Gamlkan Has 61^VII

Verðrat, blíðr, fyr borði
brjótr, hǫfðingi snóta,
— mjǫk treystumk því — Mistar
myrkleygs, sás þik dýrkar,
þvít vegskjótum* veita,
veðrs landreka strandar,
vilt, svinn, ok mátt mǫnnum,
móðir, allt it góða.

{Brjótr {Mistar myrkleygs}}, sás dýrkar þik, blíðr hǫfðingi snóta, verðrat fyr borði — mjǫk treystumk því —, þvít vilt ok mátt veita vegskjótum* mǫnnum allt it góða, {svinn móðir {landreka {strandar veðrs}}}.

{The destroyer {of Mist’s <valkyrie> dark flame}} [SWORD > WARRIOR], who worships you, gentle chief of women, will not be lost — we [I] greatly rely on that — because you are willing and able to grant men, swift in glory, all that is good, {wise mother {of the land-ruler {of the shore of the wind}}} [SKY/HEAVEN > = God (= Christ) > = Mary].

Mss: B(13v), 399a-bˣ

Readings: [5] vegskjótum*: ‘vegskiotumz’ B

Editions: Skj AI, 571, Skj BI, 564, Skald I, 273; Sveinbjörn Egilsson 1844, 32-3, Kempff 1867, 18, Rydberg 1907, 31, Black 1971, 292, Attwood 1996a, 237.

Notes: [1] blíðr ‘blessed’: The m. nom. sg. of the adj. blíðr ‘blessed, happy’, which could be construed as qualifying either brjótr (l. 2) or hǫfðingi snóta ‘chief of women’ (l. 2). It is most plausibly regarded as part of the kenning-like periphrasis for the Virgin Mary, probably modelled on Lat. regina virginum ‘queen of virgins’ (cf. Paasche 1914a, 115; Lange 1958a, 224). Cf. konungr vífa lit. ‘king of women’, Mdr 5/2. — [2-4] brjótr Mistar myrkleygs ‘the destroyer of Mist’s <valkyrie> dark flame [SWORD > WARRIOR]’: Cf. the man-kenning slǫngvir Mistar elda ‘slinger of Mist’s fires’ in 2/1. There are thematic and dictional echoes here of st. 5, where men, characterised as viðir Mistar linns ‘trees of Mist’s snake’, are promised sannri líkn ok sýknu fyr vás ok galla ‘true mercy and acquittal for sinfulness and flaws’, by Christ. — [5] vegskjótum* ‘swift in glory’: B reads ‘vegskiotumz’. Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) emends to vegskjótust, f. nom. sg. of the superlative adj. vegskjótastr. He construes this as qualifying the periphrasis for the Virgin, and glosses rask til at give hæder ‘swift to give honour’. Finnur’s interpretation is accepted without comment by Kock and Black. Sveinbjörn Egilsson (1844) takes B’s ‘vegskiotumz’ as an error for vegskjótum, which he understands as the m. dat. pl. of vegskjótr, qualifying mǫnnum (l. 7). In either case, the first element of the cpd is understood as vegr ‘glory, renown, honour’, Sveinbjörn’s gloss for vegskjótr in LP (1860) being ad gloriam promptus, honoris cupidus ‘ready for glory, desirous of honour’. Sveinbjörn’s interpretation requires least emendation, and Gamli’s use of coinages on this model is confirmed by the similar adjectival form þrifskjótr ‘swift to prosperity’, in a God-kenning in 12/6.

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. LP (1860) = Sveinbjörn Egilsson, ed. 1860. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis. Copenhagen: Societas Regia antiquariorum septentrionalium.
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. Lange, Wolfgang. 1958a. Studien zur christlichen Dichtung der Nordgermanen 1000-1200. Palaestra 222. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.
10. Paasche, Fredrik. 1914. Kristendom og kvad: En studie i norrøn middelalder. Christiania (Oslo): Aschehoug. Rpt. in Paasche 1948, 29-212.
11. 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.
12. Internal references
13. Katrina Attwood (ed.) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Máríudrápa 5’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 482-3.