Katrina Attwood (ed.) 2007, ‘Gamli kanóki, Harmsól 24’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 93-4.
Hlaut af yðr sem aðrir
auðbrjótr meginskjóta,
láðs, þeirs lǫstum eyða,
líkn, skepjandi ríkis.
Sókndeili* hézt sælu,
sannvíss, paradísar,
— gæf reyndusk þau þjófi
þín heit — friðar veitir.
{Auðbrjótr} hlaut meginskjóta líkn af yðr, {skepjandi {ríkis láðs}}, sem aðrir, þeirs eyða lǫstum. {Sannvíss veitir friðar} hézt {sókndeili*} sælu paradísar; þau heit þín reyndusk þjófi gæf.
{The destroyer of riches} [GENEROUS MAN] received very swift mercy from you, {creator {of the kingdom of the land}} [EARTH > = God (= Christ)], like those others who leave off sins. {Truly certain giver of peace} [= God (= Christ)] you promised {the battle-dealer} [WARRIOR] the bliss of Paradise; those promises of yours proved beneficial to the thief.
Mss: B(12v), 399a-bˣ
Readings: [1] aðrir: so 399a‑bˣ, ‘adr[...]’ B [3] láðs: ‘ladr’ B [4] ríkis: ríki B [5] ‑deili*: ‘‑deilerr’ B; hézt: ‘he[...]’ B, ‘het’ 399a‑bˣ, BFJ, ‘h(æt)’(?) BRydberg
Editions: Skj AI, 565, Skj BI, 555, Skald I, 269; Sveinbjörn Egilsson 1844, 20-1, Kempff 1867, 7, Rydberg 1907, 24, Jón Helgason 1935-6, 257, Black 1971, 200, Attwood 1996a, 90-1, 227.
Notes: [3] láðs ‘of the land’: Sveinbjörn Egilsson (note to 444ˣ and 1844, 20 n. 30) suggested emendation to gen. láðs, which has been adopted by all subsequent eds. — [4] ríkis ‘of the kingdom’: In his prose arrangement in 444ˣ Sveinbjörn Egilsson retains B’s reading, ríki, which he takes to be the weak m. nom. sg. form of ríkr ‘powerful’, qualifying skepjandi. Kempff (1867, 37) also adopts this interpretation. There is no other example of the weak form of the adj. in such a vocative expression elsewhere in Has. In MIcel., too, the strong form is invariably used, as, for example, in such expressions as almáttigur guð ‘Almighty God’ or guð minn góður ‘my good God’. This edn therefore follows Finnur Jónsson in taking the ms.’s ‘ríki’ to represent ríki n. ‘kingdom, empire’ and emends to ríkis, governed by skepjandi (l. 4). Although there is not an exact parallel to the resultant earth-kenning láðs ríki (LP: ríki), a similar concept is found in common expressions like himinríki ‘kingdom of heaven’ and in the God-kenning konungr fróns ‘king of earth’ in Líkn 33/1-2, and there is no difficulty in characterising God as the creator (skepjandi) of either heaven or earth. — [5] sókndeili* (dat. sg.) ‘the battle-dealer’: Sveinbjörn Egilsson (note to 444ˣ and 1844, 21 n. 31) first proposed this emendation of B’s sókndeilir, which has been followed by all subsequent eds. — [5] hézt ‘you promised’: This edn follows Jón Helgason (1935-6, 257) in taking veitir friðar ‘giver of peace’ as vocative, rather than as the subject of the verb heita, and reconstructs to hézt 2nd pers. sg. pret. of heita ‘to promise’, rather than the 3rd sg. hét. This arrangement makes for a better parallel with the first helmingr, where the appellation – as commonly in Has – is again vocative. — [6] paradísar ‘of paradise’: The first occurrence of this loan word in skaldic poetry (see LP: paradís). — [8] þín heit friðar veitir: A strikingly similar l. – sín heit friðar veitir – occurs at Pl 31/8.
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