Anon Sól 45^VII

Sól ek sá        síðan aldri
        eptir þann dapra dag,
þvít fjalla vötn        lukðuz fyrir mér saman,
        en ek hvarf kaldr frá kvölum.

Ek sá sól aldri síðan eptir þann dapra dag, þvít vötn fjalla lukðuz saman fyrir mér, en ek hvarf kaldr frá kvölum.

I saw the sun never again after that gloomy day, for the waters of the mountains closed together in front of me, and I turned away cold from the torments.

Mss: 166bˣ(47r), papp15ˣ(5r), 738ˣ(82r), 214ˣ(151r), 1441ˣ(584), 10575ˣ(6v-7r), 2797ˣ(234)

Readings: [5] fyrir: yfir 10575ˣ    [6] kaldr: kallaðr papp15ˣ, 2797ˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 634-5, Skj BI, 642, Skald I, 312; Bugge 1867, 364, Falk 1914, 19, Björn M. Ólsen 1915, 15, Fidjestøl 1979, 66, Njörður Njarðvík 1991, 75-6, Njörður Njarðvík 1993, 51, 122.

Notes: [4] vötn fjalla ‘the waters of the mountains’: Falk (1914a, 26-7) relates these to the straumar gylfar of 42/4; water and mountain are part of the landscape of the entrance to the Other World. Paasche (1914a, 146) and Björn M. Ólsen (1915, 44) construe vötn fjalla as ‘lakes of the mountains’; for Paasche these close together, lukðusk saman, as the soul flies above the earth. Björn M. Ólsen objects to the presence of mountain-lakes in the seascape he imagines, and emends fjalla to fjarla ‘distant’. Njörður Njarðvík (1991, 76) compares the eschatological prophecy of Isa. XXX.25: et erunt super omnem montem excelsum et super omnem collem elevatum rivi currentium aquarum in die interfectionis multorum cum ceciderint turres ‘and there shall be upon every high mountain, and upon every elevated hill rivers of running waters on the day of the slaughter of many, when the towers shall fall’. — [6] kaldr ‘cold’: This adj. appears in 166bˣ and in many other mss, making reasonable sense, and is accepted by Skj B and Skald. Kallaðr ‘called’ in papp15ˣ, 2797ˣ and another 28 mss was adopted by Bugge, Falk, Björn M. Ólsen, Fidjestøl and Njörður Njarðvík. Since it often collocates with kvölum, cf. st. 24/6, it may have been attracted into the st. for that reason.

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. Fidjestøl, Bjarne, ed. 1979a. Sólarljóð: Tydning og Tolkningsgrunnlag. Nordisk Instituts skrifteserie 4. Bergen, Oslo and Tromsø: Universitetsforlaget.
5. Björn Magnússon Ólsen, ed. 1915a. Sólarljóð: gefin út með skíringum og athugasemdum. Safn til sögu Íslands og íslenzkra bókmenta 5.1. Reykjavík: Prentsmiðja Gutenberg.
6. 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.
7. Falk, Hjalmar, ed. 1914a. Sólarljóð. Videnskapsselskapets skrifter II. Hist.-filos. kl. 7. 2 vols. Kristiania (Oslo): Dybwad.
8. Njörður P. Njarðvik, ed. 1991. Sólarljóð. Útgáfa og umfjöllun. Íslensk Rit 10. Reykjavík: Bókmenntafræðistofnun Háskóla Íslands og Menningarsjóður.
9. Njörður P. Njarðvik. 1993. Solsången. Akademisk avhandling för filosofiedoktorsexamen i nordiska språk. Göteborgs universitet: Institutionen för svensk språket.
10. Paasche, Fredrik. 1914. Kristendom og kvad: En studie i norrøn middelalder. Christiania (Oslo): Aschehoug. Rpt. in Paasche 1948, 29-212.