Ekúl Kristdr 4^III

Himins dýrð lofar hǫlða
— hanns alls konungr — stilli.

Dýrð himins lofar {stilli hǫlða}; hanns {konungr alls}.

The glory of heaven praises {the ruler of men} [= God (= Christ)]; he is {king of everything} [= God (= Christ)].

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

Readings: [2] stilli: ‘spiall[…]’ U

Editions: Skj AI, 572, Skj BI, 566, Skald I, 274; SnE 1848-87, I, 450-1, II, 334, 446, III, 91, SnE 1931, 159, SnE 1998, I, 78.

Context: This couplet is separated by examples by two other skalds from Eilífr’s previous three helmingar, but probably belongs to the same poem. It is introduced in R with Svá kvað Eilífr kúlnasveinn ‘So said Eilífr kúlnasveinn’. After the citation the prose text explains: Hér kallaði hann fyrst Krist konung manna ok annat sinn alls konung ‘Here he called Christ first king of men and the second time king of everything’.

Notes: [All]: A similar variation of vocabulary is observable here as in Eilífr’s three previous helmingar. In l. 1, dýrð himins ‘the glory of heaven’ varies ǫll ǫnnur dýrð ‘all other glory’ in st. 1/3 and dýrðar himna ‘of the glory of the heavens’ in st. 2/1. See Note to the latter phrase. — [1, 2] stilli hǫlða ‘the ruler of men [= God (= Christ)]’: Ms. U has the variant spjalli m. nom. sg. ‘friend, confidant’ for the majority mss’ stilli (acc. sg.). This could be construed spjalli hǫlða lofar dýrð himins ‘the confidant of men [= God (= Christ)] praises the glory of heaven’, but is unlikely (see Note to st. 3/2) and clearly departs from the understanding of the prose gloss (see Context above).

References

1. Bibliography
2. 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.
3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
5. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
6. Internal references
7. Margaret Clunies Ross 2017, ‘(Biography of) Eilífr kúlnasveinn’ 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.