Carolyne Larrington and Peter Robinson (eds) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Sólarljóð 69’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 345.
Menn sá ek þá, er margt höfðu
gefit at guðs lögum;
hreinir kyndlar váru yfir höfði þeim
brendir bjartliga.
Ek sá menn þá, er margt höfðu gefit at guðs lögum; hreinir kyndlar váru brendir bjartliga yfir höfði þeim.
‘I saw men then who had given much according to God’s laws; pure candles were being burned brightly over their heads.’
Sts 69-72 employ the Menn sá ek þá formula, by contrast with sts 61-7, to give examples of people who had performed good deeds.
Text is based on reconstruction from the base text and variant apparatus and may contain alternative spellings and other normalisations not visible in the manuscript text. Transcriptions may not have been checked and should not be cited.
Menn ek sá þá,
margt höfðu
gefit at guðs lögum;
hreinir kyndlar
váru yfir höfði þeim
breiddir bjartliga.
Menn sá ek þá,
er margt höfðu
gefit at guðs lögum;
hreinir kyndlar
váru yfir höfði þeim
brendir bjartliga.
Menn sá ek þar,
er margt höfðu
gefit at guðs lögum;
hreinir kyndlar
váru yfir höfði þeim
brendir bjartliga.
Menn ek sá þá,
er mark höfðu
gefit at guðs lögum;
hreinir kyndlar
váru yfir höfði þeim
brendir bjartliga.
Menn sá ek þá,
er mark höfðu
gefit at guðs lögum;
hreinir kyndlar
váru yfir höfði þeim
brendir bjartliga.
Menn sá ek þá,
er margt höfðu
gefit at guðs vilja;
hreinir kyndlar
váru yfir höfði þeim
brendir bjartliga.
Menn sá ek þá,
sem margt höfðu
gefit at guðs lögum;
hreinir kyndlar
váru of höfði þeim
brendir bjartliga.
Meɴ sa ek þa | sem margt haufþo | gefit at guþs laugom | hreinir kindlar uaro | of haufþi þeim | breɴdir beartliga ||
(TW)
Menn sá ek þá,
er margt höfðu
gefit at guðs lögum;
hreinir kyndlar
váru yfir höfði þeim
brendir bjartliga.
Skj: Anonyme digte og vers [XII], G [6]. Sólarljóð 69: AI, 638, BI, 646, Skald I, 315; Bugge 1867, 368, Falk 1914, 45, Björn M. Ólsen 1915, 20, Fidjestøl 1979, 69, Njörður Njarðvík 1991, 96, Njörður Njarðvík 1993, 75, 142.
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