Anon Sól 70^VII

Menn sá ek þá,        er af miklum hug
        veittu fátækum frama;
lásu englar        helgar bækr
        ok himna skript yfir höfði þeim.

Ek sá menn þá, er af miklum hug veittu fátækum frama; englar lásu helgar bækr ok himna skript yfir höfði þeim.

I saw men then who from a generous spirit offered support to the poor; angels read holy books and heavenly writing [lit. writing of the heavens] over their heads.

Mss: 166bˣ(48r), papp15ˣ(7r), 738ˣ(83r), 167b 6ˣ(3v), 214ˣ(152r), 1441ˣ(587), 10575ˣ(10r), 2797ˣ(237)

Readings: [1] sá ek: ek sá 167b 6ˣ    [2] af: om. 738ˣ, 167b 6ˣ, 2797ˣ    [3] fátækum: ‘fakękom’ 10575ˣ    [6] ok himna skript: om. papp15ˣ, 738ˣ, 167b 6ˣ, 214ˣ, 1441ˣ, 10575ˣ, 2797ˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 638, Skj BI, 646-7, Skald I, 315; Bugge 1867, 368, Falk 1914, 45, Björn M. Ólsen 1915, 20-1, Fidjestøl 1979, 69, Njörður Njarðvík 1991, 96-7, Njörður Njarðvík 1993, 76, 143.

Notes: [All]: In a vision recounted in the Annals of S. Bertin, attributed to a ‘religious English man’, boys, who represent the blessed, read books with red and black script in alternating lines; the red ink recounts the deeds of the wicked, the black tells of good deeds (Grat et al. 1964, 29-30). Larrington (2002, 184) notes the preponderance of loan-words and references to church accoutrements in the description of the pleasures of heaven. — [4-6] lásu englar helgar bækr ok himna skript yfir höfði þeim ‘angels read holy books and heavenly writing over their heads’: Both alliteration and metre have gone awry in the last half of this st. There is no alliteration in ll. 4-5 and, although it supplies alliteration, the phrase ok himna skript makes l. 6 much too long. It is found only in 166bˣ and 8 other mss closely related to 166bˣ. Other eds have improved ll. 4-6 by altering the w.o.: Skj B, followed by Skald, have helgar bœkr | ok himna skript | lsu þeim englar yfir; Falk gives helgar bækr | ok himna skript; Fidjestøl puts ok himna skript in brackets, but leaves it at the beginning of l. 6.

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. Larrington, Carolyne. 2002. ‘Freyja and the Organ-Stool: Neo-paganism in Sólarljóð’. In Brogyanyi et al. 2002, 177-96.