Kálf Kátr 51^VII

Káterín, við óði mætum
efni gless með söguna þessa;
Vítulus gaf honum viðarins heiti
vátes †bernit†, en nú er hann fráter.
Líttu, maðr, á letrið þetta;
landi reit, segir óðar veitir;
Laufa þollr, í læstu briefi
leita máttu að váru heiti.

Gless, Káterín, við óði efni mætum með söguna þessa; Vítulus vátes †bernit† gaf honum heiti viðarins, en nú er hann fráter. Líttu, maðr, á letrið þetta; landi reit, segir {veitir óðar}; leita máttu, {þollr Laufa}, að váru heiti í læstu briefi.

Rejoice, Catherine, in the poem with costly materials with this story; Kálfur the poet †bernit† gave it the name of the tree, but now he is a monk. Look, man, at this writing; a countryman wrote it, says {the giver of the poem} [POET]; you can search, {fir-tree of Laufi <sword>} [WARRIOR], for our [my] name in the closed letter.

Mss: 713(134), 399a-bˣ(27), 920ˣ(219r)

Readings: [2] gless: glers all    [3] Vítulus: ‘vitblus’ 713, ‘Vítilús’ 399a‑bˣ, ‘Víthlag’ with ‘Vítblás’ written in margin 920ˣ    [5] letrið: so 399a‑bˣ, 920ˣ, ‘l[...]rit’ 713    [8] leita: ‘[...]’ 713, 920ˣ, ‘(leita)’(?) 399a‑bˣ;    váru heiti: ‘voru he[...]’ 713, ‘váru he(iti)’(?) 399a‑bˣ, ‘v[...] öllum’ 920ˣ

Editions: Skj AII, 526, Skj BII, 582, Skald II, 321, NN §§1777, 2969; Jón Þorkelsson 1888, 235-6, Kahle 1898, 78, 109, Sperber 1911, 55, 83-4.

Notes: [All]: The word ‘Amen’ is added at the end of the poem in 713 and 399a-bˣ. — [2]: Jón Þorkelsson (1888, 235) and Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) emend glers, gen. sg. of gler ‘glass’, to gless ‘rejoice’, otherwise there is no verb in ll. 1-2, assuming it is an independent cl. Kock (Skald; NN §1777) emends to gletts ‘amusement’ (which creates problems with the internal rhyme) and sees in við a form of the verb vinna ‘work, create’ the object of which is efni; accordingly, he proposes the following interpretation: Káterín, við óði mætum efni gletts með söguna þessa ‘Catherine, [create] with the great poem an amusement with this statement’. Sperber considers efni glers ‘material from which glass is made’) as an ofljóst kenning for ‘stone’ (= Hallur, the father of the poet Kálfr, see st. 1/8). — [3] Vítulus: Lat. word meaning ‘calf’ = Kálfr, name of the poet (cf. 49/1); Jón Þorkelsson (1888, 236) and Kock (NN §2969) draw attention to the fact that the name Vítulus vátes also appears in Völsungs rímur hins óborna and believe that Kátrínar drápa and Völsungs rímur were composed by the same poet. — [3] viðarins heiti ‘the name of the tree’: Sperber suggests the emendation of viðarins heiti to viðurheiti ‘nickname’, but admits that this reading causes metrical problems. — [4] vátes ... fráter ‘poet ... monk’: Lit. ‘brother’. Neither of these Lat. words poses a problem of interpretation. — [4] †bernit†: This word has not been convincingly explained. Jón Þorkelsson (1888, 236) thinks that bernit (which is written with the er/ir-abbreviation in all three mss) is a corruption for í bernsku ‘in childhood’, and Sperber suggests the emendation of bernit to barnið ‘the child’. Accordingly, Sperber proposes the following reconstruction of ll. 1-4: [Uni] Kátrín, við óði mætum, | efnis glers, með söguna þessa, | Vítúlús gaf honum viðurheiti | vátes, barnið, nú er fráter. The prose order would be as follows: [Uni] Kátrín með söguna þessa; barnið efnis glers, Vítúlús, er nú fráter; gaf honum viðurheiti vátes við óði mætum ‘May Catherine rejoice in this story; the child of the material from which glass is made [STONE = Hallur], Vítulus, is now a monk; he was given the nickname vátes [poet] for the great poem’. — [7]: As suggested by Sperber and Finnur Jónsson (Skj B), í læstu briefi presumably refers to the obscure meaning of the first half-st. The phrase must be an Icel. calque on Lat. litterae clausae, letters close, that is, private letters, addressed to one or two individuals only and closed or folded and sealed, by contrast with letters patent, open letters or documents affixed with a royal or other seal, issued by a monarch or government.

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. Sperber, Hans, ed. 1911. Sechs isländische Gedichte legendarischen Inhalts. Uppsala Universitets årsskrift, filosofi, språkvetenskap och historiska vetenskaper 2. Uppsala: Akademische Buchdruckerei Edv. Berling.
6. Jón Þorkelsson [J. Thorkelsson]. 1888. Om digtningen på Island i det 15. og 16. århundrede. Copenhagen: Høst & søns forlag.
7. Kahle, Bernhard, ed. 1898. Isländische geistliche Dichtungen des ausgehenden Mittelalters. Heidelberg: Winter.