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.
Mss: 166bˣ(48r), papp15ˣ(6v-7r), 738ˣ(83r), 167b 6ˣ(3v), 214ˣ(152r), 1441ˣ(587), 10575ˣ(9v), 2797ˣ(236-237)
Readings: [1] sá ek: so papp15ˣ, 738ˣ, 214ˣ, 1441ˣ, 10575ˣ, 2797ˣ, ek sá 166bˣ, 167b 6ˣ; þá: þar 738ˣ [2] er: so papp15ˣ, 738ˣ, 167b 6ˣ, 214ˣ, 1441ˣ, 2797ˣ, om. 166bˣ, sem 10575ˣ; margt: mark 167b 6ˣ, 214ˣ [3] lögum: vilja 1441ˣ [5] yfir: of 10575ˣ [6] brendir: so papp15ˣ, 738ˣ, 167b 6ˣ, 214ˣ, 1441ˣ, 10575ˣ, 2797ˣ, breiddir 166bˣ
Editions: Skj AI, 638, Skj 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.
Notes: [All]: 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. — [1] sá ek ‘I saw’: See Note to 61/1 above. — [2] er ‘who’: See Note to 4/2 above. — [2] margt ‘much’: The virtue of charity is rewarded, but if mark ‘heed’ is adopted from 167b 6ˣ and 214ˣ in place of margt, as Fidjestøl (1979, 55-6) advocates, it becomes a more generalised sentiment about paying heed to God’s laws. — [6] brendir ‘(being) burned’: 166bˣ’s breiddir ‘spread’ is a possible if less convincing reading, but it occurs in only one other ms.
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