ESk Geisl 3^VII

Siðar heilags brá sólar
— setrs vas þat fyr betra
auðfinnǫndum annars
ómjós rǫðuls — ljósi.
Œztr þrifnuðr réð efnask
oss, þás líf á krossi
jarðar allra fyrða
ónauðigr tók dauða.

{Ljósi {sólar heilags siðar}} brá; þat vas {auðfinnǫndum} fyr {betra {ómjós setrs annars rǫðuls}}. Œztr þrifnuðr réð efnask oss, þás tók ónauðigr líf allra fyrða jarðar dauða á krossi.

{The light {of the sun of holy faith}} [= God > = Christ] was extinguished; {for finders of riches} [MEN] that preceded {the better [light] {of the not-small abode of another sun}} [SKY/HEAVEN > = God (= Christ)]. The best prosperity decided to bring itself to us when he, willing, won the life of all the men of earth through death on a cross.

Mss: Flat(2ra), Bb(117ra)

Readings: [2] setrs: setr Bb    [3] ‑finnǫndum (‘‑finnandum’): so Bb, ‘‑finnendum’ Flat    [4] ómjós (‘o mioss’): so Bb, ‘o míors’ Flat;    ljósi: so Bb, ‘liorsi’ Flat    [5] réð: nam Bb

Editions: Skj AI, 459, Skj BI, 427, Skald I, 211, NN §§927, 928, 2315A; Flat 1860-8, I, 1, Cederschiöld 1873, 1, Chase 2005, 53, 127-9.

Notes: [1] siðar ‘faith’: This edn, with Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) and Kock (Skald; NN §2315), reads this as the gen. sg. of the noun siðr ‘religious practice, faith’ and construes: Ljósi sólar heilags siðar brá ‘The light of the sun of holy faith was extinguished’. Another possibility is to read the first word with a long ‘i’, síðar, the comp. form of the adv. síð, with the sense Síðar brá sólar ljósi ‘Later, the light of the sun [= Christ] was destroyed’. Síðar is then a reference to the preceding st., and its initial position in st. 3 may suggest that it is meant as a transition between the two. For this reading, see Chase 2005, 53 and 127. The long form, síðar, is unmetrical, however, as resolution is required in position one to avoid a hypermetrical l. — [2] setrs ‘of the abode’: Flat’s reading requires the assumption of a noun (‘light’) for betra to qualify. Kock (NN §927; Skald) adopts Bb’s setr to give þat vas fyr betra setr ... ‘that was for [the purpose of] a better home ...’. — [2, 4, 3] betra ómjós setrs annars rǫðuls ‘the better [light] of the not-small abode of another sun’: This kenning is likely to refer to the new and more powerful light of the resurrected Christ by contrast with the kenning ljósi sólar heilags siðar ‘the light of the sun of holy faith’ in ll. 1, 4 where the reference is to Christ’s death at the Crucifixion. Alternatively, the phrase vas fyrir could mean ‘heralded’ and its object be understood simply as ‘the better light of heaven’ (so Skj B).

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. Cederschiöld, Gustaf J. Chr., ed. 1873b. ‘Bandamanna saga’. Acta Universitatis Lundensis 10.
4. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
6. Cederschiöld, Gustaf J. Chr., ed. 1873a. Geisli eða Óláfs Drápa ens Helga er Einarr orti Skúlason: efter ‘Bergsboken’ utgifven. Acta Universitatis Lundensis 10. Lund: Berling.
7. Chase, Martin, ed. 2005. Einarr Skúlason’s Geisli. A Critical Edition. Toronto Old Norse and Icelandic Studies 1. Toronto, Buffalo and London: Toronto University Press.
8. Flat 1860-8 = Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and C. R. Unger, eds. 1860-8. Flateyjarbók. En samling af norske konge-sagaer med indskudte mindre fortællinger om begivenheder i og udenfor Norge samt annaler. 3 vols. Christiania (Oslo): Malling.