Ekúl Kristdr 3^III

Môttrs, an menn of hyggi,
mætr goðs sonar betri;
þós engla gramr ǫllu
ǫrr helgari ok dýrri.

Mætr môttr {sonar goðs} [e]s betri, an menn of hyggi; þós {ǫrr gramr engla} helgari ok dýrri ǫllu.

The splendid power {of the son of God} [= Christ] is better than men can imagine; moreover {the generous prince of angels} [= God (= Christ)] is holier and more glorious than everything.

Mss: R(35v), Tˣ(37r), W(81), U(34v), A(12r-v) (SnE)

Readings: [1] Môttr‑: Minni U    [2] goðs: goð U;    sonar: vinar Tˣ, W, A, vinum U    [3] þós engla gramr (‘þoer engla gramr’): ‘þ[…]amr’ W    [4] helgari: ‘helgar[…]’ W;    ok dýrri: ‘[…]yrr[…]’ W

Editions: Skj AI, 572, Skj BI, 566, Skald I, 274; SnE 1848-87, I, 448-9, II, 334, 445, III, 90, SnE 1931, 159, SnE 1998, I, 77.

Context: This helmingr follows straight after st. 2, with the introductory words Engla konungr, enn sem Eilífr kvað ‘King of angels, as Eilífr said further’.

Notes: [All]: As with sts 1 and 2, there is deliberate repetition of the key words môtt/môttr (2/3, 3/1) between sts 2 and 3 and ǫll/ǫllu (1/3, 3/3) between sts 1 and 3. — [All]: Both this stanza and st. 4 are in the verse-form munnvǫrp ‘mouth-throwings’, in which there are no rhymes in the odd lines and skothending rather than aðalhending in the even lines, as in SnSt Ht 66 (cf. SnE 2007, 28, 83). — [2] sonar goðs ‘of the son of God [= Christ]’: The reading of R has been adopted here (so also SnE 1998). Both Skj B and Skald prefer vinar goðs ‘of the friend of God’, the reading of Tˣ, W and A, but there is little support in the skaldic corpus (cf. Meissner 386) for designating Christ the friend of God, whereas there are many kennings based on the ‘son of God’ model (e.g. Anon Pl 10/8^VII, Anon Pét 19/5, 7^VII). Kennings that use the model ‘friend of God’ usually refer to priests or other holy men (cf. Meissner 387-8), not to Christ. — [3] þós ‘moreover … is’: The syntax of st. 3 parallels that of sts 1 and 2, both of which consist of two couplets containing independent clauses. Þó is thus an adv. here (with the cliticised verb -s < es ‘is’).

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. 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.
4. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. Meissner = Meissner, Rudolf. 1921. Die Kenningar der Skalden: Ein Beitrag zur skaldischen Poetik. Rheinische Beiträge und Hülfsbücher zur germanischen Philologie und Volkskunde 1. Bonn and Leipzig: Schroeder. Rpt. 1984. Hildesheim etc.: Olms.
6. SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
7. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
8. SnE 2007 = Snorri Sturluson. 2007. Edda: Háttatal. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
9. Internal references
10. David McDougall (ed.) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Pétrsdrápa 19’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 811-12.
11. Jonna Louis-Jensen and Tarrin Wills (eds) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Plácitusdrápa 10’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 188-9.
12. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Snorri Sturluson, Háttatal 66’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1178.