Ník Kristdr 1III
Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Níkulás Bergsson, Kristsdrápa 1’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 299.
Tveir ‘two’
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tveir (num. cardinal): two
kennings
tveir beitnôrungar‘two ship-nourishers ’
= SEAFARERS
two ship-nourishers → SEAFARERS
hykk ‘I believe’
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2. hyggja (verb): think, consider
at ‘that’
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3. at (prep.): at, to
ber ‘the grape’
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ber (noun n.; °; -, gen. -ja): [grape]
notes
[1] ber ‘the grape’: The commentary in TGT elaborates further on the similarities between Christ and a grape (TGT 1927, 88-9): en svá sem vínberit gefr hinn hæsta drykk til viðrlífis mǫnnum, svá gefr guðs son andligt líf ǫllum réttrúǫndum mǫnnum í úthellingu síns blóðs, þess er hversdagliga snýz af víni ok vatni at hverri rétt sunginni messu ‘and just as the grape provides the most noble drink for the sustenance of people, so does the son of God give spiritual life to all people of the right faith through the pouring out of his blood, which each day is transformed from wine and water at every mass that is sung correctly’.
bæri ‘carried’
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3. bera (verb; °berr; bar, báru; borinn): bear, carry
beit ‘ship’
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2. beit (noun n.): ship < beitnárungi (noun m.)
kennings
tveir beitnôrungar‘two ship-nourishers ’
= SEAFARERS
two ship-nourishers → SEAFARERS
notes
[2] beitnôrungar ‘ship-nourishers [SEAFARERS]’: Nôrungar occurs as a base-word in kennings for ‘men’, but always in compounds in which the first element serves as the determinant (see LP: nôrungar). The word is etymologically related to Njǫrðr (the name of a god) and the weak verb nœra ‘nourish, refresh’ (AEW: nárungar). ‘Seafarers’ seems an odd choice of referent both for the Jews in the desert and for the tormentors of Christ.
nôrungar ‘nourishers’
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nárungi (noun m.): [nourishers] < beitnárungi (noun m.)
kennings
tveir beitnôrungar‘two ship-nourishers ’
= SEAFARERS
two ship-nourishers → SEAFARERS
notes
[2] beitnôrungar ‘ship-nourishers [SEAFARERS]’: Nôrungar occurs as a base-word in kennings for ‘men’, but always in compounds in which the first element serves as the determinant (see LP: nôrungar). The word is etymologically related to Njǫrðr (the name of a god) and the weak verb nœra ‘nourish, refresh’ (AEW: nárungar). ‘Seafarers’ seems an odd choice of referent both for the Jews in the desert and for the tormentors of Christ.
notes
[2, 3] á heitnu landi ‘in the promised land’: Following Sveinbjörn Egilsson (SnE 1848-87, III), Björn Magnússon Ólsen (TGT 1884, 236) assigns this prepositional phrase to the first clause: ‘I believe that two ship-nourishers [SEAFARERS] carried the grape between them on a pole in the promised land’. While that interpretation is possible, it obscures the ambiguity of the parabole, because the first helmingr then refers exclusively to the story in the Old Testament.
stund ‘time’
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stund (noun f.; °-ar, dat. -u/-; -ir): time, hour
lífs ‘of life’
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líf (noun n.; °-s; -): life
á ‘on’
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3. á (prep.): on, at
landi ‘land’
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land (noun n.; °-s; *-): land
notes
[2, 3] á heitnu landi ‘in the promised land’: Following Sveinbjörn Egilsson (SnE 1848-87, III), Björn Magnússon Ólsen (TGT 1884, 236) assigns this prepositional phrase to the first clause: ‘I believe that two ship-nourishers [SEAFARERS] carried the grape between them on a pole in the promised land’. While that interpretation is possible, it obscures the ambiguity of the parabole, because the first helmingr then refers exclusively to the story in the Old Testament.
lǫng ‘long’
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langr (adj.; °compar. lengri, superl. lengstr): long
meðal ‘between’
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meðal (prep.): between
sín ‘them’
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sik (pron.; °gen. sín, dat. sér): (refl. pron.)
á ‘in’
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3. á (prep.): on, at
notes
[2, 3] á heitnu landi ‘in the promised land’: Following Sveinbjörn Egilsson (SnE 1848-87, III), Björn Magnússon Ólsen (TGT 1884, 236) assigns this prepositional phrase to the first clause: ‘I believe that two ship-nourishers [SEAFARERS] carried the grape between them on a pole in the promised land’. While that interpretation is possible, it obscures the ambiguity of the parabole, because the first helmingr then refers exclusively to the story in the Old Testament.
stǫngu ‘a pole’
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stǫng (noun f.; °stangar, dat. -u; stangir/stengr): pole
kníðu ‘oppressed’
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knýja (verb): press forward, urge, drive
ber ‘grape’
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ber (noun n.; °; -, gen. -ja): [grape]
báðir ‘Both’
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báðir (pron.; °gen. beggja (báðra), nom./acc. n. bǽði): both
bergr ‘saves’
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1. bjarga (verb; °bergr (biærgr Alk619 77⁹; biargr ÓH619 119¹); barg, burgu; borginn): to save, preserve
oss ‘us’
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vér (pron.; °gen. vár, dat./acc. oss): we, us, our
notes
[6] trúa ‘faith’: The prep. that follows the noun, á ‘on’, is given in W, but not in A, and it looks as though the phrase trúa á krossi was reanalysed in A as trúa krossi. The line is highly unusual metrically, with elision across a sentence boundary in a Type D-line (cf. Kuhn 1983, 70-2). The A version avoids that, but it is difficult to make sense of syntactically unless krossi is taken as an instr. dat. (kníði krossi ‘oppressed with the cross’) or alternatively as a dat. of place, which is very rare (see NS §117).
