Martin Chase (ed.) 2007, ‘Einarr Skúlason, Geisli 20’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 23-4.
Gerðusk brátt, þás barðisk
broddrjóðr við kyn þjóðar,
— gramr vanðit sá synðum
sik — jartegnir miklar.
Ljós brann líki vísa
lǫgskíðs yfir síðan,
þás ǫnd með sér sendis
samdœgris guð framði.
Miklar jartegnir gerðusk brátt, þás {broddrjóðr} barðisk við kyn þjóðar; sá gramr vanðit sik synðum. Síðan brann ljós yfir líki vísa, þás guð framði ǫnd {sendis {lǫgskíðs}} með sér samdœgris.
Great miracles were wrought immediately, when {the point-reddener} [WARRIOR] had fought with the family of the people; that king did not accustom himself to sins. Then light burned over the body of the prince, when God raised the soul {of the sender {of the sea-ski}} [SHIP > SEAFARER] to himself on the same day.
Mss: Flat(2ra), Bb(117va)
Readings: [1] Gerðusk: ‘Gerdiz’ Flat, ‘Giordizt’ Bb; þás (‘þá er’): þar er Bb [3] vanðit: ‘vandiz’ Flat, ‘firde’ Bb [4] miklar: so Bb, ‘milar’ Flat [5] vísa: ræsis Bb [7] þás (‘þá er’): því at Bb; sendis: ‘sendiz’ Flat, ‘syndiz’ Bb [8] samdœgris: ‘sam dægrs’ Flat, ‘samdægurs’ Bb
Editions: Skj AI, 462-3, Skj BI, 432, Skald I, 213; Flat 1860-8, I, 3, Cederschiöld 1873, 3, Chase 2005, 70, 142.
Notes: [All]: There are numerous variant readings in this st., though in most cases the better choice is clear. However, it is necessary to emend l. 1 Gerðusk (following an original suggestion of Cederschiöld) to give a 3rd pers. pret. m.v. verb ‘were wrought’, l. 3 vanðit ‘[he] did not accustom’, l. 7 sendis ‘of the sender’ (where both mss have -‘z’, probably indicating a m.v. ending) and l. 8 samdægris ‘on the same day’ (to give a six-syllable l.). — [1, 7] þás, þás ‘when, when’: Flat has þás (‘þá er’) ‘when’ in both these cases, but Bb has þars (‘þar er’) ‘where’ in l. 1 and því at ‘because’ in l. 7. These variants make quite a difference to the sense of the st. In the first case, Bb’s version suggests that miracles were wrought on the battlefield, while Flat’s indicates they occurred after the battle has taken place. In the second instance Bb suggests that the light burned over Óláfr’s body because God had taken it to heaven on the same day he died (as in ÓHLeg 1982, 196, quoted in Chase 2005, 36-7), whereas Flat is again concerned with chronology. Skj B adopts Bb’s readings in ll. 1, and 8, but Skald does so in l. 1 only.
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