Gamlkan Has 54VII
Katrina Attwood (ed.) 2007, ‘Gamli kanóki, Harmsól 54’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 121-2.
notes
[1] sôlu (dat. sg.) ‘soul’: B reads Sáls gen. sg. Sveinbjörn Egilsson suggests emendation to Sálu dat. (unsigned note in 444ˣ and 1844, 30 n. 64). That reading has been adopted by all subsequent eds.
veitta ‘dealt’
(not checked:)
2. veita (verb): grant, give
k ‘I’
(not checked:)
ek (pron.; °mín, dat. mér, acc. mik): I, me
sættir ‘Reconciler’
(not checked:)
sættir (noun m.): reconciler
kennings
Sættir kyns bragna,‘Reconciler of the kindred of heroes, ’
= God
the kindred of heroes, → MEN
Reconciler of the MEN → God
sárr ‘bitter’
(not checked:)
sárr (adj.; °compar. -ari, superl. -astr): sore, painful; wounded
s ‘is’
(not checked:)
2. vera (verb): be, is, was, were, are, am
minn ‘my’
(not checked:)
minn (pron.; °f. mín, n. mitt): my
notes
[2-3] … bana: B is very badly damaged, and traces of only one letter and a superscript re abbreviation are visible (fol. 13r, ll. 45-6). The 399a-bˣ copyist was able to read only one further letter in the second word ‘…ana’. Reconstruction of this word thus relies on this reading and on the fact that initial <b> is required for alliteration. Other eds have made valiant attempts to reconstruct the missing text here, which is likely to comprise two words. Sveinbjörn Egilsson (444ˣ and 1844) postulates sárr es minn hugr þinni | bana. He is followed by Kempff and Finnur Jónsson (Skj B), who construes Slu þinni veittak benjar fyr bana hættiligar synðir, sættir bragna kyns; sárr es hugr minn ‘I dealt wounds to your soul by means of my deathly dangerous sins, reconciler of the kindred of heroes; my soul is wounded’. Rydberg (1907, xxiii) rejects this interpretation on the grounds that the remaining traces of the text will not sustain it. He asserts (1907, 29 n. 9) that he once was able to read a number of letter forms no longer visible in 1907, and reconstructs the text sarr er minn tregi varri bana, construing veittak várri slu hættiligar benjar bana fyr synðir; minn tregi es sárr ‘I dealt our [my] soul dangerous death-wounds because of [my] sins; my grief is bitter’. Sveinbjörn’s reconstruction requires þinni to be construed with slu, as in Finnur’s prose arrangement. The continuation of the theme through the st., however, suggests that, as in the second helmingr, the injured soul here is not likely to be Christ’s, but rather that of the sinner-narrator, who refers to himself in the 1st pers. throughout.
… ‘…’
(not checked:)
(non-lexical)
[2] …: ‘[...]re[...]’ B, 399a‑bˣ, ‘træ(g)i’(?) BRydberg, ‘(t)re[...]’ BFJ
bana ‘of death’
(not checked:)
bani (noun m.; °-a; -ar): death, killer
[3] bana: ‘[...]na’ B, ‘[...]ana’ 399a‑bˣ, ‘[...]na’ BRydberg, BFJ
notes
[2-3] … bana: B is very badly damaged, and traces of only one letter and a superscript re abbreviation are visible (fol. 13r, ll. 45-6). The 399a-bˣ copyist was able to read only one further letter in the second word ‘…ana’. Reconstruction of this word thus relies on this reading and on the fact that initial <b> is required for alliteration. Other eds have made valiant attempts to reconstruct the missing text here, which is likely to comprise two words. Sveinbjörn Egilsson (444ˣ and 1844) postulates sárr es minn hugr þinni | bana. He is followed by Kempff and Finnur Jónsson (Skj B), who construes Slu þinni veittak benjar fyr bana hættiligar synðir, sættir bragna kyns; sárr es hugr minn ‘I dealt wounds to your soul by means of my deathly dangerous sins, reconciler of the kindred of heroes; my soul is wounded’. Rydberg (1907, xxiii) rejects this interpretation on the grounds that the remaining traces of the text will not sustain it. He asserts (1907, 29 n. 9) that he once was able to read a number of letter forms no longer visible in 1907, and reconstructs the text sarr er minn tregi varri bana, construing veittak várri slu hættiligar benjar bana fyr synðir; minn tregi es sárr ‘I dealt our [my] soul dangerous death-wounds because of [my] sins; my grief is bitter’. Sveinbjörn’s reconstruction requires þinni to be construed with slu, as in Finnur’s prose arrangement. The continuation of the theme through the st., however, suggests that, as in the second helmingr, the injured soul here is not likely to be Christ’s, but rather that of the sinner-narrator, who refers to himself in the 1st pers. throughout.
