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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Gamlkan Has 7VII

Katrina Attwood (ed.) 2007, ‘Gamli kanóki, Harmsól 7’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 78-80.

Gamli kanókiHarmsól
678

text and translation

Ungr vǫndumk ek, yngvi,
opt djarf*liga at hvarfa,
(lítt gáðak þá) þjóðar,
(þín) ept vilja mínum.
Enn snørak jafnan inni,
illt ráð þás mik villti,
dýrðhittandi dróttinn
dáðrakkr, við þér hnakka.

{Yngvi þjóðar}, ungr vǫndumk ek opt djarf*liga at hvarfa ept mínum vilja; gáðak þá þín lítt. Enn snørak jafnan inni hnakka við þér, dáðrakkr dýrðhittandi dróttinn, þás illt ráð villti mik.
 
‘Prince of the people [= God], as a young man I often presumptuously developed the habit of wandering according to my desire; I paid you little heed then. Further I always turned my back on you inwardly, deed-bold, glory-finding Lord, when evil counsel led my heart astray.

notes and context

Repentance for sins committed in youth is a common feature of biblical confessions. Job, for example, mentions the possibility that his sufferings are intended as a punishment for youthful sins: scribis enim contra me amaritudines et consumere me vis peccatis adulescentiae meae ‘for thou writest bitter things against me, and wilt consume me for the sins of my youth’ (Job XIII.26). Perhaps a more likely source for Gamli’s inspiration is the Penitential Psalm XXIV, which contains the verse delicta iuventutis meae et ignorantias meas ne memineris secundum misericordiam tuam memento mei tu; propter bonitatem tuam Domine ‘the sins of my youth and my ignorances do not remember. According to thy mercy remember thou me: for thy goodness’ sake, O Lord’ (Ps. XXIV.7).

readings

sources

Text is based on reconstruction from the base text and variant apparatus and may contain alternative spellings and other normalisations not visible in the manuscript text. Transcriptions may not have been checked and should not be cited.

editions and texts

Skj: Gamli kanóki, 2. Harmsól 7: AI, 563, BI, 550, Skald I, 267, NN §2928; Sveinbjörn Egilsson 1844, 15, Kempff 1867, 2, Rydberg 1907, 21, Jón Helgason 1935-6, 253-4, Black 1971, 153, Attwood 1996a, 223.

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