Note to ESk Geisl 67^VII

[5-8]: There are considerable differences between Flat and Bb in the second helmingr. Neither version is unproblematic, so readings have been taken from both. The sense of ll. 5-8 is continued by the svát-cl. introducing st. 68. The interpretation offered here differs slightly from both Skj B and Kock (Skald and NN §951). Kock reads ll. 6-7 as an intercalary, adopting Flat’s l. 6, though with emendation of siklings to siklingr, and another emendation in l. 8 (heiðbjarts). Skj B takes lof hilmis ‘praise of the prince’ (Óláfr) together and constructs the kenning (st ens hæsta) siklings heiðbjartrar sólar bóls ‘(the highest love) of the king of the dwelling-place of the cloud-free sun [SKY/HEAVEN > = God]’. The cl. þess’s guð miklar ‘whom God makes great’ then depends on gen. sg. hilmis (l. 7), referring to Óláfr, which avoids the difficulty in the interpretation adopted here that the gen. phrase is the kenning siklings bóls heiðbjartrar sólar ‘lord of the dwelling-place of the cloud-free sun’, which must be assumed to refer, unusually, to the saint rather than to God.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.