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Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Kálf Kátr 12VII

Kirsten Wolf (ed.) 2007, ‘Kálfr Hallsson, Kátrínardrápa 12’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 939.

Kálfr HallssonKátrínardrápa
111213

‘Einráðið hefi eg, að orðum þínum
ekki trúi eg nie mínir rekkar’;
þannig mælti hvítra hjalta
hristir reiðr við fljóðið kristið.
Fimm tigu valdi fróðra hölda
fannar lófa spekt að prófa
eigandi við ambátt fræga
eingla dýrðarþeingils.

‘Eg hefi einráðið, að ekki trúi eg nie mínir rekkar orðum þínum’; þannig mælti {reiðr hristir hvítra hjalta} við kristið fljóðið. {Eigandi {fannar lófa}} valdi fimm tigu fróðra hölda að prófa spekt við {fræga ambátt {þeingils … dýrðar eingla}}.

‘I have resolved that neither I nor my men will believe your words’; thus spoke {the angry shaker of shining hilts} [WARRIOR] to the Christian woman. {The owner {of the snowdrift of the palm}} [SILVER > MAN] chose fifty wise men to compete in wisdom with {the famous handmaid {of the king of the glory of angels}} [= God (= Christ) > HOLY WOMAN].

Mss: 713(130), 399a-bˣ(7), 920ˣ(214r-v)

Readings: [2] trúi: so 399a‑bˣ, 920ˣ, trú 713    [5] fróðra hölda: ‘fr[...]’ 713, ‘Fru [...]lda’ 399a‑bˣ, ‘Fr ... da’ 920ˣ    [8] dýrðar þeingils: ‘dyrd[...]ls’ 713, ‘dyrð [...] lds’ 399a‑bˣ, ‘dyrð [...]’ 920ˣ

Editions: Skj AII, 519, Skj BII, 572, Skald II, 314, NN §§2958D, 2959, 2960, Kahle 1898, 69, 106, Sperber 1911, 45-6, 79-80.

Notes: [5-8]: In the prose saga, the emperor orders fifty of his wisest men to debate (at disputa) with Catherine and overcome her with eloquence and the truth of their books (med orðsnilld ok sannleik boka sinna) (Unger 1877, I, 405; cf. Wolf 2003, 128). — [5] fróðra hölda (gen. pl.) ‘wise men’: Sperber and Kock (Skald; NN §2960) suggest fróðra hölda; Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) suggests Freyju hölda to create the kenning Freyju fannar lófa ‘Freyja of the snowdrift of the palm [SILVER > WOMAN]’. Here eigandi ‘owner’ (l. 7) is construed with fannar lófa ‘of the snowdrift of the palm [of the hand]’ (l. 6) to give a kenning for a man, ‘the snowdrift of the palm’ being silver. Although eigandi is rare in kennings (Meissner, 337), this interpretation is favoured by the fact that the kenning eigendur jötna róms ‘owners of the speech of giants [GOLD > PEOPLE]’ occurs in st. 50/5-6 and is closely matched by ýtar jötna róms ‘launchers of the speech of giants [GOLD > GENEROUS MEN]’ in 40/5-6. — [8] þeingils dýrðar eingla ‘of the king of the glory of angels’: This is the emendation suggested by Finnur Jónsson (Skj B); Kock (Skald) has þengils háleits dýrðar ‘of the king of sublime glory’. There is at least one word missing in l. 8, and the kenning suggested here (‘of the king of the glory of angels’) may have had either an adj. or an additional noun element.

References

  1. Bibliography
  2. Unger, C. R., ed. 1877. Heilagra manna søgur. Fortællinger og legender om hellige mænd og kvinder. 2 vols. Christiania (Oslo): Bentzen.
  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. Meissner = Meissner, Rudolf. 1921. Die Kenningar der Skalden: Ein Beitrag zur skaldischen Poetik. Rheinische Beiträge und Hülfsbücher zur germanischen Philologie und Volkskunde 1. Bonn and Leipzig: Schroeder. Rpt. 1984. Hildesheim etc.: Olms.
  7. Sperber, Hans, ed. 1911. Sechs isländische Gedichte legendarischen Inhalts. Uppsala Universitets årsskrift, filosofi, språkvetenskap och historiska vetenskaper 2. Uppsala: Akademische Buchdruckerei Edv. Berling.
  8. Wolf, Kirsten, ed. 2003. Heilagra meyja sögur. Íslenzk trúarrit 1. Reykjavík: Bókmenntafræðistofnun Háskóla Íslands.
  9. Kahle, Bernhard, ed. 1898. Isländische geistliche Dichtungen des ausgehenden Mittelalters. Heidelberg: Winter.
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