Gamlkan Has 56^VII

Tregr emk ljót at láta
lastaverk til fasta
— mér bragar opt fyr augum —
æligs móðs fyr róða.
Þess ák mér at meira
margríkr jǫfurr, líknar,
fleygs ok foldar œgis,
friðar sjalfan þik biðja.

Emk tregr at láta til fasta ljót lastaverk æligs móðs fyr róða; mér bragar opt fyr augum. Þess ák at meira biðja þik friðar sjalfan mér, {margríkr jǫfurr líknar ok {fleygs œgis foldar}}.

I am reluctant to abandon the ugly sins of a vile soul too completely; it [i.e. sin] often glimmers before my eyes. Therefore I must beg you the more for peace for myself, {very powerful king of mercy and {of the swirling helmet of the land}} [SKY/HEAVEN > = God].

Mss: B(13r), 399a-bˣ

Readings: [3] bragar: ‘[...]agar’ B, ‘ḅag[...]’ 399a‑bˣ, ‘(b)agaz’(?) BRydberg, ‘hagar’ BFJ    [7] fleygs: ‘[...]leýgs’ B

Editions: Skj AI, 570, Skj BI, 562-3, Skald I, 273, NN §§174, 1212, 2935, 3014; Sveinbjörn Egilsson 1844, 31, Kempff 1867, 17, Rydberg 1907, 30, Jón Helgason 1935-6, 260-1, Black 1971, 279, Attwood 1996a, 236.

Notes: [1, 4] at láta fyr róða ‘to cast to the winds, abandon’: See Note to 53/5-8. — [3] bragar ‘it glimmers’: The beginning of this word is extremely badly worn and affected by misalignment. Traces of an initial tall letter are visible, but cannot be identified with any certainty, and this was so when 399a-bˣ was written, either ‘b’ or ‘h’ being suggested then. Rydberg (1907, 30) suggests bagar (see below). Finnur Jónsson (Skj A and B) reads hagar, which he takes to be the 3rd pers. sg. pres. tense of haga. Various meanings of haga exist, none of which seems entirely appropriate here (see Fritzner: haga), including ‘to manage, organise, arrange, suit’. Finnur construes mér hagar opt fyr augum, which he translates de (lastens gærninger) er ofte fordelagtige for mine öjne ‘they (sinful deeds) are often advantageous in my eyes’ though he indicates that he is uncertain of this interpretation. In LP: haga he suggests that it should be understood as an impersonal construction, and glosses det [onde] viser sig ofte som godt i mine öjne ‘[evil] often reveals itself as good in my eyes’. Kock (NN §174) rejects the notion that the verb is impersonal, preferring to translate den [onde] är ofte behaglig i mina ögon ‘the [evil one] is often pleasant in my eyes’. Sveinbjörn Egilsson (1844, 31 n. 69) anticipates Rydberg’s reading, reconstructing bagar, which he takes to be a formation from bagi ‘difficulty, impediment’. He translates det hindrer mig ‘that hinders me’. Jón Helgason (1935-6, 260-1) picks up on a suggestion made by Sveinbjörn Egilsson in a marginal note in Jón Sigurðsson’s copy of 399a-bˣ (i.e. 444ˣ). He emends to bragar, 1st pers. sg. pres. indic. of braga ‘to glimmer, flicker, flash’, and construes æligs móðs (l. 4) as part of the intercalated cl., which he translates ofte flimrer det for min elendige sjæls øjne ‘it often flickers before the eyes of my wretched soul’. This poetic and elegant interpretation avoids the problems associated with haga, and the necessity of postulating a back-formation bagar, and this emendation is adopted here. — [4] æligs móðs ‘of a vile soul’: Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) construes this with lastaverk, giving tregr emk at láta til fasts ljót lasta – verk æligs móðs fyr róða ‘I am reluctant to abandon too completely the ugly sins of a vile soul’. This edn follows his interpretation. However, Sveinbjörn Egilsson and Jón Helgason (see previous Note) take the phrase as part of the intercalated cl. — [5-8]: Several interpretations of the second helmingr have been offered, none entirely satisfactory. Jón Helgason (1935-6, 261) suggests that at meiri should be emended to at meira, which he takes to be adverbial, amplifying ák biðja þik. He reads the God-kenning as having two determinants, jǫfurr líknar ok fleygs foldar ægis, and translates naadens og den rullende himmels konge ‘king of mercy and of the turbulent heaven’. Friðar (l. 8) is taken to be part of the main cl., and the helmingr is construed þess ák at meira biðja þik friðar sjalfan mér, margríkr jǫfurr líknar ok fleygs foldar ægis ‘therefore I must beg you the more for peace for myself, very powerful king of mercy and of the turbulent heaven’. This edn follows Jón’s interpretation. Kock (NN §2935) objects to this interpretation, claiming that God’s attributes of mercy (líkn) and heaven (fleygr foldar ægir) are too disparate to be governed by the same noun (jǫfurr). He (NN §1212) agrees with Finnur Jónsson that friðr ‘peace’, and líkn should be taken together as the object of biðja ‘to beg, pray’, but assumes that they are asyndetic. The conj. ok (l. 7) is thus freed, and Kock reads it in situ, linking fleygs and foldar. He then interprets ægir as a reference to the sea, and takes the complete God-kenning to be jǫfurr foldar ok fleygs ægis ‘king of the earth and the tumultuous sea’. A third interpretation is that of Sveinbjörn Egilsson, which is also followed by Finnur Jónsson and Kempff. Sveinbjörn (1844, 31 n. 70) concurs with Kock in taking both friðr and líkn as the object of biðja, but chooses to link them with the conj. ok. This separates ok from its syntactic environment and cannot be paralleled in the corpus of skaldic poetry.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj A = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15a. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. A: Tekst efter håndskrifterne. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1967. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
3. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
4. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
6. LP = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1931. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis: Ordbog over det norsk-islandske skjaldesprog oprindelig forfattet af Sveinbjörn Egilsson. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Møller.
7. Attwood, Katrina. 1996a. ‘The Poems of MS AM 757a 4to: An Edition and Contextual Study’. Ph.D. thesis. University of Leeds.
8. Black, Elizabeth L. 1971. ‘Harmsól: an edition’. B. Litt. thesis. University of Oxford.
9. Rydberg, Hugo, ed. 1907. ‘Die geistlichen Drápur und Dróttkvættfragmente des Cod. AM 757 4to.’. Ph.D. thesis. University of Lund. Copenhagen: Møller.
10. Fritzner = Fritzner, Johan. 1883-96. Ordbog over det gamle norske sprog. 3 vols. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske forlagsforening. 4th edn. Rpt. 1973. Oslo etc.: Universitetsforlaget.
11. Jón Helgason. 1935-6. ‘Til skjaldedigtningen’. APS 10, 250-64.
12. Kempff, Hjalmar, ed. 1867. Kaniken Gamles ‘Harmsól’ (Sol i Sorgen): isländskt andligt qväde från medeltiden med öfversättning och förklaringar. Uppsala: Edquist & Berglund.
13. 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.