Cite as: Kirsten Wolf (ed.) 2007, ‘Kálfr Hallsson, Kátrínardrápa 41’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 957.
Porphíríum fyr píslir stórar
prýddan vann og tvenn hundrað manna;
giet eg þess víst, að gumnar hljóti
göfuglig laun af sólar jöfri. |
Ljúfri bauð enn lestir hlífa
lofðungs ambátt himintungla,
auð og fold að eignaz skyldi,
eitri líkr, en drotning heita. |
Porphíríum og tvenn hundrað manna vann prýddan fyr stórar píslir; eg giet þess, að gumnar hljóti víst göfuglig laun af {jöfri sólar}. {Lestir hlífa}, líkr eitri, bauð enn {ljúfri ambátt {lofðungs himintungla}}, að skyldi eignaz auð og fold en heita drotning.
Porphyry and two hundred men achieved honour for their great torments; I expect that the men will surely receive a generous reward from {the king of the sun} [= God]. {The destroyer of defences} [WARRIOR], like poison, again offered {the beloved handmaid {of the king of heavenly bodies}} [= God > HOLY WOMAN] that she would receive wealth and land and be called queen.
Mss: 713(133), 399a-bˣ(22), 920ˣ(218r)
Readings: [1] Porphíríum: so 399a‑bˣ, 920ˣ, ‘Forphirium’ 713 [2] prýddan: so 399a‑bˣ, 920ˣ, ‘pr[...]ddan’ 713 [3] þess: added in margin 713, om. 399a‑bˣ, 920ˣ [6] ambátt himintungla: so 399a‑bˣ, ‘a[...] himenn tungl[...]’ 713, om. 920ˣ [7] auð (‘au(ð)’): so 399a‑bˣ, ‘[...]’ 713, om. 920ˣ [8] drotning: so 399a‑bˣ, 920ˣ, ‘drot[...]’ 713; heita: so 399a‑bˣ, 920ˣ, ‘h[...]’ 713
Editions: Skj: [Anonyme digte og vers XIV], [B. 11]. Katrínar drápa 41: AII, 524, BII, 579, Skald II, 319, NN §2963, Kahle 1898, 75-6, 108, Sperber 1911, 52, 82.
Notes: [All]: Between sts 41-5, 713 is defective because p. 133 has a tear running more or less vertically for about half its length. — [1-2] Porphíríum og tvenn hundrað manna vann prýddan ‘Porphyry and two hundred men achieved honour’: On this impersonal use of vinna, see Fritzner: vinna 7. — [8] líkr eitri ‘like poison’: Nothing quite comparable in the prose text (Unger 1877, I, 420; Wolf 2003, 34); the poet presumably implies that Maxentius reverts again and again to the only means of persuasion he knows, the offer of marriage and secular power, which is anathema to the bride of Christ. — [8] heita (inf.) ‘be called’: Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) and Kock (Skald) emend to heiti ‘title’ for heita ‘be called’, which alters the meaning of the phrase eignaz skyldi ... drotning heiti to ‘would receive ... the title of queen’.