[1-2] mála-dísir dróttins ‘the confidential-dísir of the Lord’: It is not clear whether mála should be regarded as part of a cpd noun, or as a simplex. If the latter (see below), emendation is required. Falk (1914a, 15), Björn M. Ólsen (1915, 36), and Fidejstøl (1979, 42-3) understand mála-dísir as de diser sem taler med Gud ‘the dísir who talk with God’, that is, God’s confidantes; Falk compares málvinr ‘a friend one habitually talks to, a close friend, confidant’ (LP: málvina, málvinr). Skj B, followed by Skald, emends mála to málur acc. pl. (LP: mála ‘confidential female friend’), and construes bið þér dísir, dróttins málur ‘pray to the dísir, the Lord’s confidantes’. The mála-dísir or dróttins málur may be, Falk and Björn M. Ólsen suggest, virgin saints who have an intercessory role. Falk notes that they appear in Visio Tnugdali (Cahill 1983, 104-5), Visio Alberici (Mirra 1932, 99) and Visio Thurkilli (Schmidt 1978, 36), near the throne of God. For Fidjestøl’s and Amory’s views of the syncretic tendencies of Sól, particularly in this st., see Introduction.
References
- Bibliography
- Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
- 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.
- Björn Magnússon Ólsen, ed. 1915a. Sólarljóð: gefin út með skíringum og athugasemdum. Safn til sögu Íslands og íslenzkra bókmenta 5.1. Reykjavík: Prentsmiðja Gutenberg.
- Cahill, Peter, ed. and trans. 1983. Duggals leiðsla. RSÁM A 25. Reykjavík: Stofnun Árna Magnússonar.
- Schmidt, Paul Gerhard, ed. 1978. Visio Thurkilli, relatore, ut videtur, Radulpho de Coggeshall. Bibliotheca scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana. Leipzig: Teubner.
- Falk, Hjalmar, ed. 1914a. Sólarljóð. Videnskapsselskapets skrifter II. Hist.-filos. kl. 7. 2 vols. Kristiania (Oslo): Dybwad.
- Mirra, Antonio D., ed. 1932. ‘La visione di Alberico’. In Inguanez et al. 1932, 33-79.
- Internal references
- 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Sǫrla þáttr’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 785. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=41> (accessed 29 March 2024)
- Carolyne Larrington and Peter Robinson 2007, ‘ Anonymous, Sólarljóð’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 287-357. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1041> (accessed 29 March 2024)