ESk Lv 13III
Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Einarr Skúlason, Lausavísur 13’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 176.
introduction
The stanza (ESk Lv 13) is transmitted in FoGT (ms. W; main ms.), in LaufE (mss 2368ˣ, 743ˣ) and in RE 1665(Kk). It is anonymous in FoGT but attributed to Einarr Skúlason in mss 2368ˣ and 743ˣ of LaufE (RE 1665 has Einar Skes qvade ‘Einar ‘Skes’ said’, clearly from a LaufE ms.). Faulkes (LaufE 1979, 169) finds that attribution plausible and suggests that Magnús Ólafsson may have known the stanza from another source besides W (but see TGT 1884, lxxx-lxxxii).
text and translation
Máni skínn af mœni
moldar hofs of foldir
alla stund, meðan endisk
ævi lands ok sævar.
Veitk félaga fljótum
fróns prýði vel þjóna;
þeim vitu eigi ýtar
auðit lífs né dauða.
Máni skínn af {mœni {hofs moldar}} of foldir alla stund, meðan ævi lands ok sævar endisk. Veitk {prýði fróns} þjóna fljótum félaga vel; ýtar vitu eigi þeim auðit lífs né dauða.
‘The moon shines from the roof-ridge of the temple of the ground [SKY > ZENITH] throughout the countries all the time while the life of land and sea endures. I know that the adorner of the earth [SUN] serves its swift companion well; people do not know that one has been allotted neither life nor death. ’
notes and context
In FoGT the stanza illustrates the rhetorical device homopatia (SnE 1848-87, II, 240, 242): tveir lutir eru svâ bunnir ok samþykkir, at þat megi segjast annarr gjöra sem annarr gjörir ‘two things are joined together and agree in such a way that it may be said that one does what the other does’. In this particular case, the moon takes on the office of the sun (SnE 1848-87, II, 242): Hèr er túnglinu kent embætti sólarinnar, at skína jafnliga á jörðina, fyrir því er þat hefvir ekki ljós af sèr, heldr af sólinni, ok er dökt þeim megin, sem frá henni horfir, en albjart þat er at henni horfir ‘Here the office of the sun is attributed to the moon, always to shine on the earth, because it does not have light from itself but from the sun, and it is dark on the side that turns away from it [the sun], but completely bright where it turns towards it’. In LaufE the stanza is given in the same context under the heading figura in the section on kennings for ‘sun’, and the surrounding prose is roughly the same as in W.
For a more detailed discussion of this stanza and its indebtedness to medieval works on cosmology, see Clunies Ross and Gade (2012). — [7-8]: The last clause in the stanza must refer to the fact that the moon gives off no light on its own but takes its light from the sun (see Context above). This is also an idea that is widely discussed in ancient and medieval writings on cosmology (see Clunies Ross and Gade 2012, 206).
readings
sources
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.
-
AM 242 fol (W) — 118/27 - 118/29
images -
GKS 2368 4°x (2368x) — 124 - 124
Máni skínn af mœðu
images
moldar hofs of foldir
alla stund, meðan endisk
ævi lands ok sævar.
Veitk félaga fljótum
fróns prýði vel þjóna;
þeim vita eigi ýtar
auðit lífs né dauða. -
AM 743 4°x (743x) — 93v/7 - 93v/14
images
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