; -ar): Christ
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syngja (verb): sing
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ek (pron.; °mín, dat. mér, acc. mik): I, me
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salmr (noun m.; °-s, dat. -i/-; -ar): [psalms]
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sjau (num. cardinal): seven
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2. sjá (verb): see
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1. guð (noun m.; °***guðrs, guðis, gus): (Christian) God
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hlutr (noun m.; °-ar, dat. -i/-; -ir, acc. -i/-u): part, thing
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minn (pron.; °f. mín, n. mitt): my
Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses
Arrived at Þrándr’s farm, Þóra Sigmundardóttir is reunited with her nine-year-old son Sigmundr and asks him what Christian knowledge his foster-father Þrándr has taught him. He responds by singing the Pater Noster ‘Our Father’ more or less to her satisfaction, en kredda Þrándar er á þessa leið ‘but Þrándr’s creed goes like this’. After the stanza, Þóra disparages this creed, but Þrándr replies that Christ had twelve disciples each with his own version of the creed, that ‘you and I’ have our own, and there is no single correct version of such things.
The stanza contains only seven lines, and the first line fails to match the basic málaháttr pattern of alliteration seen elsewhere in the stanza, from which at least three possible deductions could be made: (a) Line 1, with its alliteration on einn and út, should be followed by a line continuing the vocalic alliteration on the first stressed syllable. Kock (Skald and NN §2463D) suggested annarr né þriði ‘a second nor a third’, as part of a theory that the numerical sequence runs right through the stanza. (b) If gangat opened the second line, a preceding line could have alliterated on g-. Gefnir eru englar góðir ‘good angels are granted’ was mentioned by Rafn in Fær 1832 on the basis of existing Faroese versions of the kredda (and cited from there in Foote 1969a, 356-7). This would be unmetrical, but gefnir eru góðir englar would be satisfactory. (c) However, the sense is complete, the stanza is written out without a break in Flat, and given the symbolic resonances of the number seven, it could be that there is no line missing (cf. Foote 1969a, 359-60).
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