Note to Gamlkan Has 24^VII

[4] ríkis ‘of the kingdom’: In his prose arrangement in 444ˣ Sveinbjörn Egilsson retains B’s reading, ríki, which he takes to be the weak m. nom. sg. form of ríkr ‘powerful’, qualifying skepjandi. Kempff (1867, 37) also adopts this interpretation. There is no other example of the weak form of the adj. in such a vocative expression elsewhere in Has. In MIcel., too, the strong form is invariably used, as, for example, in such expressions as almáttigur guð ‘Almighty God’ or guð minn góður ‘my good God’. This edn therefore follows Finnur Jónsson in taking the ms.’s ‘ríki’ to represent ríki n. ‘kingdom, empire’ and emends to ríkis, governed by skepjandi (l. 4). Although there is not an exact parallel to the resultant earth-kenning láðs ríki (LP: ríki), a similar concept is found in common expressions like himinríki ‘kingdom of heaven’ and in the God-kenning konungr fróns ‘king of earth’ in Líkn 33/1-2, and there is no difficulty in characterising God as the creator (skepjandi) of either heaven or earth.

References

1. Bibliography
2. 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.
3. Kempff, Hjalmar, ed. 1867. Kaniken Gamles ‘Harmsól’ (Sol i Sorgen): isländskt andligt qväde från medeltiden med öfversättning och förklaringar. Uppsala: Edquist & Berglund.
4. Internal references
6. George S. Tate (ed.) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Líknarbraut 33’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 264-6.
7. Katrina Attwood 2007, ‘ Gamli kanóki, Harmsól’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 70-132. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1196> (accessed 6 April 2025)