Note to Anon Sól 55VII
[1] hjört sólar ‘the hart of the sun’: In Christian iconography the hart is a symbol of Christ. This significance was well known in Iceland from an early date, witness the Icel. Physiologus (Halldór Hermannsson 1938, 20) and the legend of S. Eustace/Plácitus, available in Icel. translation and poetry from at least the late C12th. See further Introduction to Anon Pl and Note to Pl 7/7-8. A hjartarhorn ‘hart’s horn’, most likely signifying Christ’s Cross, is mentioned in 78/4. The hart is also a symbol of nobility in eddic poetry, cf. HHund II 38 where Helgi is compared to an animal whose horn glóa við himinn siálfan ‘horns glow up to the very sky’, as also Guðr II 2/5. The image, like many others in the poem, clearly partakes both of Christian and indigenous mythological associations; see Amory (1985, especially 9-12 and 1990, 258-60).
References
- Bibliography
- Amory, Frederic. 1985. ‘Norse-Christian Syncretism and interpretatio christiana in Sólarljóð’. In [n. a.]. 1985. Workshop Papers of the Sixth International Saga Conference, 28.7-2.8 1985. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Det arnamagnæanske Institut, I, 1-25.
- Internal references
- 2022, ‘ Anonymous, Króka-Refs saga’ in Margaret Clunies Ross, Kari Ellen Gade and Tarrin Wills (eds), Poetry in Sagas of Icelanders. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 5. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 1186-1190. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=39> (accessed 23 April 2024)
- Jonna Louis-Jensen and Tarrin Wills (eds) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Plácitusdrápa 7’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 186-7.
- Jonna Louis-Jensen and Tarrin Wills 2007, ‘ Anonymous, Plácitusdrápa’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 179-220. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1039> (accessed 23 April 2024)
- Not published: do not cite ()
- Not published: do not cite ()