Anon Alpost 2^VII

Páll berr prís yfir alla
Paulus gjörr af Saulo,
lýða valdr á láði
lærifaðirinn skæri.
Krossfestum var hann Kristo
kærr og Pétro næri;
hans háleitar bænir
hlífi oss að eilífu.
Komi hier kærr riett inni
Kristr að Paulus minni.

Páll, skæri lærifaðirinn, berr prís yfir alla, Paulus gjörr af Saulo, {valdr lýða á láði}. Hann var kærr krossfestum Kristo og næri Pétro; hlífi hans háleitar bænir oss að eilífu. Komi kærr Kristr riett inni hier að minni Paulus.

Paul, the pure mentor, surpasses all, from Saul made Paul, {ruler of people on earth} [KING = Paul]. He was dear to the crucified Christ, and near to Peter; may his exalted prayers protect us forever. May the beloved Christ enter straight in here, to the memorial toast for Paul.

Mss: 721(15r)

Readings: [6] næri: ‘[...](æ)rri’(?) 721    [7] háleitar: ‘haleit(ar)’(?) 721    [10] að Paulus: ‘(at p)aulus’(?) 721

Editions: Skj AII, 509, Skj BII, 559, Skald II, 306.

Notes: [1] Páll ‘Paul’: On S. Paul the Apostle, see Cross and Livingstone 1983, 1046-8; Jón Þorkelsson 1888, 61-2, 66; Widding, Bekker-Nielsen and Shook 1963, 328-9; Gad 1968a, 150-3; Bekker-Nielsen 1968a, 153-4; Cormack 1994, 144-6, 244. — [2] Paulus gjörr af Saulo ‘from Saul made Paul’: Cf. Acts IX. 1-20, XIII.9; cf. IO 68, 1 Paulus, qui ante Saulus ‘Paul, who [was] previously Saul’; Páll¹ 216-17; Páll²A 240. — [3] valdr lýða á láði ‘ruler of people on earth [KING = Paul]’: Finnur Jónsson’s interpretation of l. 3 as menneskenes herre på jorden ‘ruler of people on earth’ (Skj B), followed here, applies to Paul a conventional kenning for a king; cf. lýða dróttinn (ǪrvOdd Ævdr 30/4^VIII), gramr (Sturl Hákfl 11/7^II), lofðungr (SnSt Ht 26/7^III), stillir (Bragi Rdr 10/1^III), þengill (SnSt Ht 21/1^III; Anon Pl 6/7); see Meissner, 352-8. — [4] lærifaðirinn ‘the mentor’: An allusion to Paul’s traditional epithet, doctor gentium ‘teacher of nations’, see 1 Tim. II.7: in quo positus sum ego praedicator et apostolus ... doctor gentium in fide et veritate ‘whereunto I am appointed a preacher and an apostle, ... a doctor of the gentiles in faith and truth’. Cf. Páll²A 279: Sva diupt standa orð Pals postola, þau er hann segir i sinum pistlum eða kenningum, at hann kallaz doctor gencium ‘The words of Paul the Apostle, which he utters in his epistles or teachings, are so deeply grounded that he is called doctor gentium’. This epithet might suggest that lærifaðirinn should be taken with lýða (l. 3), a plausible rendering of gentium, so that ll. 3-4 might be read as ‘the pure, powerful teacher of people(s) on earth’. However, this would require interpretation of valdr as an adj. ‘strong, mighty’, a strong form which is perhaps unlikely in apposition with weak skæri ‘pure’, a form required by the metre. — [5] hann ‘he’: The pron. is extrametrical. Similarly extrametrical are oss 3/8; hann 4/3, 10/7 and 12/3.

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. Meissner = Meissner, Rudolf. 1921. Die Kenningar der Skalden: Ein Beitrag zur skaldischen Poetik. Rheinische Beiträge und Hülfsbücher zur germanischen Philologie und Volkskunde 1. Bonn and Leipzig: Schroeder. Rpt. 1984. Hildesheim etc.: Olms.
5. Bekker-Nielsen, Hans. 1968a. ‘Paulus, apostel. Norrøn tradition’. KLNM 13, 153-4.
6. Cormack, Margaret. 1994a. The Saints in Iceland: Their Veneration from the Conversion to 1400. Studia Hagiographica 78. Brussels: Société des Bollandistes.
7. Cross, F. L. and E. A. Livingstone. 1983. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. 2nd edn. 4th impression. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 3rd rev. edn 2005 by E. A. Livingstone. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
8. Gad, Tue. 1968a. ‘Paulus, apostel’. KLNM 13, 150-3
9. IO = Gómez, César C., ed. 1985. [Isidore of Seville] De ortu et obitu patrum. Auteurs Latins du Moyen Age. Paris: Société d’Editions ‘Les Belles Lettres’.
10. Jón Þorkelsson [J. Thorkelsson]. 1888. Om digtningen på Island i det 15. og 16. århundrede. Copenhagen: Høst & søns forlag.
11. Internal references
12. Jonna Louis-Jensen and Tarrin Wills (eds) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Plácitusdrápa 6’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 185-6.
13. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Bragi inn gamli Boddason, Ragnarsdrápa 10’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 42.
14. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Snorri Sturluson, Háttatal 21’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1127.
15. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Snorri Sturluson, Háttatal 26’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1132.
16. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Sturla Þórðarson, Hákonarflokkr 11’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 755.
17. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Ǫrvar-Odds saga 100 (Ǫrvar-Oddr, Ævidrápa 30)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 911.