Anon Sól 4^VII

Mat ok drykk        veitti hann, þeim er móðr var,
        alt af heilum hug;
guðs hann gáði,        góðu honum beindi,
        þvít hann hugðiz váligr vera.

Hann veitti mat ok drykk, þeim er móðr var, alt af heilum hug; hann gáði guðs, beindi honum góðu, þvít hann hugðiz vera váligr.

He offered food and drink to the one who was tired, all with a good intention; he paid heed to God, offered him good things, although he [the robber] realised he was wicked.

Mss: 166bˣ(45v), papp15ˣ(1r-v), 738ˣ(80r), 155aˣ(8v), 167b 6ˣ(1v), 214ˣ(149r), 1441ˣ(581), 10575ˣ(1v), 2797ˣ(231)

Readings: [1] drykk: drykkju papp15ˣ, 1441ˣ, 2797ˣ, drykkinn 167b 6ˣ    [2] veitti: inn veitti 167b 6ˣ;    er: so papp15ˣ, 738ˣ, 155aˣ, 167b 6ˣ, 1441ˣ, 10575ˣ, 2797ˣ, om. 166bˣ, 214ˣ    [5] honum: hann 1441ˣ    [6] váligr: so papp15ˣ, 1441ˣ, ‘vælligr’ 166bˣ, 738ˣ, 155aˣ, 214ˣ, ‘vælligr’ corrected from ‘væ’ 167b 6ˣ, ‘voligr’ 10575ˣ, 2797ˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 628, Skj BI, 636, Skald I, 309, NN §§2814, 2145; Bugge 1867, 358, Falk 1914, 1, Björn M. Ólsen 1915, 7, Fidjestøl 1979, 60, Njörður Njarðvík 1991, 44-5, Njörður Njarðvík 1993, 10, 92.

Notes: [6] váligr ‘wicked’: The reading of papp15ˣ and 1441ˣ, explained by LP: forfærdelig, som man kan vænte noget slemt af ‘frightening, from whom one can expect something bad’. 166bˣ, 738ˣ, 155aˣ and 214ˣ have the otherwise unknown word ‘vælligr’. Björn M. Ólsen (1915, 27) argues that this is a form of værligr derived from værr ‘cheerful’, implying that the robber is intending to do good. Interpretation of l. 6 has been problematic: Skj B emends the verb to a negative (hugðit) and translates ti han trode ikke at han var svigfuld ‘for he did not think that he [the guest] was treacherous’. The present translation, following Falk (1914a, 3) and Fidjestøl (1979, 23), indicates that the robber has repented of his previous wickedness and now recognises the obligations of hospitality, though this will cost him his life in the next st. Njörður Njarðvík (1991, 185-6) notes a verbal similarity with Hsv 110/6 ok þykkiz válaðr vera ‘and thinks himself to be wretched’. Falk (1914a, 3) traces the thought that it is possible to atone for the sin of murder with one’s life to the Visio Gottschalchi, ch. 43 (Assmann 1979, 126-7). There however, murderers are warned that if their victim is Christian, they will not be freed from punishment before the Last Judgement, even though they repent of their sin.

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.
5. 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.
6. Assmann, Erwin, ed. 1979. Godeschalcus und Visio Godeschalci. Quellen und Forschungen zur Geschichte Schleswig-Holsteins 74. Neumünster: Karl Wachholtz.
7. Fidjestøl, Bjarne, ed. 1979a. Sólarljóð: Tydning og Tolkningsgrunnlag. Nordisk Instituts skrifteserie 4. Bergen, Oslo and Tromsø: Universitetsforlaget.
8. Björn Magnússon Ólsen, ed. 1915a. Sólarljóð: gefin út með skíringum og athugasemdum. Safn til sögu Íslands og íslenzkra bókmenta 5.1. Reykjavík: Prentsmiðja Gutenberg.
9. Bugge, Sophus, ed. 1867. Norrœn fornkvæði. Islandsk samling af folkelige oldtidsdigte om nordens guder og heroer. Almindelig kaldet Sæmundar Edda hins frøda. Christiania (Oslo): Malling. Rpt. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget 1965.
10. Falk, Hjalmar, ed. 1914a. Sólarljóð. Videnskapsselskapets skrifter II. Hist.-filos. kl. 7. 2 vols. Kristiania (Oslo): Dybwad.
11. Njörður P. Njarðvik, ed. 1991. Sólarljóð. Útgáfa og umfjöllun. Íslensk Rit 10. Reykjavík: Bókmenntafræðistofnun Háskóla Íslands og Menningarsjóður.
12. Njörður P. Njarðvik. 1993. Solsången. Akademisk avhandling för filosofiedoktorsexamen i nordiska språk. Göteborgs universitet: Institutionen för svensk språket.
13. Internal references
14. Tarrin Wills and Stefanie Gropper (eds) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Hugsvinnsmál 110’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 425-6.