hættligar ‘dangerous’
(not checked:)
hættligr (adj.): [dangerous]
benjar ‘wounds’
(not checked:)
1. ben (noun f.; °-jar, dat. -; -jar , gen. -a(var. EiðKrC 402¹³: AM 77 4° D)): wound
bragna ‘of heroes’
(not checked:)
bragnar (noun m.): men, warriors
kennings
Sættir kyns bragna,‘Reconciler of the kindred of heroes, ’
= God
the kindred of heroes, → MEN
Reconciler of the MEN → God
bragna ‘of heroes’
(not checked:)
bragnar (noun m.): men, warriors
kennings
Sættir kyns bragna,‘Reconciler of the kindred of heroes, ’
= God
the kindred of heroes, → MEN
Reconciler of the MEN → God
kyns ‘of the kindred’
(not checked:)
1. kyn (noun n.; °-s; -): kin
kennings
Sættir kyns bragna,‘Reconciler of the kindred of heroes, ’
= God
the kindred of heroes, → MEN
Reconciler of the MEN → God
kyns ‘of the kindred’
(not checked:)
1. kyn (noun n.; °-s; -): kin
kennings
Sættir kyns bragna,‘Reconciler of the kindred of heroes, ’
= God
the kindred of heroes, → MEN
Reconciler of the MEN → God
fyr ‘because of’
(not checked:)
fyr (prep.): for, over, because of, etc.
synðir ‘my sins’
(not checked:)
synð (noun f.; °-ar; -ir): sin
Nú ‘Now’
(not checked:)
nú (adv.): now
beiðum ‘we [I] beg’
(not checked:)
beiða (verb; °-dd-): ask, request
notes
[5] þik ‘you’: B is short of an alliterating syllable here. Sveinbjörn Egilsson (1844, 30 n. 67) supplies the acc. sg. pron. þik, which has been adopted by all eds.
þjóðar ‘of the people’
(not checked:)
þjóð (noun f.; °-ar, dat. -/-u; -ir): people
kennings
þrekfœðandi þjóðar,‘strength-nourisher of the people, ’
= God
strength-nourisher of the people, → God
þrek ‘strength’
(not checked:)
þrek (noun n.): courage, strength < þrekfœðandi (noun m.)
kennings
þrekfœðandi þjóðar,‘strength-nourisher of the people, ’
= God
strength-nourisher of the people, → God
fœðandi ‘nourisher’
(not checked:)
fœðandi (noun m.): feeder < þrekfœðandi (noun m.)
kennings
þrekfœðandi þjóðar,‘strength-nourisher of the people, ’
= God
strength-nourisher of the people, → God
andar ‘the soul’s’
(not checked:)
andi (noun m.; °-a; -ar): spirit, soul
[7] andar: ‘[...]ar’ B, ‘ạṇdar’ 399a‑bˣ, ‘[...](dar)’(?) BRydberg, (an)dar(?) BFJ
sôr ‘wounds’
(not checked:)
2. sár (noun n.; °-s; -): wound
s ‘which’
(not checked:)
2. er (conj.): who, which, when
óru ‘our [my]’
(not checked:)
várr (pron.; °f. ór/vár; pl. órir/várir): our
ósvífr ‘relentless’
(not checked:)
2. ósvífr (adj.): relentless, reckless
glata ‘destroy’
(not checked:)
glata (verb): destroy
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