Gamlkan Has 26^VII

Hverr myndi svá hendir
harðgeðr loga fjarðar,
éla ranns (ef ynni)
ítr … (þér) rítar,
at, þreknenninn, þinni
…, sættandi, mætti
ógrátandi, ýta,
ormlands hjá kvǫl standa?

{Ítr … {rítar {ranns éla}}}, {hverr hendir {loga fjarðar}} myndi svá harðgeðr, ef ynni þér, at {… {ormlands}} mætti standa ógrátandi hjá þinni kvǫl, {þreknenninn sættandi ýta}?

{Glorious … {of the shield {of the house of storms}}} [SKY/HEAVEN > SUN > = God (= Christ)], {which distributor {of the fire of the fjord}} [GOLD > GENEROUS MAN] could [be] so hard-minded, if he loved you, that [he], {a … {of the snake-land}} [GOLD > MAN] might stand unweeping by your Passion, {powerful reconciler of men} [= God (= Christ)]?

Mss: B(12v), 399a-bˣ

Readings: [1] svá hendir: ‘s[...]nnder’ B, ‘[...]h[...]nnder’ 399a‑bˣ, ‘(s)[...] [...](æ)nnder’(?) BRydberg, ‘s(va) [...]nndir’(?) BFJ    [4] …: ‘[...]’ B, 399a‑bˣ    [6] …: ‘[...]’ B, 399a‑bˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 565-6, Skj BI, 555, Skald I, 269; Sveinbjörn Egilsson 1844, 21, Kempff 1867, 5-6, Rydberg 1907, 24-5, Black 1971, 205, Attwood 1996a, 228.

Notes: [1] svá hendir: B is very dark and badly worn; <h> is confirmed by the alliteration. Reconstruction to svá hendir is suggested by Sveinbjörn Egilsson in a marginal note to 444ˣ, and has been adopted by all eds. — [4] …: The ms. is badly torn. Traces of a tall letter, possibly an <f> and an abbreviation remain, but these are uncertain. Sveinbjörn Egilsson’s reconstruction to festir ‘fastener’, an agent noun from the verb festa ‘to fasten’ is perhaps inspired by the similar ll. at 50/2-3 ítr postoli rítar | fróns musteris festir. Rydberg (1907, lxxi) claims to see traces of a <g> here, and reconstructs gervir ‘creator’, which is adopted by Finnur Jónsson, Kock and Black. This seems unlikely, however, since the previous transcribers of the ms., those responsible for 399a-bˣ, record no trace of it. Rydberg compares Geisl 65/5, where God is referred to as gervir himna ‘maker of the heavens’, in support of his reconstruction. Clearly, there is a God-kenning here, but the base-word cannot be supplied with any certainty. — [5] þreknenninn ‘powerful’: Sveinbjörn Egilsson (note to 444ˣ), followed by Kempff, construes with his reconstruction Þrór ‘Óðinn’ in l. 6 (see following Note). — [6] …: Once again, B is badly worn and no one has been able to discern any trace of the missing letters. The alliterative scheme requires a word with initial <þ>, which must serve as the base-word of a man-kenning with the determinant ormlands (‘of the land of the snake [GOLD]’). Man-kennings of this type elsewhere in the poem and generally suggest that a noun meaning ‘destroyer’ or ‘distributer’, a god-name or a tree-name would be appropriate choices. Sveinbjörn Egilsson (1844, 21 n. 35), followed by Kempff, suggests reconstruction to Þrór, an Óðinn-heiti. Skj B suggests reconstruction to þollr ‘tree’, which has been adopted by all subsequent eds. — [6-7] sættandi ýta ‘reconciler of men [= God (= Christ)]’: This is a particularly appropriate Christ-kenning, given that Gamli is here challenging his hearers to consider their responses to Christ’s attempt to make peace between themselves and God. Compare the similar assertion in st. 17, which seeks to manipulate the hearer’s response to Christ as peacemaker (see especially ll. 5-6).

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. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. Attwood, Katrina. 1996a. ‘The Poems of MS AM 757a 4to: An Edition and Contextual Study’. Ph.D. thesis. University of Leeds.
5. Black, Elizabeth L. 1971. ‘Harmsól: an edition’. B. Litt. thesis. University of Oxford.
6. Rydberg, Hugo, ed. 1907. ‘Die geistlichen Drápur und Dróttkvættfragmente des Cod. AM 757 4to.’. Ph.D. thesis. University of Lund. Copenhagen: Møller.
7. Kempff, Hjalmar, ed. 1867. Kaniken Gamles ‘Harmsól’ (Sol i Sorgen): isländskt andligt qväde från medeltiden med öfversättning och förklaringar. Uppsala: Edquist & Berglund.
8. Sveinbjörn Egilsson, ed. 1844. Fjøgur gømul kvæði. Boðsrit til að hlusta á þá opinberu yfirheyrslu í Bessastaða Skóla þann 22-29 mai 1844. Viðeyar Klaustri: prentuð af Helga Helgasyni, á kostnað Bessastaða Skóla. Bessastaðir: Helgi Helgason.
9. Internal references
10. Martin Chase (ed.) 2007, ‘Einarr Skúlason, Geisli 65’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 60.