Note to Anon Leið 32^VII

[1, 3, 4] Ærir ǫðlings hreins bœs heiðar ‘servants of the prince of the pure dwelling of the heath [SKY/HEAVEN > = God ( = Christ) > APOSTLES]’: The ms. readings of the first part of the second word of l. 1 are confusing, though they seem to agree on the second part, presenting it as some form of the noun þing ‘meeting, assembly’. This is, however, difficult to fit into what appears to be a kenning for the Apostles as the subject of the first helmingr. If B’s reading eggþings ‘blade-meeting [BATTLE]’ is kept (so Skald and NN §2144), a standard kenning results: eggþings ærir ‘envoys of the blade-meeting [BATTLE > WARRIORS]’, but heiðar bœs ‘of the dwelling of the heath [SKY/HEAVEN]’ is unaccounted for, unless the idea of ‘heaven’s warriors’, invoked by Kock in NN is correct. Finnur Jónsson’s suggested emendation of B’s eggþings to ǫðlings ‘prince, ruler’ has been followed here, except that hreins ‘pure’ is taken with bœs rather than ǫðlings. The resulting kenning is parallel to ǫðlingr salar rǫðla ‘prince of the hall of heavenly bodies [SKY/HEAVEN > = God]’ in 33/2.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
3. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.