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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Anon Sól 62VII

Carolyne Larrington and Peter Robinson (eds) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Sólarljóð 62’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 340.

Anonymous PoemsSólarljóð
616263

Menn sá ek þá        marga ófegna;
        þeir váru villir vega;
þat kaupir sá,        er þessa heims
        apaz at óheillum.

Ek sá marga ófegna menn þá; þeir váru villir vega; sá kaupir þat, er apaz at óheillum þessa heims.

I saw many unhappy men then; they had gone astray [lit. were erring with regard to ways]; he purchases that [unhappiness], who fools himself into the misfortunes of this world.

Mss: 166bˣ(47v-48r), papp15ˣ(6r), 738ˣ(82v), 167b 6ˣ(3r), 214ˣ(151v), 1441ˣ(586), 10575ˣ(8v-9r), 2797ˣ(236)

Readings: [1] ek: so papp15ˣ, 738ˣ, 167b 6ˣ, 214ˣ, 1441ˣ, 10575ˣ, 2797ˣ, ek sá 166bˣ;    þá: so 214ˣ, 1441ˣ, þar 166bˣ, papp15ˣ, 738ˣ, 167b 6ˣ, 10575ˣ, 2797ˣ    [2] marga: er marga 214ˣ, 1441ˣ, margu 10575ˣ;    ófegna: ófegri 738ˣ, ófegri corrected from ‘ofegrgra’ 167b 6ˣ, ófegra 214ˣ, fegna 10575ˣ    [3] villir: allir villir papp15ˣ, 2797ˣ;    vega: vegar 214ˣ, 10575ˣ    [6] apaz: apar papp15ˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 637, Skj BI, 645, Skald I, 314, NN §2147D; Bugge 1867, 367, Falk 1914, 38, Björn M. Ólsen 1915, 19, Fidjestøl 1979, 68, Njörður Njarðvík 1991, 92, Njörður Njarðvík 1993, 68, 139.

Notes: [1] sá ek þá ‘I saw then’: See Note to 61/1. Here also the reading þá has been chosen to preserve stylistic uniformity in preference to 166bˣ’s and other mss’ þar. — [6] óheillum ‘misfortunes’: Being unfortunate is not one of the usual sins, unlike öfund ‘envy’ (st. 61), covetousness (st. 63), theft (st. 64), failure to attend divine service (st. 65), pride (st. 66) and slander (st. 67) which can be paralleled in other visions of Hell, and in sermon exempla. The word produces an unmetrical l., so it is possible that originally a different noun stood in its place. NN §2147D and Skald change the w.o. of the l. to at óheillum apask. Njörður Njarðvík (1991, 92) suggests that worldliness has led these men from the path of righteousness.

References

  1. Bibliography
  2. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
  3. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 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.
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