Anon (FoGT) 5^III

Allr lýtr heimr und hylli
heilags friðar deilis.

Allr heimr lýtr und hylli {heilags deilis friðar}.

The whole world bows before the grace {of the holy distributor of salvation} [= God].

Mss: W(112) (FoGT)

Readings: [1] heimr: ‘[…]imr’ W

Editions: Skj AII, 163, Skj BII, 180, Skald II, 94; SnE 1848-87, II, 196-7, III, 154, FoGT 1884, 122, 245, FoGT 2004, 33, 61, 92, FoGT 2014, 6-7, 60.

Context: This couplet is cited in FoGT as an example of the figure of cosmographia, which is defined by the author thus: Cosmographía er þat, er skalldit seger fra heimsins skipan, skapan, stǫðv ęðr hættí ęðr setningv, sem her ‘Cosmographia is when the poet speaks about the order of the world, its creation, location or nature or design, as here’.

Notes: [All]: Björn Magnússon Ólsen (FoGT 1884, 245) considered this couplet was rather an unconvincing instance of the figure of cosmographia, and thought the example might be somewhat older than the treatise itself rather than a creation of the author. However, from the perspective of a medieval Christian, there is no problem in understanding the couplet as describing the nature or mode of being (háttr) of the world. — [1] heimr ‘world’: Although the first two letters are now largely obscured, earlier eds have not indicated any difficulty in reading heimr. — [2] friðar ‘of salvation’: Translated here in the specifically Christian sense of salvation rather than the less specific ‘peace’ (cf. LP: friðr 5).

References

1. Bibliography
2. SnE 1848-87 = Snorri Sturluson. 1848-87. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar: Edda Snorronis Sturlaei. Ed. Jón Sigurðsson et al. 3 vols. Copenhagen: Legatum Arnamagnaeanum. Rpt. Osnabrück: Zeller, 1966.
3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. LP = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1931. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis: Ordbog over det norsk-islandske skjaldesprog oprindelig forfattet af Sveinbjörn Egilsson. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Møller.
5. FoGT 1884 = Björn Magnússon Ólsen, ed. 1884. Den tredje og fjærde grammatiske afhandling i Snorres Edda tilligemed de grammatiske afhandlingers prolog og to andre tillæg. SUGNL 12. Copenhagen: Knudtzon.
6. FoGT 2004 = Longo, Michele, ed. [2004]. ‘Il Quarto Trattato Grammaticale Islandese: Testo, Traduzione e Commento’. Dottorato di Ricerca in ‘Linguistica Sincronica e Diacronica’ (XV Ciclo). Palermo: Università degli Studi di Palermo, Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia.
7. FoGT 2014 = Clunies Ross, Margaret and Jonas Wellendorf, eds. 2014. The Fourth Grammatical Treatise. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
8. Internal references
9. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, The Fourth Grammatical Treatise’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=34> (accessed 30 April 2024)