Gamlkan Has 50^VII

Nítti einn við ótta
ítr postoli rítar
fróns musteris festi*
forðum þýjar orða.
Enn, þegars iðran sanna
aldrprýðir fekk lýða,
Pétr vann glœp með gráti
grandlauss þvegit vandla.

Einn ítr postoli nítti forðum {festi* {rítar {musteris fróns}}} við ótta orða þýjar. Enn þegars {aldrprýðir lýða} fekk sanna iðran, vann grandlauss Pétr þvegit vandla glœp með gráti.

One glorious Apostle long ago denied {the securer {of the shield {of the temple of the land}}} [HEAVEN > SUN > = God (= Christ)] for fear of a bondswoman’s words. But, as soon as {the adorner of the lives of men} [SAINT = Peter] [lit. life-adorner of men] experienced true repentance, the sinless Peter washed his wickedness away completely with weeping.

Mss: B(13r), 399a-bˣ

Readings: [3] musteris: so all others, ‘muster(i)[...]’(?) B;    festi*: festir B    [4] forðum: so 399a‑bˣ, ‘fo[...]um’ B    [5] þegars: þegar B;    iðran: so 399a‑bˣ, ‘idra[...]’ B    [8] grandlauss: so 399a‑bˣ, ‘grand[...]uss’ B

Editions: Skj AI, 569, Skj BI, 561, Skald I, 272; Sveinbjörn Egilsson 1844, 29, Kempff 1867, 15, Rydberg 1907, 28-9, Black 1971, 263, Attwood 1996a, 234.

Notes: [All]: The Apostle Peter’s denial of Christ after the latter’s arrest is recounted in all four Gospels: Matt. XXVI.69-75, Mark XIV.66-72, Luke XXII.55-62 and John XVIII.16-18, 25-7. — [1] nítti ‘denied’: Sveinbjörn Egilsson (1844, 29 n. 60) claims that this is his correction, from B’s ‘Hítte’. In fact, ‘Hítte’ is Jón Sigurðsson’s misreading (in the 444ˣ transcript) of 399a-b’s correct reading ‘Nitte’. — [2] ítr postoli rítar: The ítr : rítar rhyme is also exploited in 26/4 and in Leið 42/2: ítr túns himins rítar. — [2-3] festi* fróns musteris rítar ‘securer (dat.) of the shield of the temple of the land [HEAVEN > SUN > = God (= Christ)]’: This striking expression appears to be a conflation of two kenning-types found elsewhere in Has. In locutions like rítar ranns éla ‘(of the) shield of the house of storms’ (26/3-4), the sun is characterised as the shield of heaven. The lexical parallels noted above may indicate that Gamli intends his readers/hearers to recall that image here. He superimposes it on the concept of heaven as a shrine or temple, which occurs in skrín skýja ‘shrine of the clouds’ (19/7-8) and skrín skýstalls ‘shrine of the sky-platform’ (29/7-8). Gamli uses the OFr loanword musteri, which derives from Lat. monasterium (AEW: mustari) and is used to designate a Christian or Jewish temple or church, rather than a hof, a heathen temple (CVC: musteri). The word is used of a Christian church in Anon Vitn 15/3 and Anon Mv I 15/2. — [5] þegars ‘as soon as’: The emendation is necessary, as þegar functions here as a conj. (þegar er), rather than an adv. — [6] aldrprýðir ‘life-adorner [of men]’: This is hap. leg. Quite what the significance of this epithet is, in application to S. Peter, is uncertain, though there may be an oblique allusion to his traditional roles as founder of the church and holder of the keys to the gate of heaven.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
3. AEW = Vries, Jan de. 1962. Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 2nd rev. edn. Rpt. 1977. Leiden: Brill.
4. CVC = Cleasby, Richard, Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and W. A. Craigie. 1957. An Icelandic-English Dictionary. 2nd edn. Oxford: Clarendon.
5. Attwood, Katrina. 1996a. ‘The Poems of MS AM 757a 4to: An Edition and Contextual Study’. Ph.D. thesis. University of Leeds.
6. Black, Elizabeth L. 1971. ‘Harmsól: an edition’. B. Litt. thesis. University of Oxford.
7. Rydberg, Hugo, ed. 1907. ‘Die geistlichen Drápur und Dróttkvættfragmente des Cod. AM 757 4to.’. Ph.D. thesis. University of Lund. Copenhagen: Møller.
8. Kempff, Hjalmar, ed. 1867. Kaniken Gamles ‘Harmsól’ (Sol i Sorgen): isländskt andligt qväde från medeltiden med öfversättning och förklaringar. Uppsala: Edquist & Berglund.
9. 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.
10. Internal references
12. Katrina Attwood (ed.) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Leiðarvísan 42’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 175-6.
13. Katrina Attwood 2007, ‘ Gamli kanóki, Harmsól’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 70-132. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1196> (accessed 26 April 2024)
14. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Vitnisvísur af Máríu 15’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 750.