Note to Anon Líkn 10^VII

[3, 2, 4] skilfingi skírs árs (dat.) ‘king of bright abundance [= God (= Christ)]’: This is the poem’s first of several uses of ár in a kenning for God or Christ; cf. 17/1 árstillir ‘instituter of abundance’, 20/5 árveitir ‘abundance giver’, 46/2-3 árs öðlingr ‘prince of year’s abundance’, 47/3 árs eflir ‘strengthener of year’s abundance’. In each of these, either the temporal sense ‘year’ or the beneficent concept of ‘(year’s) abundance’ (cf. Lat. annona) accords with the divine referent, as creator of time or as giver of bounty and good fortune. Such kennings only occur in Líkn, and the concentration of them, together with other instances of the word (see Notes to 5/5 and possibly 2/5), may support de Vries’s speculation (1964-7, II, 76) that the overall number of sts is symbolic of the fifty-two weeks of the year. Snorri Sturluson (SnE 1931, 184; SnE 1998, I, 103) defines skilfingr ‘king, prince’ (l. 4) as a descendent of the legendary warrior king Skelfir; cf. OE scylfingas. Used of Christ or God only here, the heiti also occurs in Geisl 13/3 of S. Óláfr.

References

1. Bibliography
2. SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
3. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
4. Internal references
5. 2022, ‘ Anonymous, Droplaugarsona 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. 136-150. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=24> (accessed 27 April 2024)
7. George S. Tate 2007, ‘ Anonymous, Líknarbraut’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 228-86. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1024> (accessed 27 April 2024)
8. Martin Chase (ed.) 2007, ‘Einarr Skúlason, Geisli 13’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 18.