Ekúl Kristdr 1III
Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Eilífr kúlnasveinn, Kristsdrápa 1’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 130.
text and translation
Hróts lýtr helgum crúci
heims ferð ok lið beima;
sannrs an ǫll dýrð ǫnnur
einn sólkonungr hreinni.
{Ferð {hróts heims}} ok {lið beima} lýtr helgum crúci; {sannr sólkonungr} [e]s einn hreinni an ǫll ǫnnur dýrð.
‘The host of the roof of the world [SKY/HEAVEN > ANGELS] and the company of men [HUMANS] bow to the holy cross; the true king of the sun [= God (= Christ)] is alone purer than all other glory.’
notes and context
The helmingr is introduced, among other examples of kennings for Christ, with the words svá kvað Eilífr kúlnasveinn ‘so said Eilífr kúlnasveinn’ (Eilífr alone without kúlnasveinn in U).
The scene envisaged in the first couplet of this helmingr is of angels on the one hand, and humans on the other, bowing down to worship Christ’s cross. In the second couplet the focus shifts to Christ himself. It is possible that the poet had a visual representation of the adoratio crucis ‘adoration of the cross’ in mind when composing these lines. — [4]: Three mss, R, Tˣ and W, have ein Máríu sveini here. No sense can be made of ll. 3-4 with this reading, which must have been produced by scribal dittography in an earlier exemplar of these mss, anticipating st. 2/2.
readings
- [1] Hróts: ‘hrp ᷎tz’ Tˣ, ‘hrocz’ U
- [1] helgum: ‘hal[…]m’ U
- [1] crúci: so all others, krúzi R
- [2] lið: kyn A
- [2] beima: ‘beim[…]’ U
- [3] sannr: sǫnn all
- [4] einn: so Tˣ, U, A, ein R, W
- [4] sólkonungr: so U, A, Máríu R, Tˣ, W
- [4] hreinni: so U, A, sveini R, Tˣ, W
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.
-
GKS 2367 4° (R) — 35v/13 - 35v/14
imagesHróts lýtr helgum krúzi
heims ferð ok lið beima;
sǫnns an ǫll dýrð ǫnnur
ein Máríu sveini.hroz lytr helgvm krvzi heims ferþ ok lið beima sꜹnn | er en avll dyrð avɴvr ein mario sveini.
(MB)
-
Traj 1374x (Tx) — 37r/7 - 37r/8
†hrp ᷎tz† lýtr helgum crúci
images
heims ferð ok lið beima;
sǫnns an ǫll dýrð ǫnnur
einn Máríu sveini. -
AM 242 fol (W) — 80/30 - 80/31
Hróts lýtr helgum crúci
images
heims ferð ok lið beima;
sǫnns an ǫll dýrð ǫnnur
ein Máríu sveini. -
DG 11 (U) — 34v/4 - 34v/5
†hrocz† lýtr †hal[…]m† crúci
images
heims ferð ok lið †beim[…]†;
sǫnns an ǫll dýrð ǫnnur
einn sólkonungr hreinni. -
AM 748 I b 4° (A) — 12r/32 - 12r/33
imagesHróts lýtr helgum crúci
heims ferð ok kyn beima;
sǫnns an ǫll dýrð ǫnnur
einn sólkonungr hreinni.hrotz lýtr hælgvm crvci hæims ferð ok kyn bæíma sǫnn ær ænn ǫll dyrð | ǫnnvr æinn sol konvngr ræinni .
(VEÞ)
-
AM 761 a 4°x (761ax) — 85r/2 - 85r/5
images
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