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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Kálf Kátr 46VII

Kirsten Wolf (ed.) 2007, ‘Kálfr Hallsson, Kátrínardrápa 46’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 960-1.

Kálfr HallssonKátrínardrápa
454647

Bergða eg með brjósti saurgu
blóði og holdi skapara þjóðar;
sálliga er eg í sauri öllum
synda vafðr og ilsku lyndi.
Hilmi eg fyr hneitis pálmum
hórdómi sem stuld og morði;
manndrápið verðr oftar unnið,
Yggjar báls, en runnar hyggja.

Eg bergða með saurgu brjósti blóði og holdi {skapara þjóðar}; eg er sálliga vafðr í öllum sauri synda og ilsku lyndi. Eg hilmi fyr {pálmum hneitis} hórdómi sem stuld og morði; manndrápið verðr oftar unnið en {runnar {Yggjar báls}} hyggja.

I tasted with a filthy breast the blood and flesh {of the creator of people} [= God]; I am painfully entangled in all the filth of sins and disposition to wickedness. I hide from {the palm-trees of the sword} [WARRIORS] adultery as well as theft and homicide; manslaughter is more often committed than {the trees {of Yggr’s <= Óðinn> fire}} [SWORDS > WARRIORS] think.

Mss: 713(133), 399a-bˣ(25), 920ˣ(218v)

Editions: Skj AII, 525, Skj BII, 580-1, Skald II, 320, NN §3388, Kahle 1898, 77, 108, Sperber 1911, 53-4, 83.

Notes: [All]: It is doubtful whether the poet’s confession of the sins of adultery, theft and homicide, along with his partaking of the Eucharist without having been absolved from these sins, should be taken literally. For a similar statement of self-abasement, see Gamlkan Has 7-16. — [1-2] blóði og holdi skapara þjóðar ‘the blood and flesh [of the creator of people] [= God]’: A kenning-like reference to the bread and wine of the Eucharist.

References

  1. Bibliography
  2. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
  3. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
  4. Sperber, Hans, ed. 1911. Sechs isländische Gedichte legendarischen Inhalts. Uppsala Universitets årsskrift, filosofi, språkvetenskap och historiska vetenskaper 2. Uppsala: Akademische Buchdruckerei Edv. Berling.
  5. Kahle, Bernhard, ed. 1898. Isländische geistliche Dichtungen des ausgehenden Mittelalters. Heidelberg: Winter.
  6. Internal references
  7. 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.
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