ESk Geisl 36^VII

Hildings hefir haldin
hôtíð verit síðan
— sannspurt es þat sunnan —
snjalls of Danmǫrk alla.
Greitt má gumnum létta
guðs ríðari stríðum;
rǫskr þiggr allt sem œskir,
Óláfr af gram sólar.

Síðan hefir hôtíð snjalls hildings verit haldin of alla Danmǫrk; þat es sannspurt sunnan. {Guðs ríðari} má greitt létta stríðum gumnum; rǫskr Óláfr þiggr allt, sem œskir, af {gram sólar}.

Since then the feast of the clever warrior has been observed throughout all Denmark; that is truly learned from the south. {God’s knight} [SAINT = Óláfr] can easily alleviate afflictions for men; brave Óláfr gets all he desires from {the king of the sun} [= God].

Mss: Flat(2rb), Bb(117vb)

Readings: [1] Hildings: Mildings Bb    [4] of: so Bb, um Flat    [5-8] abbrev. as ‘Greitt’ Flat, ‘Greitt m.’ Bb

Editions: Skj AI, 465, Skj BI, 436, Skald I, 215, NN §2971; Flat 1860-8, I, 4, Cederschiöld 1873, 6, Chase 2005, 86, 150.

Notes: [3] sunnan ‘from the south’: This adv. is construed as part of the intercalary cl. in l. 3 sannspurt es þat sunnan ‘that is truly known from the south’ (so Skj B), but Kock argues that it belongs with the main cl., and this interpretation is also followed in Chase 2005, 86 and 150. Kock cites a number of examples of similar one-l. parentheses in the poem where the final word of the l. is clearly not to be construed with the preceding phrase and construes ‘Since then the feast of the clever warrior has been observed in the south, throughout all Denmark; that is truly learned’ (NN §2791B). The problem with this reading, however, is that sunnan does not normally mean ‘in the south’; there is also a measure of redundancy in ‘in the south, throughout all Denmark’.

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.