notes
[6] á krossi ‘on the cross’: Sveinbjörn Egilsson (SnE 1848-87, III) takes this with the next clause (svá hefr goð goldit aldin á krossi ‘thus God has repaid the fruit on the cross’), which is also possible.
krossi ‘the cross’
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kross (noun m.; °-, dat. -i; -ar): cross, crucifix
notes
[6] á krossi ‘on the cross’: Sveinbjörn Egilsson (SnE 1848-87, III) takes this with the next clause (svá hefr goð goldit aldin á krossi ‘thus God has repaid the fruit on the cross’), which is also possible.
svá ‘thus’
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svá (adv.): so, thus
notes
[7] svá hefr goð goldit aldin ‘thus God has repaid the fruit’: Aldin is the fruit on a tree, not a berry, but it could also be used in religious contexts (see Fritzner: aldin). Here it refers to ‘the grape’, i.e. Christ.
hefr ‘has’
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hafa (verb): have
notes
[7] svá hefr goð goldit aldin ‘thus God has repaid the fruit’: Aldin is the fruit on a tree, not a berry, but it could also be used in religious contexts (see Fritzner: aldin). Here it refers to ‘the grape’, i.e. Christ.
aldin ‘the fruit’
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2. aldin (noun n.; °-s; -): orchard
notes
[7] svá hefr goð goldit aldin ‘thus God has repaid the fruit’: Aldin is the fruit on a tree, not a berry, but it could also be used in religious contexts (see Fritzner: aldin). Here it refers to ‘the grape’, i.e. Christ.
goð ‘God’
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1. guð (noun m.; °***guðrs, guðis, gus): (Christian) God
notes
[7] svá hefr goð goldit aldin ‘thus God has repaid the fruit’: Aldin is the fruit on a tree, not a berry, but it could also be used in religious contexts (see Fritzner: aldin). Here it refers to ‘the grape’, i.e. Christ.
goldit ‘repaid’
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1. gjalda (verb): pay, repay
notes
[7] svá hefr goð goldit aldin ‘thus God has repaid the fruit’: Aldin is the fruit on a tree, not a berry, but it could also be used in religious contexts (see Fritzner: aldin). Here it refers to ‘the grape’, i.e. Christ.
Gýðingr ‘the Jew’
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gyðingr (noun m.): Jew
notes
[8] Gýðingr ‘the Jew’: The stem vowel of this noun is usually given as short (Gyðingr), but [y:] is secured by the metre in this line. — [8] Gýðingr ok heiðingi ‘the Jew and the heathen’: This must refer back to the two ‘seafarers’ (tveir beitnôrungar) in l. 1. The commentary in TGT explains this mixed company as follows (TGT 1927, 89): Tveir menn, er berit báru, merkja tvennar þjóðir, er at váru píningu guðs sonar, þat eru gyðingar ok heiðnir menn ‘The two men, who carried the grape, denote the two races of men who were present at the torment of the son of God, those are the Jews and heathen men’. Hence the heathen were the Romans.
Gýðingr ‘the Jew’
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gyðingr (noun m.): Jew
notes
[8] Gýðingr ‘the Jew’: The stem vowel of this noun is usually given as short (Gyðingr), but [y:] is secured by the metre in this line. — [8] Gýðingr ok heiðingi ‘the Jew and the heathen’: This must refer back to the two ‘seafarers’ (tveir beitnôrungar) in l. 1. The commentary in TGT explains this mixed company as follows (TGT 1927, 89): Tveir menn, er berit báru, merkja tvennar þjóðir, er at váru píningu guðs sonar, þat eru gyðingar ok heiðnir menn ‘The two men, who carried the grape, denote the two races of men who were present at the torment of the son of God, those are the Jews and heathen men’. Hence the heathen were the Romans.
ok ‘and’
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3. ok (conj.): and, but; also
notes
[8] Gýðingr ok heiðingi ‘the Jew and the heathen’: This must refer back to the two ‘seafarers’ (tveir beitnôrungar) in l. 1. The commentary in TGT explains this mixed company as follows (TGT 1927, 89): Tveir menn, er berit báru, merkja tvennar þjóðir, er at váru píningu guðs sonar, þat eru gyðingar ok heiðnir menn ‘The two men, who carried the grape, denote the two races of men who were present at the torment of the son of God, those are the Jews and heathen men’. Hence the heathen were the Romans.
heiðingi ‘the heathen’
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1. heiðingi (noun m.; °-ja; -jar): heathen
notes
[8] Gýðingr ok heiðingi ‘the Jew and the heathen’: This must refer back to the two ‘seafarers’ (tveir beitnôrungar) in l. 1. The commentary in TGT explains this mixed company as follows (TGT 1927, 89): Tveir menn, er berit báru, merkja tvennar þjóðir, er at váru píningu guðs sonar, þat eru gyðingar ok heiðnir menn ‘The two men, who carried the grape, denote the two races of men who were present at the torment of the son of God, those are the Jews and heathen men’. Hence the heathen were the Romans.
Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses
The stanza is cited as an example of parabola, i.e. the comparison of two things of a different species (samjafnan tveggja hluta í ójǫfnu kyni, TGT 1927, 88). In this particular case Christ is likened to a grape (see Notes below).
The commentary on the stanza proceeds to explain that Christ is likened to that grape which the messengers of the Jews carried from Palestine (af Jórsalalandi) when they were in the wilderness, and the Holy Cross is the pole on which they carried the grape. This refers to the story related in Nm. XIII.24. which describes how Moses sent out scouts from Canaan to explore the surrounding regions. When they came to Neelescol, they cut off a branch and its cluster of grapes, and two men carried it between them on a pole (absciderunt palmiten cum uva sua quem portaverunt in vecte duo viri).
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