Gamlkan Has 65^VII

Án lát engan þína,
angrlestandi, mesta
mann — deilir þat máli
miskunn, jǫfurr sunnu.
Vǫrðr, laða skatna skírða,
skýtjalds, saman alla,
ítr, þars aldri þrjóti
unaðsgnótt ok frið, dróttinn.—

Lát engan mann án mesta miskunn þína, {angrlestandi jǫfurr sunnu}; þat deilir máli. Ítr dróttinn, {vǫrðr {skýtjalds}}, laða saman alla skírða skatna, þars aldri þrjóti unaðsgnótt ok frið.

Let no man [be] without your very great mercy, {sorrow-injuring prince of the sun} [= God (= Christ)]; that is of prime importance. Glorious Lord, {warden {of the cloud-tent}} [SKY/HEAVEN > = God], invite together all baptised men, to where an abundance of happiness and peace will never end.

Mss: B(13v), 399a-bˣ

Readings: [1] engan (‘o᷎nnguan’): so 399a‑bˣ, ‘o᷎nngua[...]’ B    [2] angrlestandi: so 399a‑bˣ, ‘anngrlestan[...]e’ B    [8] frið dróttinn: so 399a‑bˣ, ‘fri[...]rotinn’ B

Editions: Skj AI, 572, Skj BI, 565, Skald I, 274; Sveinbjörn Egilsson 1844, 34, Kempff 1867, 20, Konráð Gíslason 1897, 253-4, Rydberg 1907, 32, Jón Helgason 1935-6, 262, Black 1971, 301, Attwood 1996a, 238.

Notes: [2-3]: Jón Helgason (1935-6, 262) expands B’s ‘mⁿ’ (l. 3) to menn (acc. pl.) and assumes the intercalated phrase to be þat deilir menn mestu máli, taking þat deilir máli to mean ‘that settles the case, is of importance’. This requires emendation of the ms.’s mesta to mestu ‘great’, to agree with máli dat. sg. Although the intercalated phrase often encompasses the third l. of a helmingr in its entirety (as at 8/3, 17/3, 22/3 and 35/3), it does not always do so (cf., e.g., 61/3). The ms. reading mesta may be preserved here by taking it as qualifying miskunn ‘mercy’ (l. 4) and, in agreement with Sveinbjörn Egilsson, Finnur Jónsson and Black, expanding ‘mⁿ’ to mann, and construing this as part of the main cl. — [4] miskunn, jǫfurr sunnu: The identical l. occurs at Leið 42/6. These are the only occurrences of the Christ-kenning jǫfurr sunnu ‘prince of the sun’, but the symbolic equation of God with the sun and Christ as the sun’s rays is central to Geisl (see Chase 2005, 21-5). — [6] skýtjalds saman alla: The tjalds : alla rhyme is dubious in a poem purporting to date from before C13th and is, indeed, one of the late linguistic features which led Finnur Jónsson (LH II, 115) to suggest that the poem can hardly be older than from c. 1200, if the reading does not involve error. Konráð Gíslason (and Eiríkur Jónsson 1875-89, II, 253-4) suggests that the original reading was skýstalls, gen. sg. of skýstallr m. ‘pedestal, altar of the sky’, but that a later copyist substituted tjalds. Rydberg (1907, lxvi) agrees that stallr, which is used by Gamli at 29/8 and 35/5, would fit well with vǫrðr ‘warden, guardian’ (l. 5). Jón Helgason (1935-6, 262) suggests that alla should be emended to alda, gen. pl. of ǫld f. ‘people’, the kenning skýtjalds aldir ‘people of the tent of cloud’ being a reference to the blessed, whose vǫrðr ‘guardian’ is God. The B scribe, however, has correctly rendered skýstalls in 29/8, where there is a full rhyme with allri. The tjald : alla rhyme again occurs in a strikingly similar l. in Líkn 25/4, heiðtjalds saman alla. As Kock (NN §2328) points out, the pronunciation of lds as lls can be exemplified from slightly later verse (Játg Lv 1/2^II, Sturl Hákkv 18/5^II) and a similar process accounts for the aðalhendingar vindsamt : finna in Halli XI Fl 3/8^II (Skj B emends to vinnsamt here), considerably earlier than Gamli. This edn therefore follows Kock in assuming that tjalds : alla is an acceptable full rhyme, and retains the ms. reading.

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. Chase, Martin, ed. 2005. Einarr Skúlason’s Geisli. A Critical Edition. Toronto Old Norse and Icelandic Studies 1. Toronto, Buffalo and London: Toronto University Press.
8. Rydberg, Hugo, ed. 1907. ‘Die geistlichen Drápur und Dróttkvættfragmente des Cod. AM 757 4to.’. Ph.D. thesis. University of Lund. Copenhagen: Møller.
9. Jón Helgason. 1935-6. ‘Til skjaldedigtningen’. APS 10, 250-64.
10. Kempff, Hjalmar, ed. 1867. Kaniken Gamles ‘Harmsól’ (Sol i Sorgen): isländskt andligt qväde från medeltiden med öfversättning och förklaringar. Uppsala: Edquist & Berglund.
11. LH = Finnur Jónsson. 1920-4. Den oldnorske og oldislandske litteraturs historie. 3 vols. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Gad.
12. 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.
13. Internal references
14. (forthcoming), ‘ Heimskringla, Magnúss saga berfœtts’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=144> (accessed 4 May 2024)
15. 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.
16. George S. Tate (ed.) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Líknarbraut 25’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 255-6.
17. Martin Chase 2007, ‘ Einarr Skúlason, Geisli’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 5-65. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1144> (accessed 4 May 2024)
18. Russell Poole (ed.) 2009, ‘Halli stirði, Flokkr 3’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 340-1.
19. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Játgeirr Torfason, Lausavísa 1’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 652-3.
20. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Sturla Þórðarson, Hákonarkviða 18’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 712-13.