Gamlkan Has 57^VII

Heldr dœmðu mik, hǫlða
happvinnandi, þinni
meir af miskunn dýrri,
mætastr, an réttlæti.
Lít ok virð, sem vættik,
valdr blásinna tjalda
hreggs, at hjǫlp of þiggi,
hár, óstyrkðir várar.

{Mætastr happvinnandi hǫlða}, dœmðu mik heldr meir af þinni dýrri miskunn an réttlæti. Lít ok virð óstyrkðir várar, sem vættik, at of þiggi hjǫlp, {hár valdr {blásinna tjalda hreggs}}.

{Most illustrious luck-worker of men} [= God], judge me rather more out of your precious mercy than justice. Consider and evaluate our [my] frailties, which, I expect, may receive help, {high ruler {of the windswept tents of the storm}} [SKY/HEAVEN > = God].

Mss: B(13r-v), 399a-bˣ

Readings: [2] happvinnandi þinni: so 399a‑bˣ, ‘h[...]pvin[...]e[...]’ B    [3] meir af miskunn: so 399a‑bˣ, ‘meirr[...]iskunn’ B    [4] mætastr an réttlæti: ‘[...]ętaz[...]ettlęti’ B, ‘mętaz e(n) réttlęti’(?) 399a‑bˣ    [8] hár: so 399a‑bˣ, ‘h[...]r’ B

Editions: Skj AI, 570, Skj BII, 563, Skald I, 273, NN §1213; Sveinbjörn Egilsson 1844, 31, Kempff 1867, 17, Rydberg 1907, 30, Black 1971, 282, Attwood 1996a, 236.

Notes: [6-7] valdr blásinna tjalda hreggs ‘ruler of the windswept tents of the storm [SKY/HEAVEN > = God]’: Cf. Geisl 7/5-6, where heaven is described as hríðblásinn salr heiða ‘storm-blown hall of the heaths’. On the frequency of heaven-kennings involving hár and hreggr in C12th drápur, see Notes to 1/1-2 and 45/1-4. — [8] óstyrkðir várar ‘our frailties’: The edn follows Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) and Kempff (1907, 56) in adopting Sveinbjörn Egilsson’s suggestion (note to 444ˣ transcript) that this phrase is the object of Lít ok virð ‘consider and evaluate’ (l. 5). Kock (NN §1213) objects that this sense is rather unlikely, since God’s nature is not to look upon sin, and thereby to destroy it, but rather to avert his eyes from it (cf. Exod. XXXIII.20, Ps. LI.9). Kock therefore takes óstyrkðir várar as part of the at-cl., construing the entire cl. at óstyrkðir várar hjǫlp of þiggi ‘that our frailties may receive help’ as the object of Lít ok virð.

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. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
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
11. Martin Chase (ed.) 2007, ‘Einarr Skúlason, Geisli 7’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 12-13.